Jane Eyre (2011)

 

 

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Jane Eyre is one of my all time favourite books, and this new film addaptation is an amazing one. I love how they tell Jane's story in this edition, and how they truly capture the greatness of Bronte's work! This is an absolute must have for anyone's movie collection, not just Bronte fans!!!

Adriano Goldman deserves four stars for splendid cinamatography in the film, and Michael Fessbender alone managed to carry the weight of the acting for it. He has the grasp of the character of Edward Fairfax Rochester, and translates that well through his acting. He is the sole actor with the passion which should have underscored the film from all of it's actors. Mia Wasikowska was miscaste in the role of Jane Eyre. Her acting plainly shows that she had no understanding of the Charlotte Bronte's character of Jane Eyre, and was unable to believably deliver that to an audience. There was no chemistry between Wasikowska and Fessbender, indeed, Wasikowska's acting is wooden and lacks depth, or brillance. One gets the idea that someone has coached her to look and act like Kate Blanchette, but only the shell remains. The spirit and soul and brilliance of that actress is quite beyond Waskikowska's reach. Too much posing as well.

It has been repeatedly remarked by other commentators that there is no chemistry between the actors in this film; that the acting is flat. I agree. This is the first time I have seen Dame Judi Dench fail in a role, and that is saying something. Her acting appears hesitant and disjointed. One then needs to point a finger to director Cary Funkunaga and wonder what on earth went wrong. The story has been broken into flashbacks that are confusing if the book hasn't been read, do not follow the book chronology, and don't enhance the story or the movie. In brief, poor acting, bad direction, and a mistaken idea.

I read a number of reviews before purchasing this video. Most of those reviews missed how fresh and accurate the visuals were. I felt the the locations and sets much more accurately reflected the period than many versions of Jane Eyre than I have seen before. The actors were an excellent casting choice and supplanted my previous favorites of Ciaran Hinds and Samantha Morton (excellent acting, lousy script). I enjoyed the flashback storytelling because it broke up the tedium of the telling of the early years which were dreary and oppressive. My only real disappointment, as with so many versions of this classic story was the script. I can't understand why so many directors take the position, "Let's see how much we can cut out or change and still have a good story!". Too much attention was given to trivialities and not enough to the more important aspects of the story. For example, Jane's relationship with Rochester seems to have blossomed from furtive looks and assumption as there was little in their dialog to establish anything more than a casual interest between either. Truncating the relationship between Jane and her cousins, especially with St. John made his proposal of marriage seem strange and absurd, to say the least!
The omission of the central event of Bertha Rochester invading Jane's room and tearing her wedding veil robbed the story of it's one true gothic horror scene (important to the original author and central to the nature of the story) and withered the believability of Jane's apprehension about the marriage to nothing. Although there was a version of it in the Deleted Scenes bonus feature on the DVD release, it was over done and I was glad it was not part of the finished movie. Badly done is worse than not done at all! It requires subtlety and talent to portray the menacing, devious nature of Bertha and Jane's very real and blood chilling fear. This is the sort of passion this movie lacked.
This young director brought some freshness and some folly to this retelling. Too bad it wasn't a better balance. This movie comes so close to greatness but lacks the substance (easily provided by the original book but set aside) to be truly "great"!
This movie is likely to be enjoyed best by those who have read the book and actually know the story, provided they can tolerate how much important stuff was left out or ignored. Strangers to the story will not get a satisfying taste of what makes this story a true classic.
In spite of all that it is still a good version, infinitely better than the 2006 version with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens (abysmally poor script and poor casting!). If you love Jane Eyre and want an enjoyable retelling, this film is fresh and fairly accurate. Overall a pleasant surprise and I'm very glad I bought it. It is now my 2nd favorite version behind the 1983 mini-series with Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke which actually follows very accurately the events and dialog of the book.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
This adaptation was very disappointing. I agree with previous reviews that it would be very confusing to anyone who has not read the book. Read more

Published 1 month ago by K

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but I've seen better.
I enjoyed this version and thought it was well cast overall. Mia is excellent as Jane. Unfortunately it doesn't really develop the friendship/relationship between Jane and... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Ladedadixie

1.0 out of 5 stars Dull as dishwater
If you read any reviews that mention "sparks fly" don't believe a word of it. This is the most canned adaptation of any of the great novels, anywhere, in any language. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Jan

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING!!!
I was intrigued throughout the movie. It was a strange combination - chick flick/errie mystery, but excellent somehow! Read more

Published 3 months ago by Victoria

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Jane Eyre ever
I read "Jane Eyre" many years ago, and found it altogether TOO long and overly wordy. Charlotte's sister Emily was the real writer in the family; "Wuthering Heights" is a far... Read more

Published 3 months ago by roaringgirl

4.0 out of 5 stars jane eyre
item arrived on time and in good condition. However the dvd was a bit skimpy no booklet etc but I am starting to think this is the norm.

Published 4 months ago by Janice W. Chan

5.0 out of 5 stars great movie
superlative performances, great mood, loved every minute of it. having seen all the previous versions, this one is definately the best.

Published 4 months ago by Edward Alfred gibson

1.0 out of 5 stars dark, old fashioned melodrama
The viewing simply did not live up to the glowing reviews on Rotten Tomatoes et al.
The story is Dickension because of the time period but I had expected that excellent... Read more

Published 5 months ago by cinesue

3.0 out of 5 stars If you don't already know the story this is difficult to follow
The movie starts with lots of flashbacks and flash forwards which makes the beginning of this movie difficult to follow. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Chris S

3.0 out of 5 stars "Jane! Jane! Where are you?"
If you haven't read Bronte's novel 112 times like I have and don't know the dialogue and actions in every nuanced and obsessive detail, then I imagine this might be quite a... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Calder Falk

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