Jane Eyre reviews and spoilers 3

http://www.yourtango.com/201173941/new-jane-eyre-film-winner-it-date-movie

New Jane Eyre Film Is A Winner, But Is It A Date Movie?
The latest adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's classic makes for good cinema. But is it a date movie?

By Amanda Green

A part of me wanted to dislike Cary Fukunaga's adaptation of Jane Eyre. For one, there are so many versions of this movie with slight variations on Mr. Rochester that I didn't expect anything to surprise me. I also have issues with all those classics by Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. I know I'm supposed to love them, especially because I'm a bookworm. But I don't.

Truth is, I have a really hard time reading a book that spends three pages describing the interior of someone's family's estate. And watching an actress wear a corset for two hours makes me want to put on a Snuggy. It's even more difficult for me to sympathize with a swarthy romantic figure who's got his crazy wife hidden in the attic.

But the version of Jane Eyre in theaters now reminds me of why so many people love Charlotte Bronte's love story. Jane (Mia Wasikowska) is the ultimate Plain Jane, with hat hair, dingy dresses and a stoic face. She's bright and good, but life deals her some very hard knocks. She's orphaned and moves in with her despicable aunt, Sarah Reed, and cruel cousins. Jane's sent to a charity school full of typhus and corporal punishment and eventually leaves to become a governess at Thornfield Hall.

The housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench) introduces Jane to her charge, a young French girl named Adele, and speaks of the master of Thornfield, Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender, who gives Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy a run for his money with this performance). He comes and goes as he pleases. Jane's first encounter with him—though she doesn't know it at the time—comes when Rochester's horse throws him in front of her, and he accuses her of bewitching the horse. Ugh, men.

The flirtation starts when Rochester settles down for the night and officially meets Jane. He's taken with her intellect and honesty, and asks her to sit. He keeps dropping hints that he made a terrible mistake in his past. Jane keeps a professional, but friendly, distance and never asks.

For a smart girl, it's a bit surprising that Jane doesn't start putting things together. Might that stomping and groaning coming from the attic have something to do with Mr. Rochester's secret burden? (I mean, has the guy bought a rhinoceros he can't return or what?) What about that one night Jane discovers Rochester's bedroom on fire and saves his life? Or the time someone stabs a houseguest, and he begs Jane to help clean the wound without asking questions? 10 Secrets Men Keep From Women

Still, Rochester is the hottest thing at Thornfield, and all shadiness aside, he's a good man. He's kind to Jane in a way no one else has been and treats her as an intellectual equal. Rochester's smart and sees Jane's independent streak. Even more, he celebrates it.

I struggled at times to see love bloom between Jane and Rochester, because I didn't have the usual Hollywood cues. This is a slow fire—and maybe even a case for playing hard to get. Jane never lets her (flat, center-parted, dull) hair down. She doesn't flirt... or even smile. When Rochester goes in for the kill, she ducks away every time. They barely touch. Jane stays plain, and Rochester's captivated.

So is the audience. We want Jane and Rochester to just kiss already. Something needs to happen before Rochester moves on and Jane is stuck roaming the moors and dales all by herself.

The two finally come to terms with their feelings and get engaged (in the same day—efficiently), but there's the elephant in the room. Well, in the attic. Rochester's in love, but he hasn't come clean. That mistake he made is actually his wife. She's crazy and violent and prohibits him from marrying Jane.

Like all secrets revealed too late in a relationship, this one devastates Jane. She runs away from Thornfield. How can the only person who's ever loved her be tied to another person so wrong for him? Rochester asks if Jane will stay with him, even if they can't get married. But she wants all or nothing.

Oh, Jane. We've all been there.

If you've read the novel, like every other person who took high school English, you know what happens next. But catching Jane Eyre in theaters now just might make you reconsider your dating game. (Still, I suggest you stay away from married guys.)

So is Jane Eyre a date movie, then?

See Jane Eyre on a date if... you and your sweetie love English lit, specifically the Brontes, and period pieces.

Don't see Jane Eyre on a date if... Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy is the only Victorian leading man for you, and/or you tend to nod off in films that lack periodic gunfire.

http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/movies/reviews/Jane-Eyre-%282011%29?review_id=2562

Movie Reviews
Jane Eyre (2011) NOW PLAYING Trailer
Whole star Whole star Whole star Half star PG-13 (2011) Publication Date Mar. 25, 2011

Just when you think the umpteenth adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's beloved 1847 novel couldn't possibly add anything new to the library of cinematic classics, director Cary Joji Fukunaga proves you wrong. Besides featuring rising stars Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, the handsome British production successfully explores the mindscape of the "small and plain" heroine.

Instead of telling the tale in chronological order, screenwriter Moira Buffini ("Tamara Drewe") begins with the adult Jane (Wasikowska of "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Kids Are All Right"), diminutive in a long shot, at a crossroads on the mist-shrouded moors. Sobbing and "white as death," Jane unleashes her emotions in an opening both atmospheric and wordless -- yet true to the spirit of Bronte's first-person narrative.

Only after being taken in by cleric St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell of "Billy Elliot") and his sisters (Holliday Grainger and Tamzin Merchant) does Jane recall her unhappy time as the orphaned ward of her aunt (Sally Hawkins of "Happy-Go-Lucky"). The flashback takes us to the novel's opening scene and establishes the admirable traits of the 10-year-old girl: independent, imbued with a sense of fairness and justice, and calm but with a burning passion beneath her drab exterior.

Buffeted about by fate and subject to the cruel inequities of class and gender, Jane eventually becomes the governess of Thornfield Hall and falls in love with the master of the manor house, Edward Rochester (Fassbender of "Hunger" and "Inglourious Basterds").

Wasikowska's understated performance engenders sympathy, particularly when Jane suffers through numerous false accusations, beatings and disappointments. She emanates a quiet strength and enduring spirit, making her few emotional outbursts even more dramatic. The young actor owns the movie. When Fassbender stumbles into the picture as the brooding Rochester, he sweeps the impressionable woman off her feet but doesn't steal the show. "You are my equal and my likeness," he says, as the love story takes flight.

Although straying far from the dangerous territory of the Central American immigrants and Mexican gang members of "Sin Nombre," Fukunaga and lenser Adriano Goldman bring visual and visceral punch to the Victorian era. The team created stark images of lonely vistas and boxed-in environments that externalize Jane's inner feelings. A gothic eeriness hovers over the movie, sometimes making one question the sanity of the governess, and other times suggesting an invisible world of spirits.

Either way, the filmmakers pull us inside Jane's feverish imagination while hinting at the dark secrets behind Thornhill's closed doors. Judi Dench, who plays the caring housekeeper of the manor house, provides the few moments of levity in the film.

Reader, a new generation will most likely enjoy discovering this enduring classic on the big screen.

