Uh, wow. So this thing may not have had much of a budget, since it was a tv movie filmed with what I am almost sure was digital and not film. That being said, it's fairly good. For what it is. I think.
The thing is, I am kind of a sucker for Jane Eyre, trappings of imperialism and patriarchy and all. It's a love story, and it's also a critique, and (I have always felt, or I guess connected mostly strongly with) it's a story about a girl who may or may not have a lot going for her, but doesn't let that stop her from having principles and sticking to them.
Sure, it's antiquated. But I can get behind that last part. And the love story, if we're being totally honest. Which I think we should be because it's really just me writing to myself here.
That being said, the problem of the woman in the attic is still the problem of the WOMAN IN THE ATTIC OH GOD WHY. I mean imagine if that plot twist had not been used before now and then suddenly was pulled out in the last 20 minutes of a period film these days. I think feminist critics (rightly so) would just be like: WTF. I mean they still are anyway, which is essentially what birthed Wide Sargasso Sea. Well, that and post-colonialism.
Other disclaimer: I read this novel in college. Well, at least: I tried to read this novel in college. It's not that it's bad, per se, it's just that Jean Rhys's style of writing is like a mobius and strip and at times, can be opaque. There's a lot of stream of consciousness. There were long passages where I was not entirely sure who was talking, what was going on, where the characters were located, or if this was happening in reality or a dream. FINAL disclaimer: I read the book the same semester that I got Mono, and I remember reading it while laying in bed, slightly feverish, and falling asleep mid-sentence, only to wake up again some time later and begin reading from around the same page. COLLEGE! So in my mind, Wide Sargasso Sea is a very jumbled mix of disturbing and surreal, and I am not entirely sure what passages of the book I actually remember and what passages my feverish, idiot brain just kind of supplied while I was sleeping.
Okay, so. Wide Sargasso Sea: the tv movie. It's fine, I guess. Rebecca Hall does not really effectively maintain the accent she is trying to do, but I do think she effectively strikes the balance between vulnerable, disappointed, hurt, and unbalanced. This story really does kind of slap the story of Jane Eyre upside the head for being so thoughtless as to just assign the role of "lunatic" to the woman in the attic without ever really giving her the respect she deserves, as a human being, of asking why. So I respect it a lot for that. And they found what has to be the dourest, most unlikable actor ever to play the young Rochester. Well done there! Quite the contrast to Michael Fassbender's Rochester. What? NO I do not watch that movie every couple of months. How dare you insinuate I have a problem of that stature when it comes to Michael Fassbender's beautiful face and stunning talent! Offense taken. So it's pretty good, I think, for what it's trying to do, and interesting to watch as Rebecca Hall is an actress who I like a lot and who I think has better figured out her strengths and weaknesses as an actor since this film. But it's still not really essential. Maybe some say I'll watch the actual film adaptation from 1993. Or I'll just watch the Fassbender Jane Eyre again. Either way.
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