Reactions to BBC4's Wide Sargasso Sea

As we do with each new episode of Jane Eyre, we haved surfed the net and we have found the following:

David Belcher, yes ... him again, writes in The Herald about this new adaptation of Jean Rhys's novel:

Based on Jean Rhys's novel, Wide Sargasso Sea is a sexy prequel to Jane Eyre, concerning the first Mrs Rochester, a Jamaican enchantress. Rafe Spall invests his version of Mr Rochester with adolescent angst rather than manly brooding. It's well worth catching.

It's better when Mr. Belcher is brief. Much better. Probably it would be even better if he didn't write at all.

Gallivant in ScreenStories, as usual provides an interesting approach that you should read:

BBC 4's filmic adaptation of Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea is an exotic joy, stunningly filmed with glorious, lush production values and strong acting performances all-round. The musical scoring is especially noteworthy - evocative, mood-making, quite brilliant. (...)

We don't miss a beat with this BBC4 adaptation, as scripted by Stephen Greenhorn. Brendan Maher's direction is striking; cinematography is simply stunning, augmented by lingering shots of mountains wreathed in magical blue mist. We have a powerful sense of the enchanted yet uncertain world Rochester feels he has found himself in. Hand-held camera-work and zoom lenses, in addition to some quickfire editing, occasionally intercutting various scenes with each other, subtly perpetuate a sense of uncertainty, with sometimes electrifying results. (...)

Since Wide Sargasso Sea was first published, in some ways the novel and its tragic protagonist have come to haunt Jane Eyre - just indeed as Bertha herself is a haunting presence in the original novel. This film is a fine companion piece to the current BBC series of Jane Eyre. Although much smaller in scale and scope than the grander Jane Eyre production, in many respects Wide Sargasso Sea is a piece of finer, stronger, braver filmmaking, offering genuine synergies of cinematography, motifs of light, shade and colour, narrative flow, character development and a lustrous, magnificent musical score. It is conceived as an exquisitely styled miniature rather than a sprawling, luxuriant epic, but both works have the potential to inform the other.

Adriana in Tickets, Money, Passport :

Just finished watching Wide Sargasso Sea. A bit disappointing, if I didn't already know what the story was or indeed what happens after I'd be a bit confused. Although perhaps no change there. I wonder, are characters supposed to be likeable, was it supposed to explain it? Her madness, his aloofness. Was it all down to class. I imagine so however it all seemed a bit rushed and out of, well, character.

ColdWindToValhalla in the IMDB board:

Although they did leave out a huge chunk of Antoinette's childhood from the book - brilliantly acted by Rafe Spall, but in particular, Rebecca Hall; what a performance!

Firko in the BBCCostumeDrama group:

It was very hard to watch this and not make comparisons with the current Jane Eyre adaptation. I haven't read the book so have no idea if this was faithful to it, but this Rochester was so much duller than in JE. He had no mischievousness and very little wit. It seems that he was was more brooding before his disappointment than after! I don't think it was the actor, but the script. If anyone has read the book I would be interested to know if he is more human. I thought the girl playing Bertha was very good at showing the little cracks of insanity appearing. It was obviously trying to make points about colonialism and slavery but I was left feeling empty and just a little bit dirty. I know they were newlyweds but the sex was a little too much for me. (I sound like such a prude!)

Paljoey in the C19 Board:

Well- they chopped half the story (which was so annoying, because Antoinette's childhood really sets the scene and tone. But what they did have was quite well done. i feel it would have been better if they had included her childhood, which gives a good introduction to her background and the characters around her. I thought there was to be 2 eps too- which was a major disappointment.

However, I thought, despite not taking advantage of some seriously brilliant prose, the scenes at the house had a bit of spark. I've always liked the scene where she asks Rochester to ask her to die for him- I thought this was well done. Both actors were good (if only 'Antoinette' had more to work from- I think she showed great promise).

But I will have to come back to the main problem. WSS is supposed to be the telling of Antoinette's story- and yet, beginning with her meeting Rochester just makes him a dominant character again (hardly working on the woman's perspective, which was what Rhys did).

Having said all that, it was worth the watch and it made me want to go back to the book!

EDIT:
Gabrielle Starkey in The Times gives a rather negative review:

Jean Rhys’s prequel to Jane Eyre is not best served by this laborious adaptation, starring a monotone Rafe Spall as a gloomy young Rochester sent off to Jamaica to make his fortune. Rebecca Hall (daughter of Sir Peter) tries hard to inject some life into the affair as Rochester’s doomed first wife, but the clumsy start will have many reaching for the off button. If you can get past the first 45 minutes, though, things perk up considerably.

Categories: Wide_Sargasso_Sea, In_the_News, Movies-DVD-TV