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Adorable little imperfections in this version!

posted 18 years ago by sophiatwoK
30 replies | jump to latest

Hi, I must start with a confession. Though Jane Eyre has been my heroine since childhood, I've never even heard about this version. Now that I have it, I've watched it 3 times already in 2 weeks :) Got used to small inconveniences (coldish studio lighting, restrained camera movements and the absence of background music)... and I absolutely adore the performances! Especially Jane's, Rochester's, Blanche's and St. John's. PERFECT.

But I also love the little imperfections in this version! I've noticed the mic was visible on the top of the picture two times (once, at Mrs Reed's deathbed, the second time, at Jane's Morton home). Somehow it didn't break the charm of the story but made it more 'human'.

Also, watch out for the scene in which Rochester tells Jane about Celine Varens. Adele rushes to a garden swing, and as Jane/Rochester walk by, Pilot crosses the garden path towards Adele. He stops by a large tree, and if you watch closely, you can see a hand reaching out, holding a little doggie treat which Pilot takes and eats. I'm sure it wasn't meant to be in the picture. It was just a way to get the dog cross the scene for some 'background action'. But it was soooooo cute, it still makes me smile as I think of it :)

I'm absolutely charmed by this version!!!!!!!

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

I didn't notice any of those. There's nothing for it but to watch the series again, I suppose. *sigh* Truly, I'm too busy looking at Michael Jayston or Sorcha Cusack to notice these things even though I have seen it far too many times now.

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Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

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[–] jessie9-chu 18 years ago

I agree with you. My eyes were always on Michael Jayston and Sorcha Cusack that I hardly noticed anything else. I'll have to watch it again.

[–] sophiatwoK 18 years ago

Well, maybe I noticed these things because I prefer watching my DVDs on my laptop, so I'm much closer to the screen (without damaging my eyes, because TV screens always make my eyes sore!).

But, ladies, I agree with you. It's getting harder to take my eyes off of those two ;)

Also, another embodiment of charming imperfection in the story is the couple... Bronte underlines their plain features. But I'm completely enraptured by Cusack, the beauty of her wide eyes, the gentleness of her voice. And Jayston's passionate face and tone... ahhhhh! Gotta watch it again!!!!

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

One thing I did notice was that Jane steals St.John's gloves when he comes to visit her at her cottage! She puts them over the hearth to dry but never gives them back when she kicks him out! :)

When I first say Sorcha give her 'eager bird' look at Michael during one of the interview scenes I thought, that is exactly how Jane would have looked. It is only my opinion, but her eyes are just as I would imagine Jane's being. Her voice is right too: 'animating, piquante, soft' :)

And Michael's performance is also bliss. I just wish there was more of it.

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Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

Ha! I saw the dog handler! :D That was so cute.

***
Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] sophiatwoK 18 years ago

"Never had he been kinder to me - Never had I loved him so well", Pilot must have thought :D

[–] sanna_o75 18 years ago

I have not seen this version, but if you ask me, it's nothing charming and cute and human about seeing a mic in the corner of the screen. It' ruins it for me. If I see a movie I want tit to look real and think that it ts real. Seeing a mic there just don't make it real for me. I get annoyed

"She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock.
She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on
the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Light of my life,
fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lolita..."

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

Well, you're right there. If I did see a big microphone in a scene it would annoy me. I never noticed any of these mistakes even though I've seen in dozens of times. The only mistake I ever caught was that St.John doesn't take his gloves with him when he leaves Jane's cottage ;) The dog handler thing was cute. Rochester and Jane are taking up most of the shot, Pilot is at the other end of the garden and you can only barely see that something is behind the tree. I don't think it will ever break the illusion for me.

I still have to look for the microphones.

***
Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] sophiatwoK 18 years ago

Maybe it's my personal taste, but I'm much less disgusted by such a little technical goof than by mainstream Hollywood perfection. In most big-budget Hollywood movies, everything's about false, inhuman perfection, especially in the good looks and special effects department.

I'm so very fed up with that mainstream, this '73 BBC series with its technical hiccups and imperfect characters is a genuine refreshment for me. The mic hanging in, Sorcha's off-beat facial features, or the absence of six-packer abs on Michael Jayston. It all looks human, approachable, real.