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements including a nude image and brief violent content. 1 hour, 55 minutes.
- Susan Tavernetti

http://www.marinij.com/entertainment/ci_17692247

What's playing in Marin for the week of March 25, 2011

Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 03/25/2011 08:00:00 AM PDT

opening friday

"JANE EYRE" HHH1/2 (PG-13) Century Regency, CineArts Sequoia. A voluptuous adaptation of the 1847 novel that remains enormously popular, expressing a forbidden attraction between a powerless young woman and her fierce and distant employer. Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender embody Jane and Rochester with a firm sense of who they are; neither is unattractive, although the novel says they are, but then this is the movies. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, a rising star whose "Sin Nombre" was one of the best films of 2009. From Roger Ebert. 118 minutes.

http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/1087/movie-review-jane-eyre

arch 25, 2011
Movie Review: Jane Eyre
Posted by Turk182 in Movie Reviews

I must admit from the start, I never read the classic novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. In my high school, we were given several novels to choose between. I went the Steinbeck and Dickens route. That being said, I was not totally unaware of the plot of the book before seeing Cary Fukunaga new adaptation of Bronte's most famous work (there have been over forty-five to date).

Of course it is not possible to properly translate a 400 page novel into a two-hour movie. There are always cuts, and creative decisions to be made to convey the essence of the story. And very cleverly, screenwriter Moira Buffini has done just that. Jane's bitter and abusive childhood is recalled by a number of well-placed, and well-acted flashbacks.

Amelia Clarkson, as a young Jane, gives Jane a defiant, yet compassionate character. I was really taken by the performance of this young actress. She embodies the strength of will that allows Jane to triumph over the hypocrisy she sees in the self-righteous around her. It is that strength of character that forces her into the bleak, cold, wet moors, when faced with a choice that is abhorrent to her sense of morality. Australian actress Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right), continues to show she is a talent to be reckoned with. At a mere 21, she brings a maturity and strength to the role that belays her age. There is a quiet strength in Jane that needs to come through, and Wasikowska demonstrates it flawlessly. Not to sound silly, but I think her hair style, an exquisitely braided tight spiral of hair tight against her head, perfectly symbolizes Jane's tight rein on her emotions. When she "let's her hair down" and allows herself to be vulnerable, she shows the complexity of her humanity. A side-note, it was reported that Wasikowska suffered from hypothermia the second day of shooting as she struggled through the rain soaked, and muddy countryside of England. It was shot so beautifully, I could almost feel the chilly air swirl around me as I watched Jane struggle through the desolation.

That brings me to the cinematography. We just finished the Hollywood awards season, but I think Adriano Goldman (Sin Nombre) should be clearing his calendar for next year. There are moments in Jane Eyre that made me feel like I was watching a Vermeer or Rembrandt come to life. The use of shadow and candle light were beautifully executed. And the sense of desolation conveyed in the lighting and capturing of the moors was palpable. There is a moment when the screen is almost black, and a fire is started in the fireplace. The effect was mesmerizing as it illuminated Wasikowska's face.

As Mr. Rochester, Irish born actor Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) brings the required dark, brooding to the character. He plays Rochester a good ten years younger than the character was written by Bronte. In so, he is able to convey a physical strength, and an aura of intimidation to those around him. I found the on screen chemistry between he and Wasikowska very believable. They did play off each other well. In one of the most famous scenes from the book, when Jane confronts him and informs Rochester of her leaving, the pair really shines. As the housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax, the brilliant Judi Dench, who elevates everything she is in, is perfect. She brings a sense of kindness and motherliness that Jane has not known. As St. John Rivers, Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Jumpers) shines. He portrays him as a kind and Christian man, who is actually rather cold and calculating. I really enjoyed his performance. It could be very easy to go over the top with a character like this one, but Bell keeps him restrained and even likeable ... to a point.

This of course is a period-piece. And Academy-Award winner Michael O'Connor's (The Duchess) costumes are an integral part of the production. His use of muted fabrics to dress Jane, emphasis her "plainness," especially when compared to the richly detailed elaborate dresses of her aunt and Mr. Rochester's new fiancée, Blanche Ingram. At the helm of this epic story, is of course the director, Cary Funkunaga (Sin Nombre). He has created a film that captures the gothic qualities of the novel. There are moments of suspense, and old fashioned scares. He keeps the pacing brisk. And the story flows. So, even if you have never read the source material, give Jane Eyre a chance and you won't be disappointed.

Rating: THREE BONES
Reviewed by Bernie Tague

Release Date: March 25th, 2011 at the Landmark Maple Art Theatre in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; look for it in select theatres across the country
Rating: PG-13

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Holliday Grainger, and Sally Hawkins
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Writer: Moira Buffini

http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/articleid/426260/newspaperid/1324/2011_Jane_Eyre_Brings_Flair.aspx

2011 Jane Eyre Brings Flair
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Thursday, March 24, 2011 By Christine Villanueva
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Child abuse, romance, family, social class and independence are all included in the new 2011 film Jane Eyre.

This film is based upon the book Jane Eyre, which was written back in 1847 by Charlotte Brontë, and directed by Cary Fukunaga.

Considered a classic, this book was made into a film in 1943, 1996, and now. It was even made into a little television series in 2006.

Jane Eyre is played by Mia Wasikowska, who is also known for her part as Alice in the remake of Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton. In this movie, little Jane Eyre is played by Amelia Clarkson.

The movie starts off with Jane running away from something, we don’t know what or who she’s running away from yet, and gets taken in by John Rivers (Jamie Bell) and his two sisters, Diana (Holliday Grainger) and Mary (Tamzin Merchant). When she talks to Rivers and his sisters, she introduces herself as Jane with the last name Elliot, not Eyre.

After a few days, Diana and Mary have to go back home, and Jane asks if she can work so she doesn’t take their food for free. Rivers finds her a job as a teacher and even gets her a little cottage, which she lives in by herself.

After that part, the movie took a twist; now Jane is working as a governess, who is a woman who takes care of a child much like a babysitter nowadays, for Mr. Rochester, played by Michael Fassbender.

When she first took the job, she hadn’t met Rochester. The first two meet when Jane is sent on a task and stops in the middle of the passageway, which scares Rochester’s horse and sends both him and his horse tumbling to the ground, where Rochester hurts his ankle. After their collision, Jane gets back to the house and is told by the maid, Ms. Fairfax (Judi Dench) that Rochester wants to meet her. Then and there, they both realize that they’ve met each other before.

You can tell that they both take a liking to each other, but they don’t say anything about it. They’re attracted to each other but it seems like something’s holding both of them a part. I thought that it would have been social class. At one point in the movie, Jane asks, “Do you think that because I am poor, obscure, plain, little that I am soulless and heartless?”

