JANE EYRE
UK, 2011, 120 minutes, Colour.
Mia Wasakowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins, Simon Mc Burney, Holliday Grainger, Tamzin Merchant, Amelia Clarkson, Craig Roberts, Imogen Poots, Sophie Ward, Valentina Cervi.
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, both published in 1847, by Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte, with male noms-de-plume, have become English classics as well as the sources for many film versions. Here is a 21st century version. It is directed by an American, Cary Fukunaga whose other feature film was Sin Nombre, a look at migrants from Central America heading for the United States.
We are immersed in the world of Yorkshire, moors, crags, dales, the isolation, the seasons. The atmosphere is very realistic. However, this is a 19th century Gothic tale of a mansion, dark corridors, vast rooms and eerie sounds from a sealed part of the house. But it is also Dickensian in its picture of orphans treated badly by hostile relatives and, even worse, in an orphanage school with canings on the back and a headmaster with a hell and damnation approach to discipline. Jane suffers all this.
When she obtains a position as governess at Thornfield, the mansion of Edward Fairfax Rochester, she bonds with the housekeeper, Mrs Fairfax, and her French student, Adele, the past can be forgotten.
However, the film starts with Jane alone on the moors, running away from Thornfield, drenched on the carriage tracks and finally collapsing at a rectory where she is taken in and cared for by a minister and his sisters. It is from the rectory that the events of Jane’s childhood and in the orphanage are seen as flashbacks. When she recovers, she remembers all that happened at Thornfield, of her encounter with the enigmatic and severe Rochester, watching his courtship of a neighbour, Blanche Ingram, then finding that he proposes to her and that she loves him. But, most audiences probably know already what Rochester’s secret is and how it will ruin Jane’s marriage.
Mia Wasikowska (who was Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland) is a young, rather plain and reserved while assertive, Jane. Though she sometimes looks impassively stoic, she has invited us into her heart and mind so that we know what she is thinking and feeling. Michael Fassbender seems a younger Rochester (though he was five years older than Orson Welles was when he was Rochester in the 1943 version), dashing and, as Jane says, abrupt. Judi Dench plays the housekeeper with great warmth. Jamie Bell is the Reverend St John Rivers, a mature presence reminding us that his Billy Elliott and other juvenile roles are over. There are cameos from Sally Hawkins as Mrs Reid, Simon Mc Burney as the righteous Henry Brocklehurst and Valentina Cervi as Bertha Mason.
Most audiences will enjoy Jane Eyre, even if they have seen other versions (with Joan Fontaine, Susannah York and Charlotte Gainsbourg and Orson Welles, George C. Scott and William Hurt). It is both austere and emotional.
1. The continued popularity of the novel, considered a classic? The various versions in cinema, television? Audience awareness of the book, the plot?
2. Fidelity to the novel, the plot and development of characters, its spirit? As drama for the 21st century?
3. The locations, the countryside, the residence of the Rivers’ family, Thornfield, the interiors of the homes, the school? 19th century costumes, decor? Musical score?
4. The introduction to Jane, young, through the harsh weather, in the fields, arriving at the house, the family giving her care, the sisters, St John Rivers, his character, welcoming, the touch of reticence? Getting Jane a job, teaching, the prospects?
5. The flashbacks, Jane as an orphan, with Mrs Reed, and Dickensian and harsh character, her family? As the school, the harshness of Mr Brocklehurst? The effect on her?
6. At Thornfield, the friendship with Mrs Fairfax, a good woman, her work in the house, helping Jane? Teaching Adele? Her French background?
7. Rochester, his first appearance, dramatic, of the horse, his fall? Jane helping him? His character, basic, severe, anguished? The bond between himself and Jane? The conversations, love? The fire and her rescuing him?
8. Miss Ingram, a 19th century young woman, the prospects of marriage? Jane expecting Rochester to propose to her? His proposing to Jane? The impact of the visitors, the story about Rochester, his marriage?
9. Rochester, the dramatic situation, admitting that he had a wife, the recounting of the story, the truth, his being tricked into marrying her, madness, in the attic, the violence, the servants taking her meals, the sounds throughout the house and their effect?
10. Jane, came back to the Rivers’ household, St John Rivers, the teaching, his proposal, wanting her to be his missionary wife? Her turning him down?
11. The return to Thornfield, the house burning down, Bertha and her death? Rochester and his blindness, Jane and her care, their love, their future?