Just my two cents worth :)

[–] Rosabel 18 years ago

Didn't somebody say that these BBC series were turned out in a rather workmanlike way? And that they didn't like to do retakes if they could possibly help it? I think that would explain some of the little flubs, where an actor stumbles over a word or has a slight stammer. I'm thinking of Rochester saying, "Do you love me, Jane? Repeat that you do." And Michael Jayston's tongue stumbles over that second line! He gets it out, but it's a little garbled, and you're right - in a Hollywood production, that would be done over and over until it was perfect. It doesn't bother me, though; in real life, people do hesitate and fumble while speaking. These slight imperfections just make it a bit more down to earth and human.

Flat, drab passion meanders across the screen!

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

I heard somewhere that the BBC expected to record scenes in one take. I don't know if this was true, but I think it is possible that they didn't give them a lot of takes in which to get it right. There's an example of a flub only barely avoided my Timothy Dalton in the 1983 version, during his great scene before Jane leaves him. He's worked himself well into the role, and shouts out: "all happiness will be torn away with me!" but when the 'me' comes out he turns his face aside and muffles it- since it ought to be 'you.'

I've never through that the moments when Michael hesitates were actual flubs. It sounds a lot like natural hestitation. Rochester does that a lot when he wants to say more than he manages to. A good example is when he tries to comfort Jane about her 'nightmare' and says: "When we are... united." It betrays the fact that they will not truly be united and he knows that.

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Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

I'm really annoyed with how 'clean' most of the recent BBC stuff is. It doesn't look real- real people and scenes are not that perfect. Some of the pictures from the new Jane Eyre (2006) are showing signs of that kind of squeaky cleaness.

or the absence of six-packer abs on Michael Jayston.

Hee. I have a picture to show you...

***
Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

I am only responsible for the faces, and the writing! The rest comes from a 1970s show Michael was in: http://bronteana.blogspot.com/2006/06/pulp-covers-for-classic-books-this-is.html

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Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] sophiatwoK 18 years ago

LOL!! Sophie, this is too funny :D

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

I went back to the original post. It's from 'A Coffin for the Bride' where he plays a man who marries women and then kills them for their money. But trouble comes when he finally falls in love for real but he wants to murder just one more wife before he settles down ;) He wears a bunch of disguises in it, including a hippy look (complete with redish-blond beard and moustache!)

It looks like I was incapable of doing anything but laugh for about half an hour and then I made this. And the best part is that the real Jayston and his half-smile looks sexier than the fake Jayston and his 'rippling masculinity'. LOL

***
Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] sophiatwoK 18 years ago

"And the best part is that the real Jayston and his half-smile looks sexier than the fake Jayston and his 'rippling masculinity'"

Oh gosh, you're right, there's no imperfection in that department ;) Did I mention his Rochester is a passionate kisser? The courting scene and the morning after scene are evidence enough... (sigh)

[–] Rosabel 18 years ago

Oh, and the scene where she comes back, and he can't see her but he can touch her! When he asks her to kiss him, and it's just SO sweet and heartfelt. I loved the way Rochester said, "You're not - dead...in some ditch," and you immediately feel that every day of his life since she'd disappeared he'd gone throught this daily torture, visualizing the horrible things that might have happened to her.

Flat, drab passion meanders across the screen!

[–] kenzie2 18 years ago

I agree with Rosabel, the scene where Jane comes back is beautiful. But there is so much in this adaptation to rave about, it just seems to get everything right. I've read some rave reviews about the 1983 version and people saying it is by far the best and true to the book and isn't Timothy Dalton wonderful. It makes me wonder if any of these reviewers have actually seen the 1973 version because there is just no comparison. Michael Jayston portrays every emotion perfectly. I think he should have got an award for his acting in the part. Does anyone agree?

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

Well, you know, before this year most people had never even heard of the 1973 version. When I passed along the news that it was coming out on DVD I once had someone send me a very snooty comment when they thought I meant the 1983 version but had been so audacious as to get the date wrong! lol!

He really should have recieved more attention for this role. I think it really is an amazing piece of acting.
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Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

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[–] kenzie2 18 years ago

I'd be interested to know if anyone on this site has ever written to him to say how much they enjoyed his performance and had a reply back?

