Jane the Virgin - The Complete First Season - DVD

Movie: As a little girl, 23-year-old Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez) swore to her grandmother Alba (Ivonne Coll) that she would remain a virgin until her wedding. And being a good girl, she has stuck to it until now. Her boyfriend Michael (Brett Dier) finds it hard to stand the wait, but respects Jane's wishes, as she is his absolute dream girl and he desperately wants to marry her. But then, during a visit to the gynecologist, a fateful mix-up occurs: instead of a routine pap smear, Jane is injected with Rafael Solano's (Justin Baldoni) sperm, which was actually intended for his wife Petra (Yael Grobglas). Now Jane is a virgin, but pregnant nonetheless - and with the child of her former crush and current boss, of all people. This is the perfect material for a telenovela - especially since there is also a murder, secret affairs and the secret about Jane's father, which her mother Xiomara (Andrea Navedo) has been guarding perfectly until now. And as if all this wasn't turbulent and confusing enough, Jane then begins to doubt her feelings for Michael and become attracted to Rafael.

Jane the Virgin is a very free adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la virgen. However, the makers have merely taken the basic idea and created something entirely their own from it, which has elements of the classic telenovela, but at the same time satirizes them very charmingly. This is made clear by the ironic off-commentary that accompanies the action. But also the play with exaggerated clichés makes the series a lot of fun. However, Jane the Virgin is not a pure comedy series. Rather, it also very effectively uses dramatic elements, light suspense moments and plenty of tingling romance. The result of this colorful mix is a very entertaining soap with an extremely high addictive factor.

That this works so well is as much due to the scriptwriters as to the good directors. But also the very well chosen cast contributes a considerable part to the fact that the series always hits the right note. The actors' acting always balances perfectly between seriousness and irony, which is believable in the more serious moments and just amusing in the more humorous ones. And even though the story seems extremely contrived and the characters are somewhat exaggerated, the characters seem real enough that you sympathize with them, rejoice with them or feel sorry for them. In short, Jane the Virgin is simply fun to watch.

Over the course of the first season, there are admittedly a few small lengths and downward swings in quality here and there. But overall, the entertainment level remains very high throughout the 22 episodes. If you like TV entertainment with a twinkle in your eye, if you like uninhibited romantic soaps and humorous love stories full of confusion, intrigue and mystery, you can't miss this series. Absolutely worth watching!

Picture + Sound: There is actually hardly anything to complain about the technical implementation. For a TV production, the visuals are absolutely convincing in terms of overall sharpness, powerful colouring and contrast. Here and there there are minor blurs, but overall, the small weaknesses are hardly worth mentioning. The audio, unsurprisingly for a series like this, is less than spectacular. The dialogues are mixed rather centrally, real surround feeling comes up only very rarely. Still, for a current TV series, it's all perfectly satisfactory. Good!

Extras: As a bonus there are two short documentaries about the making of the series (approx. 14:57 min.) and about the actors (approx. 6:53 min.). In addition, there are cut scenes to individual episodes as well as a few amusing spoiled scenes (approx. 5:55 min.). Also included with the box is a small booklet with an episode guide to the first season.

Conclusion: Jane the Virgin is a really amusing and charming mix of drama, comedy and telenovela, especially the latter genre is also satirized in an endearing way. An amusing underlying tone, a likeable lead actress and plenty of heart make this first season very tasty fodder for all series junkies. The DVD presents the episodes in very coherent picture and sound quality and also offers a few extras, which could have been a bit more extensive, but will still satisfy all fans of the series. Absolutely recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp