Owing to my lack of a high school education, I have never read many of the classic novels. No Austin, no Hardy, no Hemingway, no Dickens. And no Brontë. It somewhat goes without saying then that I have not read Jane Eyre. I'd heard of it of course, but never really had a desire to pick it up later in life. I'd also never seen one of the many adaptations of Charlotte Brontë's novel. That was until around two months ago when I stumbled upon the version starring William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg on TV.
That film surprised me as I hadn't intended to watch it but found myself pulled in and I ended up really liking it. So when I heard of another adaptation soon to be released I was interested to see what this would be like in comparison.
The tale is one of an orphan girl, Jane (Amelia Clarkson), who is sent to live with her aunt, Mrs Reed (Sally Hawkins). Rather than taking good care of her orphaned niece, Mrs Reed resents being the girl's only living relative and ships her off to a boarding school out of the way. Upon leaving school Jane (now played by Mia Wasikowska) accepts a post as governess at Thornfield Hall. Her charge there is a young french girl, Adele (Romy Settbon Moore), who has been taken in by the illusive master of Thornfield, Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender). When he does eventually return to Thornfield after months away, Jane is faced with a situation she has never known before. She must not only converse with a man, something she has little experience of, she must also hold her own against this formidable, sometimes confrontational, imposing figure. A man she is rapidly falling in love with.
*Spoiler Alert*
As I have little knowledge of the book I only really have the other version of Jane Eyre to compare this to. And I have to say that as such, I found this version to have quite a complicated layout. The other film starts with Jane as a child, moves on to Thornfield, the almost wedding, Jane runs away, when she comes back she finds fire has consumed Thornfield and Rochester is injured. In this version we open on Jane after she has already run away from Thornfield and is taken in by St John and his sisters. It's almost as if the rest of the story is told in flashback, Jane as a child, then onto Thornfield, then back to Jane working for St John and then finally back to Thornfield again at the end. As such, those not acquainted with the book may find the order of events somewhat confusing.
I have read reviews on the previous version of Jane Eyre that I saw, in these reviews I see that the main complaint with that film was that the ending of the book was largely missed out. Namely, the scenes after Jane has run away and is working for St John. In this film though, I would say that their downfall is not showing enough of Jane's early life at Lowood School. As this is where she meets her one true friend, the tragic Helen Burns. These scenes were done so beautifully in the '96 version of Jane Eyre but have been mostly left out of the new version. I actually think this is more of a tragedy than leaving out the later scenes as without the early scenes you don't really have a sense of who Jane is or what she's been though in her life.
*End Spoiler Alert*
I also felt that the strange sequence the story was told in left little time for the scenes with St John to be played out fully. The last scene between Jane and St John ended really abruptly and left me feeling like their story was unresolved. As I've said, I have not read the book and maybe this is how these scenes are supposed to feel? But for me, as a viewer rather than a reader, I thought this could have been done better.
Mia Wasikowska was an adequate Jane in all but voice as she provided a fine English accent, but like Anne Hathaway in One Day, she struggled to be northern. Fassbender and Dench were also fine in their respective roles, but failed to make any real lasting impression on me. The real surprise for me was Jamie Bell, who I've never been a fan of. I thought he did a great job of the small, less showy role of St John, imbuing him with a warmth, if still reserved nature.
Overall I think I preferred the '96 version of Jane Eyre as I didn't feel as though this film added an awful lot to what that film had already achieved. 6.5 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 19th September 2011
UK Release Date - 9th September 2011
Cast Overview:
Mia Wasikowska ~ Jane Eyre
Michael Fassbender ~ Edward Rochester
Judi Dench ~ Mrs Fairfax
Romy Settbon Moore ~ Adèle Varens
Jamie Bell ~ St John Rivers
Holliday Grainger ~ Diana Rivers
Tamzin Merchant ~ Mary Rivers
Imogen Poots ~ Blanche Ingram
Sally Hawkins ~ Mrs Reed
Amelia Clarkson ~ Young Jane
Freya Parks ~ Helen Burns
Craig Roberts ~ John Reed
Director ~ Cary Joji Fukunaga
Writer(s) ~ Moira Buffini (Screenplay) and Charlotte Brontë (Novel)