[–] Rosabel 18 years ago

I knew a girl on the Bronte Yahoo group who did just that, and he sent her a charming reply back with a signed photo. English actors, especially of the old school, are very gracious that way. I sent a letter to Susan Hampshire last year, because 'The First Churchills' had finally been released to dvd (another Acorn release, I believe), and I was so thrilled to see it again, I just wanted to tell her how much I'd enjoyed her work in it and ever since, and she sent me a very nice hand-written note back thanking me for my kind letter! It's so unexpected to actually get a reply back, but I think the English traditionally take written letters more seriously, and take the time to answer.

Flat, drab passion meanders across the screen!

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

I think it would be nice if a group of us put something together for him. Someone I know once got her James Barbour fan friends together and gathered a bunch of postcards from them and sent them to him in a photo album so he could not only read their gushing praise but think of how he has admirers all over the world :)

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Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] Dr. Cumin 18 years ago

I had to respond to Sophie's comment about someone thinking she had gotten the date of this version wrong as I had a somewhat similar experience many years ago. This was in the days when AOL had interesting communities to join and someone was preparing a class on the various film adaptations of Jane Eyre. I made mention of this adaptation on the message board. She emailed me privately weeks after I posted about our favorite version, to apologize because at first she thought I was just joking around and that I "was a complete fraud!!" (I remember that quote exactly!) But when she read further comments I made about this adaptation she pursued the matter and discovered I was for real. Can't really blame her as even the Internet was a wasteland for information about this adaptation until Thibeciel and Bronteana came along with their terrific web sites. I used to peruse message boards to get in touch with others who knew of this version. I'm the only person I personally know who has ever seen it. I beat my head against the BBC's door for many years and I have to believe these two Jane Eyre sites were what finally got this version made. Many thanks!

[–] kat63 18 years ago

I first saw the adaptation way back in 1973 when it was first shown and I never imagined that so many other people remembered it so fondly or had fallen in love with it after seeing it recently. What a pleasant surprise I got when I discovered only a few months ago the websites dedicated to it. I wrote to the BBC many years ago and asked if there was any chance of it being re-released but was told at the time there were no plans to do so, I didn't realise so many others had done the same. So I'd like to say a big thank you to Thibeciel and Bronteana for all the work they have put into their websites, and congratulate them for persuading the powers that be to re-release it after all this time. It has been an absolute joy to be able to watch it again. I had never noticed the little imperfections which have been discussed but having watched the series again I think they make it even more endearing!

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

Everyone, it feels really nice to think that I had something to do with it, but I really can't say why the BBC finally caved in. I'm thinking that they probably did see the long lists we had going on this message board from people who were desperate to see it. Thisbeciel's site might have something to do with it- the director of Acorn had written to her personally. That was the first inkling we had that they would be releasing it- if I remember correctly.

I'm just so glad to have a nice, clean copy for my own and I feel lucky that I didn't have to wait 30 years for it! :)

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Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

A fraud! That's a new one. I would like to have enough spare time to go around making up a fake adaptation of Jane Eyre. lol! No one has been quite that indignant with me yet. I did get a few people saying that they thought I said that Michael Jackson had played Mr Rochester, though...

When I told my Bronte professor about it, she thought I meant the 1983 version as well. Others confuse it with the 1970 one. I didn't know about this version until I came to this message board, and sumpleby sent me a tape (back when that was legal ;).

***
Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] sophie_amundsen 18 years ago

The kissing is all done very well, yes. Soon after one of my friends saw it, she actually made a list of each time he kisses her (excluding hand-kisses, and when she kisses him), and there's a dozen. My favourite is the 'I-know-my-maker-sanctions-what-I-do' kiss.

***
Bronteana Bronte Studies Blog:

http://bronteana.blogspot.com

[–] jessie9-chu 18 years ago

I agree with you on the kissing, and "Good-night, good-night my darling" is my favorite.

[–] 1980sGirl 15 years ago

Well I've seen 4 versions so far (this book is one of my all-time faves, since my teenage years), and now after reading this thread, I'm going to watch the 1973 version right away!!!!

[–] whenim64 11 years ago

How did you notice that?I only saw it because I read your message of 6 years ago.Well done Sherlock!
I have only just started these message boards ,so I have a lot of catching up to do.

PS.I'm still looking for the microphones (you don't mean microwave)?

Time flies like the wind:
Fruit flies like a banana.