While watching the movie in the theater, which was full with seats in both the back of the theater to the very front, mind you, seems like this book was like Twilight for us. Most of the people in the theater were elderly, and after the movie was done, a lot of people stayed after the credits to discuss the book and the movie.

I thought that since this book was written such a long time ago it’d be kind of a boring movie, but to me, it was anything but. I like how Fukunaga directed this movie so that it wasn’t in chronological order. This movie has everything: romance, suspense, angst, comedy and even sad scenes.

If you’re looking for a new movie to watch, I highly suggest Jane Eyre. I think that it’ll be a classic movie to go down into history because of talented actors and actresses, a talented director and a good book to get its plot from. If you don’t see this movie, I think you’re missing out.

http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/illinois/life/matdekinder/article_d9c92d5f-734f-54a8-8435-742cac973c8d.html

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REVIEW: Plain Jane triumphs, again

By Mathew DeKinder STLtoday.com | Posted: Friday, March 25, 2011 6:00 am
SUBMITTED PHOTO Michael Fassbender stars as Edward Rochester and Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre in "Jane Eyre."
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Jane Eyre Movie Trailer Official (HD)
Jane Eyre Movie Trailer Official (HD)

The British suffer from several compulsions, among them royal weddings, the cooking and consuming of terrible food and the constant remaking of film-versions of their literary classics.

I have to believe that they really can't help themselves, especially when it comes to the likes of Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. It's as if every 15 years the world was storming the gates of the British Broadcasting Company demanding a new version of "Pride and Prejudice."

Currently leaping out of the recycling bin is Charlotte Bronte and her dour, romantic masterpiece "Jane Eyre," which has been given its umpteenth translation to film.

I can't really fault the Brits for each of their generations wanting to make their cinematic mark on these classic works, but your not exactly going to be breaking new ground the 17th, 18th, 19th time around.

Therefore you almost have to look at these BBC productions like the restaging of classic plays. You never judge a Shakespeare Festival by saying, "Oh man, I can't believe they're doing 'Hamlet' again."

You know the story and you love the story, which is mostly likely why you are there in the first place. Your critical eye then must turn to the production quality, the chemistry of the actors, the deference paid to the original text and the sheer number of corsets.

You're not looking to be blown away by originality, but instead are there to be comforted by the familiar beats of a beloved tale.

Following these criteria, the 2011 version of "Jane Eyre" is a loving and faithful adaptation that features some solid acting and dynamic enough presentation to keep modern audiences from falling asleep.

For those that have forgotten or spent most of their senior English classes drinking beer in the high school parking lot, "Jane Eyre" is the tale of a young orphan girl in 19th-century England named, interestingly enough, Jane Eyre.

Jane, coming from a family of some means, isn't cast out on the streets, but is instead sent to a strict boarding school where she is trained to be a governess.

Jane is played by the up-and-coming Australian actress Mia Wasikowska, whose roles in "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Kids Are Alright" have her on the fast-track to Hollywood's A-list.

Naturally, Jane possesses a strength and vitality that far surpasses her station in life. After she graduates she moves to the estate of the handsome, but moody Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender) to tutor his young ward.

Romance blooms slowly, as it always does in the high society of 1800s Britain, amidst some mysterious and unsettling goings on in Rochester's massive home.

Once you get past the "been-there-done-that" aspect of the story, you'll find plenty new to sink your teeth into, especially the dynamics Wasikowska and Fassbender bring to Jane and Rochester's relationship. Director Cary Fukunaga infuses his movie with darkness, both literally and figuratively. "Jane Eyre" oozes with an atmosphere not typical for a costume drama. He also manages to get the most from his fine cast; and it never hurts when you can bring Judi Dench in off the bench for the supporting role of Rochester's housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax.

This is a version of "Jane Eyre" that should be pleasing to purists, but lively and compelling enough to attract some new devotees to an austere tale of tragic romance and personal triumph. And if you miss it, don't feel too bad, another version will be along in another decade or two, just like clockwork.

"Jane Eyre" is rated PG-13 for some thematic elements, including a nude image and brief violent content.

Copyright 2011 STLtoday.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted in Matdekinder, Movies, Reviews on Friday, March 25, 2011 6:00 am Updated: 6:47 pm.

http://www.indiemoviesonline.com/reviews/Jane-Eyre-250311

Jane Eyre
Posted on Fri, 25/03/2011 @ 09:46 by:
Kimberly Gadette
Mia Wasikowska in Jane Eyre

With close to 30 prior versions in film and TV since 1910, Jane Eyre continues to haunt the screen. As they're following in multiple cinematic footsteps, Kimberly Gadette asks, do Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender hold their own?

More puzzling than how Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender) managed to hide his first marriage to a Creole nutcase for years, is the fact that new versions of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre continue to pop up every five years or so. It just may be that in 19th century literature by women, Jane Eyre offers the most bang for the 1800s' buck. The story includes elements of the Gothic hauntings of a Mary Shelley (Frankenstein); the engaging war of wits of a Jane Austen (Pride & Prejudice); and the super-charged romantic melodrama of Brontë sister Emily (Wuthering Heights). Jane Eyre also addresses the very real feminist grievances of its time, reflecting the economic woes of the female who was prohibited from inheriting any real property in deference to the males of the family, and who could only channel her education into such career roles as teacher or governess.

In that vein comes a heroine who won't compromise her sense of self, even though she belongs to a lower social class and is, in her words, "poor, obscure, plain, and little." For every Hollywood mega-starlet of the moment, it is Jane who represents the fantasies of the bookish young girl ... that no matter how plain you are, you, too, can win the most dashing man in the land if you are forthright, strong-hearted and very, very smart.

Jane Eyre

This current version breaks the mold in a few notable ways: Moira Buffini's screenplay scrambles the linear timeline; at the time of the shoot, lead actress Mia Wasikowska matched the age of the heroine (often played by older stars); and the director, Cary Fukunaga, was a daring choice. (His prior and only other feature was his own independent film, Sin Nombre, a grim teenage gang drama about Central American immigrants trying to illegally cross over to the US). But Fukunaga saw some parallels to his first project: "I’ve always liked exploring the idea of 'family' or lack thereof, and particularly remembered the protagonist’s having to overcome so many challenges in her youth to find love and true family."

Bringing in his Brazilian Sin Nombre cinematographer Adriano Goldman, Fukunaga & Co. chose an 11th century, foreboding mansion that sits atop a limestone outcrop in the middle of nowhere to represent the film's major location, Thornfield. With Wasikowska's Jane filmed against the expansive Derbyshire landscape of drab, craggy rocks, dressed in muted tones of gray and brown, she all but disappears, underscoring the social ostracism of a penniless young woman alone, without friends or family.

