Audio Review: Villette

Ethereal, engaging and unusual, Charlotte Bronte's tale of isolation and requited love makes a fine three hour audio production. While this BBC Audio version may not attract the rave reviews of the original book's fans - George Eliot says: 'Villette! Villette! Have you read it?'; Virginia Woolf describes it as Bronte's 'finest novel' - it pulls the stops out in an attempt to spice up the classic yarn.

It's Bronte's third and final novel, published two years before her death - inspired by her language studies at the Pensionnat Heger in Brussels.

Villette is the most intense of Bronte's tales, with psychosexual and existential undercurrents. Audio adapter James Friel handles this well, with whispered soliloquies reflecting the heroine's mindset, developing a strong philosophy and motivation for her. Some of the theatrics don't work - the narrative is atmospheric enough without hokey effects. As one character says (about Lucy,) 'the emotion is all the more powerful for being contained.' Villette is still a worthy attempt to update a well-loved antique roadshow.

The star of this meaningful morsel is so-quiet Lucy 'Crusty' Snowe (Catherine McCormack). A simple and decent Protestant, she's the first to admit that she's 'not demure or neat by nature… steady, good and sensible.' Supporting characters include Lucy's husband-to-be Paul (James Laurenson), an autocratic schoolmaster. Further love interest Graham (Joseph Fiennes) is a fickle man, always 'sun or rain.'

The insidious Ginevra (Nancy Caroll) is described by her friends as a mighty doll and a featherbrained girl; she promises to be more interesting than the heroine. Lucy's giggly English pupils feign illness so that they can meet the local doctor, like extras in an ad for Italian sauce. There's also a mysterious nun ('…from beyond the grave, or child of my sad malady?')
There's a slow start to wade through, detailing Lucy's childhood and setting up the characters. Friel dispatches the sequence as quickly as decency will allow.

As the story speeds up and Lucy finds work as a schoolmistress, the number of coincidences also increases. The synchronicities may cause a belief hazard for some listeners; Lucy has a habit of bumping into characters who will become important later in the story.

Fortunately Lucy is interesting enough to hold our attention over the course of the narrative. There's no fairy tale ending here: she'll have to work for a living and struggle to make ends meet. Her dreams and inner voice make her life well worth a listen. Her insecurities are believable and her brushes with insanity are frightening. She's 'well used to being invisible,' but not always passive. She refuses to be anybody's shadow - not even that of a 'bright lady' like her love rival Paulina (Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh.)

Although we find out what happens to many of the characters, we are still left with some coyly unanswered questions. Not least of which: why is the story named after the town of Villette? Perhaps the heroine's name wasn't regarded as snappy enough.

'It does not always do to be a mere looker on at life,' Lucy carefully states. But sometimes it suffices to listen.