Jane Eyre.
I'd read this book a few years ago and remembered it as sad, long, and semi painful, but when my cousins invited me to go, I figured I may as well. And I absolutely fell in love. It was fabulously done, the actors were superb, and it was very well depicted. Along with being a very well done film, it taught me some things that I've been pondering on ever since I've seen it.
One of the things that especially struck me was Jane's matter-of-factness about life. She had a tragic childhood and youth, was stripped of everything and had to make her own living, and her relatives hated her. Everything very much in order for pity from others and of herself. Yet when asked by her new employer to tell her "tale of woe", she simply says she has no tale of woe, and recounts with plain details her past story. "No tale of woe?" he replies, his voice fringed with sarcasm. So often I see myself and others using anything negative that happens to us as an excuse. An excuse for pity, for being depressed, for not showing kindness or excitement, for allowing ourselves to become numb, and so forth. This being the case, it gave me a new perspective on trials and how I've abused them in the past. I think it really is abuse. When something unexpected or unpleasant happens, we can learn from it or it can take us down. I've known that for a long time, but I never added in the aspect of how we view it. How we deal with it is one thing, but how we see it is something else entirely. Hmm, food for thought.
Another thing I loved was the scene where Jane leaves from Thornfield. On the day of her marriage to the man she was so very deeply in love with, she finds out at the alter that the marriage cannot happen because he already has a wife. Granted that wife is insane, but a wife is a wife. After an extremely emotional day, her husband-to-be talks with her and pleads "Who would you offend by living with me?" Her reply, "Myself, sir." And then amidst their sobs, she tears herself away and leaves. The two things I liked about this scene was, first, the refreshing perspective of relationships. In society today, I think that the view of relationships in general is very flawed and unhealthy. If you "love" someone, anything is acceptable. There are little to no boundaries, and "love" had become extremely self-centered and for pleasure only. Too often, the media gives this flawed view of love an excessive amount of glory, so it was nice to see a new outlook on it. The second thing I liked was the view of self-respect it gave. Very rarely does someone set a standard of respect for themselves, and even more rarely is it kept. But Jane did exactly that, she knew what was right for her, and even though no one would have known, she had to keep that standard for her. To fail to do so would break her, even more deeply than separating herself from her love. And I feel like the more respect you have for yourself, the more you have for others. So by leaving him, she was showing a greater portion of love than if she stayed. Beautiful.
The simplicity, the sophistication and refinement, the beauty, ahh, this movie is extremely superb. A feast for my soul.