After an opening with the heroine weeping while stumbling through a cruel landscape of bracken and mud, Jane is given shelter by the three Rivers siblings (which doesn't occur in the novel until the final chapters). Introducing the Rivers family upfront, Moira Buffini's creative screenplay cleverly allows Jane perspective and distance from her prior life. The fact that she finally feels a sense of inclusion is starkly contrasted with the ongoing flashbacks to her childhood: first, as the unwanted orphan taken in by a vicious aunt (Sally Hawkins, her sausage curls and wide-skirted party dresses dancing in gleeful wickedness), followed by her abusive time at Lowood School, run by the sadistic headmaster Brocklehurst (Simon McBurney, his every sneer reminiscent of a Dickensian villain).

Jane Eyre

The screenplay turns linear in the second act, in which Jane arrives at Thornfield to take the job as governess for Mr. Rochester's young French ward. Jane can't help but fall for the mysterious, mercurial man of the house, who at times shows her a respect that she's never known before. But the road to true love is particularly thorny here at Thornfield...

Wasikowska gives us a Jane bristling with courage, her head held high – and yet her face can be surprisingly elastic. When she finds herself unexpectedly in love, the grim, defensive set of her mouth melts and she is lit from within, radiant. This isn't an easy part ... given the story's melodrama, Jane could fall into traps of the priggish, or the mousey, or the morally condescending. Wasikowska floats above the pitfalls, allowing us to embrace Jane as the beloved young woman she was always meant to be.

Fassbender's Rochester in Jane Eyre

As for Fassbender, while it's probably not hard to erase the shadows of some previous Rochesters (the oddly-cast George C. Scott, the embarrassingly-wigged William Hurt), Fassbender's portrayal of the Byronic hero also has to contend with such iconic performances as that of the young Orson Welles. However, with his clear-eyed intelligence and towering on-screen authority, Fassbender gives us a wonderful rogue of a man, daring any female to try to tame him. The leads' chemistry is beautifully captured by director Fukunaga, sculpting the highly-charged, yet still very real moments.

This Jane Eyre, like all Jane Eyres, has to fight such overheated moments such as slow death of consumptive childhood friend Helen Burns (played in the 1943 version by the recently-deceased Elizabeth Taylor), Jane's hearing Rochester's voice calling to her across the moors, and the mysterious Richard Mason appearing in the middle of the night, bleeding from multiple wounds. But Fukunaga tries to effect a balance, ably making as much use of Judi Dench's humorously chatty housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax as possible.

Jane Eyre

Between Dench, the few sparkling rounds of Jane's and Rochester's wordplay, and the gothic ghostly haunts that amp up the wilder aspects of the drama, this beautifully-shot, well-acted Jane Eyre stands among the best of the film's gazillion versions.

Now could we please hold off on future adaptations? At least for awhile?

Rating on a scale of 5 hopes that Mia won't ever wear that hairdo again: 4

Release date: US: 4 March 2011 (ltd), wider release 25 March; UK: 9 September 2011
Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Screenplay by: Moira Buffini
Based on the novel by: Charlotte Brontë
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Holliday Grainger, Sally Hawkins, Tamzin Merchant, Imogen Poots, Su Elliott, Amelia Clarkson, Freya Parks, Simon McBurney, Valentina Cervi
Rating: US = PG-13; UK = TBC
Running time: 120 minutes

http://www.montereyherald.com/living/ci_17698068?nclick_check=1

Austen vs. Bronte: New movie rekindles the 'battle of the bonnets'
By MONICA HESSE
The Washington Post
Posted: 03/25/2011 01:36:45 AM PDT
Updated: 03/25/2011 08:36:24 AM PDT

Enough with the empire waistlines, the sparkly dialogue, the pride, the prejudice, the Colin Firth trudging out of the lake again and again on the late-night minithons on A&E.

The devoted readers of Bonnet Drama have always known that if it came down to it, if someone held a flintlock musket to their heads and demanded an answer, that "I love Jane Austen and the Brontes equally" would not suffice. Sides must be chosen:

You are either a Janeite. Or you are a Charlottan.

"When I need order in my life, I read Jane Austen," English film producer Alison Owen says. "When I'm feeling more emotional, and when I need that passionate punch, I turn to 'Jane Eyre.'"

For two decades, Austen's Janeites have held the public hostage in an infinite Regency-era loop. Elizabeth Bennet played by Jennifer Ehle, played by Keira Knightley, played by Aishwarya Rai. Elizabeth Bennet fighting zombies. A cultish What Would Jane Do movement emerged, as if Austen were not a favorite author but a chatty oracle.

The Charlottans have waited.

Now, victories:

"Jane Eyre" is the newest remake of the most famous novel to be written by Charlotte Bronte or her two author sisters, Emily and Anne. Owen is the producer of the movie, which stars Mia Wasikowska, the "Alice" of Tim Burton's "Wonderland," as plain governess Jane, and Michael Fassbender — an appropriate blend of sexy, cruel and mangy — as her tormented employer, Mr. Rochester.

In Britain, director Andrea
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Arnold is finishing a new version of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" — the first version to cast a black actor as Heathcliff.

In New York, a Bronte fan launched a one-time magazine called "Eyresses," dedicated to the painstaking worship of the 400-page novel. It includes a "Jane Eyre Community Cookbook" and an e-mail chain between two dudes who confess that they both secretly love the book.

The faithful are very protective of their source material.

"There is nothing about this movie that is reinventing what the story should have been," Cary Fukunaga, who directed the new film, says in an interview. "The book is frightening," he says, promising that his "Jane" preserves the Gothic elements that have been sacrificed in previous versions. "There are other 'Jane Eyre' films out there that are mostly treated as romance films."

The problem for Brontophiles isn't that the books haven't been made into movies; with the exception of Anne's works (everyone always forgets about Anne), many have. The problem is that so many have been lacking. Whereas "Pride and Prejudice" will forever be defined by Colin Firth, the cinematic world is still in search of the perfect Bronte adaptation.

"I cannot tell you how many Bronte films I have seen," says Rebecca Fraser, a Charlotte Bronte biographer. "Orson Welles (1943) was very Byronic, but not so attractive. ... People generally think that Timothy Dalton (1983) did not work."

"The worst adaptation, that's the 1934 one," write Manuel Del Estal and Cristina Lara, co-sovereigns of the Bronte Blog, via e-mail. "It's almost like a parody." (They respond via e-mail because they are vacationing in Haworth, England, home of the Brontes, and they have authentically rented a house without a telephone.)

Most everyone agrees that the one starring William Hurt (1996) was a disaster. How could it not be? It bungled the best quote, with Charlotte Gainsbourg's Jane telling Mr. Rochester, "I may be poor and plain, but I'm not without feelings."

