When you want to fly in the clouds like a free bird. . . Actually, I am not a fan of Jane Eyre melodramas, and I watch such films quite rarely and selectively. For example, from a recent one, I liked the 1943 version of Jane Eyre. When I saw this movie, I thought, should I watch it? But for the sake of Jennifer Jones, I decided to take a risk. I didn't regret it!
The plot of the picture is as follows: England. 1845. Edward Barrett has seven children: three daughters and four sons. One of her daughters, Elizabeth, has been bedridden for five years. Everyone is trying to help, but the father seems glad that his beloved daughter is completely dependent on him.
Elizabeth is in correspondence with the poet Robert Browning. Then he starts coming to her once a week. With each arrival, Elizabeth comes alive, her face shines and her eyes sparkle with joy. It is easy to guess that they are in love with each other. But this does not please Edward Barrett at all.
The film, by the way, is based on real events and describes the biography of real life Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, yes, and moreover, is an adaptation of the play Rudolph Besier Barretts from Wimpole Street.
The film, in general, is a simple and quite straightforward plot, but the actors play in a way that touches something in the film, even a cynical person like me. Jennifer Jones In this film I was slightly reminded Audrey Hepburn
By the way, Audrey was offered the role, but she refused. Grace Kelly and Deborah Kerr were also considered candidates for the role. "Jennifer Jones" ("Jennifer Jones") played - above all praise! The actress does not play here as in her other roles. Words are difficult to describe the combination of poetry, airiness and lightness that Jones creates on the screen.
John Gielgud is also great as her father - brutal, stiff, ruthless - what was required for this role. Bill Travers also fit into the film, although here he, I think, was on a prank with Jones.
In general, it turned out to be a very sweet and touching melodrama, which is sure to appeal to lovers of stories like Jane Eyre, or maybe not only them!
P. S. By the way, in this film the heroine Jennifer Jones, and, in the 1953 film 'All I Want' the heroine Barbara Stanwyck reads the poem How Do I Love Thee?. And it is to them (in translation, of course) I want to conclude my review:
How do I love you? I love it without measure.
To the depths of the soul, to all its heights,
To the transcendent sensual beauty,
To the depths of being, to the ideal sphere.
To the needs of the ordinary, to the very first,
Like the sun and candle, simple worries,
I love how truth is the root of all freedom.
And like prayer, the heart of pure faith.
I love with all my passion and patience.
Hope unfulfilled, all childish thirst;
I love the love of all my saints,
I have been abandoned, and by every sigh.
And death will come, I believe, and from there.
I will love you even more!
10 out of 10