Jane Erye

Released: 2011
Drama, Romance
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Mia Wasikowska
Running Time: 120 minutes
Rated: PG-13

The breakdown: Based on the novel by Charlotte Bronte, (though I'm not sure how faithfully, since I've never read the book) a rich foul-tempered employer starts to care for his young new employee, the governess of his adopted child.

I had confused this type of story with a lot of Jane Austen novels I had read and hated.  I thought this movie and time period piece would bore me to death, and it started off that way, but much improved over the next 20 minutes or so.

Jane Eyre has a very difficult childhood that's best forgotten by her, and by the time she's 18 or 19, takes off into the real world to have a better adulthood.  She becomes the governess of a rich man's adopted French daughter and schools her.  The master of the household is ill tempered and seems to be cold and unforgiving at first.  Jane is good at drawing and that seems to get through to him on some level after asking her about her work.
Slowly the two get to be good friends, but it seems he wants a bit more, and she, being so young and without any experience of men, may not be catching onto this.
She starts to care for him as well, but doesn't seem to know what to do with her feelings and then it seems, he starts to court a wealthy young single lady that comes to the estate. 
Not only is she confused as to how to express her feelings, she also discovers a secret he's been hiding and it threatens to tear them apart for good.

I can't tell you anymore because you really should see this if you haven't.
I know this story's been around for a long time, I know there's a lot of different film adaptations out there, but this one, I think is very well done and entertaining.

Considering the fact that I went into it thinking it was going to be terrible and almost loathing it before 20 minutes was up, I ended up really enjoying the sexual tension between the two leads and the story itself is very intriguing.  Michael Fassbender was flawless as usual, the movie is evenly paced, and the romantic tension is some of the best I've seen in quite a while.

If you love a good romance, this is a classic one, but be patient with it as there is a lot of old English spoken and sometimes, the scenes can be just a tinnney bit annoying (like when people try to sing.)

4 out of 5 for being a solid story with great acting by all and intensely romantic scenes and dialogue.  It really did sweep me off my feet!  Well, I mean, Michael Fassbender is in it and you cannot go wrong with him playing a romantic lead, you just can't.