No. Incorrect.

The correct quote, to be spoken with immeasurable misery, is:

"Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless?"

Anyone who can't see the difference is entirely missing the point.

Jane Austen is easy to love. Her heroines are smart; her heroes are righteous. People say funny things and wear lovely clothes and spend a lot of time going to balls or sitting in drawing rooms, meaning that the scenery is just gorgeous. Everything ends happily for everyone who deserves it.

The Brontes are more difficult. Things don't end well. The writing is beautiful, but Mr. Rochester and Heathcliff are basically thugs in morning coats. They say savage things. They emotionally torture the women they claim to love. They keep other women locked in attics. Things burn. People die.

"Jane Eyre is basically like 'Mad Max,'" offers Mikki Halpin, one of the women behind the "Eyresses" project. "It's basically like a horror movie set in this very hostile terrain."

More modernly, Jane Eyre is "Twilight." The women who think it is sooo sexy that the vampire Edward Cullen is a borderline abusive boyfriend are the same women who will discover that borderline abusive boyfriends have been sooo sexy for 160 years.

Jane Austen? She is "Gossip Girl."

One doesn't know what Austen would make of the Bronte sisters — she died before their works were published — but one does know how Charlotte felt about her, as written in a letter to a friend:

"She ruffles her reader by nothing vehement, disturbs him with nothing profound. The passions are perfectly unknown to her: she rejects even a speaking acquaintance with that stormy sisterhood."

The storminess of the Brontes' writing makes for an intensely personal reading experience, a private world of melodrama and creepy love. This might explain why there has never been a definitive film version. Any screen adaptation approaching the emotional pinnacles achieved by readers in their imaginations would have to include so much emoting it would end up looking ridiculous.

"It's especially true with 'Wuthering Heights,'" says Andrew McCarthy, director of the Bronte Parsonage Museum in England. "As a naturalistic adaptation, it's unfilmable, really. There almost needs to be a new media or a new art form."

In some ways, McCarthy says, "the most successful adaptations are the ones that pay the least respect to the book."

Hush, Mr. McCarthy, and we shall never speak of that statement again.

Austen or Bronte. It's not as if it has to be one or the other, as if one must die so the other might live, when all have been dead for 200 years (The Brontes! All died before 40! So sad!).

"No one asks why Shakespeare in the Park is redone every summer," says director Fukunaga, slightly peevishly. There might be some latent, dismissive misogyny involved in the concept that there is only enough cultural love for one female literary figure at any given time.

Some analysts wonder if the Brontes are built for economic downturn — that difficult times draw us to difficult stories. The Bronte heroes find happiness, but not without losing a hand or their eyesight, or having their manor burned down. It's a bruised happiness, one that might appeal to the foreclosed modern viewer.

The new "Jane Eyre" hits most of the pleasure centers required of any good "Jane" adaptation. It has the horrible Red Room, the "left rib" speech, the muddy moors. It also handles gracefully the last third of the book, in which Jane lives with a minister and his sisters — which other versions have either ignored or totally mucked up.

It is likely to please the Charlottans.

Indeed, it is likely to please the Janeites, and anyone else who has ever loved the sight of a beautiful man begging for the love of a working-class woman.

Meanwhile, do you know what is long overdue for a big-screen adaptation?

"Middlemarch."

JANE EYRE
·Featuring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender; directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga
·Opens: Friday, April 1
·Rating: PG-13 for some thematic elements including a nude image and brief violent content
·Running time: 2 hours

http://www.bnd.com/2011/03/25/1644170/its-a-remake-with-nothing-fresh.html

Friday, Mar. 25, 2011
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'Jane Eyre' doesn't top those that have gone before
BY LYNN VENHAUS - For the News-Democrat

The pleasures of reading classic literature are vast, but onscreen translations often lack the prose that was so captivating in the first place, and the way you imagine the characters can be so very different.

That's why filmed adaptations are often a mixed bag. Such is the case with "Jane Eyre," the latest version of Charlotte Bronte's 1847 gothic novel.

If you are going to remake a story that has already been given numerous film and TV treatments, you must bring something fresh to it. Other than a more naturalistic setting than the 1944 Orson Welles-Joan Fontaine opus, this "Jane Eyre" doesn't top those that have gone before, not trying anything bold or all that different.

Fans of the Ruth Wilson-Toby Stephens one or the Charlotte Gainsbourg-William Hurt version won't forget those any time soon either. If anyone remembers the George C. Scott-Susannah York one, it was clear that good acting could transcend ordinary production values.

This production is as sterile as a copy in the acid-free section of the library. A few characters spring to life -- Sally Hawkins is a vile guardian, Jamie Bell inhabits a more mature role as a minister wishing to marry Jane, while Judi Densch is multi-dimensional as the head housekeeper at Thornfield Hall.

But the main problem is the romance: Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender don't have much chemistry as plain tormented Jane Eyre and the brooding Mr. Rochester, who is arrogantly hiding dark secrets.

Wasikowska, a rising star after playing Alice in Tim Burton's version of "Alice in Wonderland" and the daughter in "The Kids Are All Right," seems misplaced in the wrong decade here. She is a good enough actress to win you over, after enduring a horrid childhood, to wind up a lonely but smart young woman. Jane's early years are the female equivalent of Oliver Twist.

The gloomy moorlands frame this time-worn era of repression and unlucky-in-love tragedy, and the dreariness is nearly as unbearable to watch as it is for our heroine.

Those fond of costume dramas might enjoy this tony ensemble's work, but director Cary Fukunaga, who fashioned "Sin Nombre" with some apparent visual flair, fails to make a 167-year old love story fascinate for the umpteenth time.

2 1/2 stars

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins

Director: Cary Fukunaga

Rated: PG-13 for thematic elements, nude imagery and brief violent content

Length: 2:01

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/25/2133228/jane-eyre.html

Posted on Friday, 03.25.11

By COLIN COVERT
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

"Poor, obscure, plain and little" is how the heroine of "Jane Eyre" describes herself. The latest film of Charlotte Bronte's moody Gothic romance is anything but. There is not a drab image or a middling performance in the piece. The freewheeling adaptation drops needless scenes and spurs the story ahead with galloping momentum.

From the very first shot, this new version frames Jane (Mia Wasikowska, Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland") as a character of mystery and drama . We meet her as a young woman on the run in a rural downpour. What peril she is fleeing is unspecified. Jane is taken in by a dour young clergyman (Jamie Bell), and nursed back to health by his sisters whose Christian charity and curiosity about their new friend run neck-and-neck. Jane is many scenes into her recovery and subsequent adventures before the story circles back to her breathless flight, explaining all.

