Mr. Darcy vs. Mr. Rochester
By The Misfit | May 8, 2009
I have an essay due in 6 days.
Have I started?
Nope.
Instead, I’ve been feeding my soul with romance, 19th Century style.
er… sort of.
I started with Pride & Prejudice 1996 with Colin Firth. I’m not a huge Jane Austen fan – I avoided the class solely devoted to Jane Austen as an undergrad – but I love this movie. Colin Firth is brilliant as prideful Mr. Darcy. I’m not familiar enough with the book (having only read it once or twice) to fully know how much liberty was taken in terms of narrative; guess I’ll have to re-read it soon.
Then I moved on to Jane Eyre 2006 with Toby Stephens. My favorite version of Jane Eyre used to be the one with William Hurt and Charlotte Gaines, but this most recent version – at least in terms of the pairing of actors for Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre – has knocked that one out of contention. They took a number of liberties in terms of narrative, but Toby Stephens is the perfect Mr. Rochester. Seriously. Adore. Him. One of my biggest beefs with the other versions I’ve seen is that the actors portraying Mr. Rochester have been too good-looking. Sure, Toby Stephens is good-looking, but he’s not nearly as “pretty boy” as the others have been – he’s all angles and sharp edges. And he has Mr. Rochester’s character down to a “t”.
After all this procrastinating and movie watching, I’ve been thinking about how they (the royal “they”) don’t make men like they used to. Perhaps it’s a bit of sour grapes, but I’ll squish them, extract every bit of juice, and drink to the fact that boys in books are better.
Perhaps someone will mosey along and prove me wrong. Will let you know if it happens, but I’m certainly not going to hold my breath.
Topics: movies for the misfit | 4 Comments »
November 17th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
I have this debate with myself all the time. I think I’ve settled on Mr. Rochester because he is more passionate, and I love the way he loves Jane. Sigh. So romantic.
Also, I love Toby Stephens in the 2006 version. I wasn’t on board at first because he looks so different than the Rochester I imagine, but he definitely knows the character. He’s wonderful.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Sarah ~ I’m so glad I’m not the only one! I think overall Mr. Rochester wins in my book; mostly because Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books and I’ve read it so many times. Compared to Pride & Prejudice which I’ve read maybe two or three times. I think both characters start off as total jackasses in the beginning – prideful and conceited and sometimes just plain mean – only to end up being jelly in the arms of the woman they (respectively) love.
It didn’t take me long at all to fall for Toby Stephens as Rochester. Every version I’ve seen, Rochester was always too pretty, though the acting has always been decent. But Toby… well, he fits the part well. He’s awesome looking, but he’s not pretty. And his facial expressions are to die for!
December 26th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Have you ever seen the 1996 version with Ciaran Hinds? It’s on Youtube. H is an absolutely FANTASTIC Rochester – my favourite by far.
December 28th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I haven’t yet, Donna, but I will absolutely look for it. Not sure if he’ll beat out Toby Stephens, but we’ll see.
Thanks for the head’s up!