It's a bold approach, but one that honors Bronte's favorite literary gimmick. She was a master of generating suspense by dropping clues and hints while withholding the secrets we're dying to discover. This flashback-filled adaptation, written by Moira Buffini and directed by Cary Fukunaga, does her proud.

As Jane moves from her loveless childhood into the manor house governess position that was every Victorian orphan girl's glass ceiling, Wasikowska masters the screen actor's magic trick of transfixing our attention while seemingly doing nothing. Her excruciating beauty is tamped down here, but when it blossoms she is a pre-Raphaelite dream in the flesh.

As the cold, taunting master of the house, Mr. Rochester, Michael Fassbender has ice in his smile but fire in his eyes. When he invites Jane to his fireside for fencing match evening conversations, his tone is brusque and challenging yet almost intimate. He is decadent, subtly evil, unreachable yet irresistible. Jane, wise beyond her years yet naive about certain dark aspects of human nature, opens her heart. And then terrible truths come crashing down, impelling that tear-stained dash across a rainswept Yorkshire moor. Fukunaga wrings every ounce of passion, fury and pain out of the tale.

Adriano Goldman's cinematography makes seemingly haunted Thornfield Manor plausibly spooky, and gives the fires that warm (and imperil) the characters a rich, metaphorical intensity. The impeccable supporting cast includes Simon McBurney as that pious, decadent mole Mr. Brocklehurst and Judi Dench as Thornfield's salt-of-the-earth housekeeper Mrs. Edwards. The standout, though, is Sally Hawkins, casting aside a raft to recent cheeky proletarian roles to play Jane's haughty, malevolent aunt. She is deliciously despicable.

This "Jane Eyre" is unapologetic melodrama shot through with inspiration. Diehard "Twilight" fans looking for a deeper, darker romantic mystery would do well to check it out.

JANE EYRE

3 1/2 stars

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender

Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements including a nude image and brief violent content.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110325/ENT01/103250312/0/SPORTS06/-Jane-Eyre-brims-rich-emotion?odyssey=nav|head

'Jane Eyre' brims with rich emotion
8:29 PM, Mar. 24, 2011 |
3 Comments
Mia Wasikowska stars as the title character in the new adaptation of "Jane Eyre."

BY CHRISTY LEMIRE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

'Jane Eyre'

* * *out of four stars

Rated PG-13; mature themes, violent content, a nude image

1 hour, 43 minutes

There has been no shortage of film versions of "Jane Eyre," Charlotte Brontë's classic tale of romance and woe.

Most notably, Orson Welles costarred opposite Joan Fontaine back in 1944. Franco Zeffirelli adapted the novel in the mid-1990s with Charlotte Gainsbourg in the title role and William Hurt as the tortured Edward Rochester (with Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson, of all people, as the rival for his affections).

Now, yet another take on the 1847 novel has come to the screen, with Cary Joji Fukunaga directing Moira Buffini's script, which shakes things up by messing with the narrative structure. It begins with Jane fleeing the imposing Thornfield Hall in hysterics and is told mainly in flashback, which creates tension from the start -- even if you know the story.

Fukunaga may seem like an odd choice to direct such revered literary material. His last film, "Sin Nombre," was a contemporary and violent tale of Central Americans making their way through Mexico on their way to the United States. But both are about people searching for a place to belong, and they share a visceral immediacy.

Visually and tonally, his "Jane Eyre" is muted and stripped-down. It's gooey and marshy, vast and grassy, anything but lush -- and that's what makes it beautiful. The pacing might even be a bit too low-key, but because it is and because the attraction between Jane and Rochester simmers for so long, it makes the passionate bursts stand out even more. This version also emphasizes the tale's darker Gothic elements, adding a sense of horror that's both disturbing and welcome.

Regardless of aesthetics, the relationship between Jane and Rochester is at the heart of the story -- it's the source of emotion -- and Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender challenge and beguile each other beautifully. Wasikowska, who costarred last year in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" and in the Oscar-nominated "The Kids Are All Right," continues to show her versatility here. She's all intelligence and determination, and very much Fassbender's equal in terms of presence. Fassbender, who was devastating as Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands in "Hunger," plays the iconically tragic character of Rochester with all the necessary wit, ferocity and torment.

Jane has come to work at Thornfield Hall, the remote manor Rochester owns but rarely visits. She has taken a job as a governess following a difficult childhood as an orphan. (Amelia Clarkson is sharp as the tough young Jane.) Head housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench) runs the place with a mix of pride and vague disapproval of Rochester's volatile ways. But once he finally comes and meets Jane, he instantly recognizes in her a kindred spirit, and she feels the same -- although she's loath to admit it.

Jamie Bell costars as the other potential suitor in Jane's life, St. John Rivers, the young man of God who views her as an ideal missionary's wife. That they don't love each other yet is irrelevant to him. Still, it's Jane's idealism -- despite the difficult and lonely life she has led -- that keeps her striving for something better, more fulfilling.

Society would seem to dictate that Jane and Rochester can't be together. But it's their pasts that are really keeping them apart -- their secrets and the walls they've built up for themselves. So when they finally admit their feelings, their words come out in an emotional torrent.

Bring tissues. You've been warned.

http://wearemoviegeeks.com/2011/03/jane-eyre-the-review/

Mar 24, 2011

Posted by Travis Keune in General News, Review
JANE EYRE – The Review

Jane Eyre graduates from required reading to accomplished cinema.

It may come as no surprise that I am not the world’s leading expert, nor am I the world’s biggest fan, of period English chick lit, which serves as the source material for a new adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s JANE EYRE, originally published in 1847. There’s no doubt the book has had enormous influence on literature and irrefutable popularity, as many of the women I know jump to the opportunity to claim this as a favorite required reading from their school years. Going into this film, having never read the book, the question for me remained simple… how does it work on screen?

JANE EYRE tells the story of the title character, a pale scrawny girl with an independent, even wild spirit for her time. She is orphaned at a young age and left to be raised by her unloving aunt, until her aunt sends her off to a boarding school with a philosophy of education and discipline bordering on the barbaric. Her time her hardens Jane, teaches her the harshness of life and to keep her dreams and passions close to her heart.

Jane Eyre, played by Mia Wasakowska (ALICE IN WONDERLAND), has become a quiet, reserved young woman. Her mind, however, remains sharp and her words reflect this intellect in a humble manner working as governess for Mr. Rochester’s (Michael Fassbender) French daughter. Fassbender is compelling as the slightly depressed, often ill-tempered master of the large and impressive Thornfield Hall, but there’s also a vulnerability that allows him to see through Jane’s humble disguise and see her for her true self. Judi Dench (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE) plays Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper for Thornfield Hall and occasional confidant to Jane Eyre as she attempts to decipher his encrypted attempts at showing his true feelings for her.

JANE EYRE was adapted into a screenplay by Moira Buffini and directed by Cary Fukunaga (SIN NOMBRE). Perhaps the first and most pleasurable element of the film to be noticed is the stunning cinematography from Adriano Goldman (CITY OF MEN), rich with picturesque landscapes dulled and dampened by the gray skies and misty airs of England. Closely connected to this visceral visual interpretation of Jane Eyre’s emotional state, is the original music composed by Dario Marianelli (THE SOLOIST), classical and laden with the tormented beauty of the violin.

As for the story itself, JANE EYRE delivers a refreshing amount of suspense and mystery into a genre film which — in my opinion – rarely does more than put me asleep. As a viewer, I was immersed into Jane’s dilemma, especially as it’s connected to her troubled past as a neglected child. Another interesting element that makes JANE EYRE a relative success is the choice to break the narrative into a non-linear flow. This essentially plays three-card Monty with Jane’s life, adding to the mystery for the viewer, which is already intrinsic to the story at hand… those familiar with the novel know what I mean.

Mia Wasakowska shows a more enlightened, fully mature side of her acting talents as Jane Eyre, reserving much of her characters’ emotions in her withheld reactions, a pleasant step forward from the unremarkable ALICE IN WONDERLAND adaption where she fared most average. Michael Fassbender (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) shines without going over the top, as he usually does in his own unique way. This, I believe more than anything, is the brilliant curse of Fassbender, always promising a stellar performance that is just subtle enough to keep him off the viewing public’s radar.

The pace of JANE EYRE, at a length of 115 minutes, is neither slow nor upbeat. The film clearly has it’s peaks and valleys, both in pace and intrigue. At times, most often when Jane and Mr. Rochester converse, the film is dynamic with dialogue delivered with great timing and subdued intensity, yet at other times in between the drab story is made bearable only by the creative crafts of Goldman and Marianelli. To be honest, JANE EYRE is much more bearable as an English period drama than I had expected, a welcome surprise, refusing to succumb to the typical soap opera nature of the literary fare… well, until the end, but what can a director do when the source material insists upon sappy endings?
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

http://www.detnews.com/article/20110325/OPINION03/103250315/Romance-reborn-in--Jane-Eyre-

Last Updated: March 25. 2011 1:27AM
Tom Long
Romance reborn in 'Jane Eyre'

She is fragile, strong, anxious, angry, brave, broken, driven near mad, but never — you see it in her eyes, across her face — beaten.

She is "Jane Eyre," a character brought to film countless times, read in books, thousands, millions more.

Yet it's doubtful anyone has ever quite breathed the life into this abused orphan and damaged romantic that Mia Wasikowska has at the ripe old and completely appropriate age of 21.

Who? Mia Wasikowska.

Pronounce it "VAH-shee-KOF-ska." She's Australian by birth and appeared in two films last year. One was the best picture Oscar-nominated "The Kids Are All Right" (she was one of the two kids); the other was "Alice in Wonderland." She played Alice. The film earned more than a $1 billion.

VAH-shee-KOF-ska. Remember it.

Because with "Jane Eyre," the potential apparent in those earlier films reveals itself as a full-blown, wondrous thing.

Wasikowska has a face that can go from plain to dazzling in an instant; it can bring to life a complex range of reactions and then land on just the right one. She is beautiful and average and all things in between when she needs to be, and beyond that filled with both raw emotion and powerful sophistication.

In other words, this is one heck of a young actress. She doesn't play Jane Eyre. She makes Jane Eyre her own.

Not that this new production is filled with flash. Director Cary Fukunaga, working with a screenplay adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's novel by Moira Buffini, is certainly dealing with a classic look and sticking to the story.

But unlike other directors, he neither broods over the tale's nightmarish qualities or gushes with romantic foppery. He lays it out as it is, relying on Wasikowska to carry the day. Good move.

The orphaned Jane is sent off to a boarding school by a cruel aunt (Sally Hawkins). There, she is kept under strict rule until she is old enough to work as a governess.

Then off she's sent to Thornfield Hall, to teach the young charge of the mysterious Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender), a mercurial sort who is both taken aback and intrigued by the striking honesty and plain beauty of his new employee. Jane and Rochester begin a bantering relationship, even though it can seemingly go nowhere.

Love eventually blossoms in its repressed, clumsy British way, only to be trampled by a near-literal ghost-in-the-attic. Jane, led astray, runs off across the foggy moors in search of either death or a new life.

She finds the latter with the help of an altruistic young preacher (Jamie Bell) and his two sisters. But even as good fortune mounts for her, she cannot forget Rochester.

The usual issues are raised by this production — the limits of propriety, the boundaries of love, the false distinctions of class and the illusion of comfort.

But somehow Wasikowska makes it all seem much more personal, more real. With her stark, starched dresses and blunt, elastic face, she draws you in, making both Jane's pain and incredible resolve tangible.

She doesn't make the old new again; she makes it good again, far better than you'd imagine.

There's unexpected fire in this "Jane Eyre." One can only imagine — and look forward to — what heat Wasikowska will bring elsewhere.
'Jane Eyre'

GRADE: A-

Rated PG-13: For some thematic elements including a nude image and brief violent content

Running time: 115 minutes

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/17834

Jane Eyre

Latest adaptation proves that Jane's passion and sense of right can woo another generation | Alisa Harris

Laurie Sparham/Focus Features

When Jane Eyre's aunt brings in a clergyman to teach Jane the error of her lying ways, he asks how she will avoid a relegation to the pit of fire for her wickedness. With a flicker of rebellion she replies, "I must stay in good health and not die."

Years later, Jane confronts the choice of holding to her own moral convictions or staying with the man she loves. She chooses her convictions, despite all the humiliation and abuse she's suffered, because she believes in her own dignity. She has already learned how to lose the people she loves and how to preserve her dignity inviolate through it all.

Charlotte Bronte's classic novel, Jane Eyre, tells the story of an abused orphan who enters the employ of the moody Mr. Rochester. He wins her heart, asks her to marry him, and only then does Jane discover that he is hiding a secret that may wreck the only happiness she has ever known.

Instead of relying on shots of candles flickering over the stony face of a creaking house, director Cary Fukunaga downplays the Gothic creepiness and omits one of the book's harrowing scenes, in which a madwoman tears Jane's wedding veil in two. Instead, Fukunaga creates emotional intensity by focusing on Jane—beautifully portrayed by Mia Wasikowska, who has a face that alternately conceals and reveals the passion locked inside a girl who has been cowed into outward propriety.

The gardens of Thornfield Hall are bright and sunny when Jane and Mr. Rochester wander them during their happy engagement. This brightness heightens the contrast later on when Jane has thrown herself, sobbing, onto the black moor.

With excellent supporting performances featuring Judi Dench as the garrulous housekeeper and Michael Fassbender as the "abrupt and changeful" Mr. Rochester, this latest adaptation (rated PG-13 for a nude image and brief violence) proves that Jane's passion and sense of right can woo another generation.

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/entertainment/headlines/Now_showing_118540179.html

Posted: 3:38 PM Mar 23, 2011
Now showing
Recently reviewed films now playing in theaters.
Reporter: Movie Critic Michael Clark

• Jane Eyre (PG-13) Of the nearly three dozen incarnations of the classic Charlotte Bronte novel, this newest version from director Cary Fukunaga gets the closest to the original intent thanks to the sturdy performances by leads Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. 31⁄2 stars — Michael Clark

http://www.mercurynews.com/scoreboard/ci_17685072?nclick_check=1

Review: A stirring new 'Jane Eyre'

By Karen D'Souza

kdsouza@mercurynews.com
Posted: 03/24/2011 12:00:00 PM PDT
Updated: 03/24/2011 05:20:30 PM PDT

Cape flying at her back, "Jane Eyre" plunges into the dark mists of the moors, desperate to escape the evil thrall of Thornfield Manor.

The seductive opening tableau in Cary Joji Fukunaga's stirring new remake of Charlotte Brontë's Gothic romance immerses us into the troubled soul of its waifish heroine. Moira Buffini's sly script starts out in the middle of Jane's epic adventure and then works its way back in time through flashbacks of her history. It's a startling modern touch that immediately establishes the voice of the movie as distinct from the 19th-century novel we all know and love.

From that first gorgeous shot (velvety cinematography by Adriano Goldman) as the camera drinks in the foreboding desolation of the Derbyshire hill country, we feel like we're inside Jane's head, a little lost in time but also lost in our own thoughts. That subtly brooding quality, paired with a luminous performance by Mia Wasikowska (heretofore best known for "Alice in Wonderland"), is what makes this picture positively bewitching. It's an elegant, thoughtful movie that will leave you breathless and yearning for more.

Be forewarned, purists may balk at some liberties taken with a classic of Western chick-lit. The story of the tormented orphan turned strong-willed governess is now set in the 1840s instead of the 1830s, and Buffini's sleek screenplay distills Brontë's torrents of words down to its bare essence, which bookworms may protest.
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This movie is also not afraid of silence, which heightens the impacts of Jane's many witty retorts, especially when she is sparring with the mercurial hottie of the piece, Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender).

In one tart bit of chaste flirtation, the master of the house orders her to sit with him by the fire while he drones on. When she demurs, he insists she is scared of him. To which she matter-of-factly replies: "I'm not afraid; I've simply no wish to talk nonsense."

In his second feature -- after the critically acclaimed and very different "Sin Nombre" -- Fukunaga brings a bold and unfussy take on the serpentine narrative and hones in on the psychological depth of the tale, such as its astute insights into the bad-boy factor (it's like "Twilight" for smart girls), without losing its to-die-for shades of horror upon the heath.

While it's relatively spare in terms of period finery (this is no Jane Austen parade of gowns), the dense, atmospheric power of the unforgiving landscape is unmistakable. It's a bleak palette upon which Fukunaga frames riveting performances. Wasikowska shines, despite a lack of glamorous makeup. She truly captures the restless intelligence of a formidable soul constrained by an era in which women were watchers and not doers. The actress sculpts every breath with a sense of Jane's fierce inner life.

She is also believable as a plain girl but one whose fire lights every room, and she strikes red-hot sparks with Fassbender. One is almost sorry there is no room in Brontë for bed-rumpling love scenes. But there's definitely a smoldering quality about the stillness in this picture as Rochester stares at Jane, she steals glances back, the housekeeper (Judi Dench) arches her brow in disapproval, and a crazy woman rages in the attic.

Of course, as literary buffs know, the real crux of Jane's journey, the years that shaped her will of steel, came long before she loses her heart to the lord of the manor.

Fukunaga does not spend much time at the dreaded Lowood school for girls but he does capture the impact of that ghastly orphanage on her psyche. This is where her indomitable spirit was forged. The scene in which the young Jane's (a captivating Amelia Clarkson) bosom chum Helen (Freya Parks) dies in her arms cuts to the bone.

True aficionados will doubtless wish the film etched every aspect of the Brontë experience, but that's a quibble in light of the movie's intoxicating charms. It's impossible not to fall in love with this "Jane."

Contact Karen D'Souza at 408-271-3772. Check out her theater reviews, features and blog at www.mercurynews.com/karen-dsouza.

'Jane Eyre'"‚H ** 1/2"‚Rating: PG-13 (for some thematic elements and brief violent content)

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender and Judith Dench"‚Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga"‚Running time: 2 hours, 11 minutes

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Review+Jane+Eyre/4499468/story.html

Mia Wasikowska stars as the title character in Jane Eyre.
Photograph by: Laurie Sparham, Focus Features

Jane Eyre

Four stars

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins and Jamie Bell

Playing at: AMC and Marché Central cinemas

Parents’ guide: violence

Consider it movie menses: Jane Eyre adaptations are part of some mysterious female cycle that moves with moons and emotional tides.

They are as regular as the mechanical whirr of a projector, beginning at the very dawn of cinema in 1910, then another five times before the close of the decade, and an average of twice more every decade following.

Now at 20 film incarnations, it may well be the most-adapted novel to the screen, which presented relative newcomer Cary Fukunaga with a rather daunting challenge as a director: How to rediscover such well-trodden material in cinematic form without pandering to device aimed at a pixel-addicted generation?

Judging from the results, a technically elegant weave of myriad cinematic crafts, the Sundance-winning auteur behind Sin Nombre didn’t flinch. Fukunaga goes straight to the bone of the Charlotte Bronte narrative about an orphaned girl who refuses to bend.

Jane Eyre is a girl who creates herself and, as a result, becomes her own woman. She is the prototype for the post-liberated 20th-century female, which goes a long way toward explaining her recurring presence in your local movie house: She represents feminism’s ground zero, ensuring every new generation of women will recognize and refer back to this heroine in order to calibrate her own world view.

Through Fukunaga’s crisp lens, she feels very familiar – and not just because it’s It-Girl Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right, Alice in Wonderland) in period dress. She feels close because Wasikowska infuses her character with an emotional truth that immediately makes her real and empathetic.

Pulling an iconic role off the shelf is harder than originating a whole new one, because you have to move through the ghosts of everyone who has gone before, but neither star nor director shudders among the tombstones.

Wasikowska creates a Jane who is believably fearless and vulnerable at the same time, and one who has enough depth of character and intellectual smarts to see the bigger picture around her without being seduced by short-term gain.

Previous versions of Jane Eyre have played on the story’s Gothic elements, and pulled Bronte’s yarn taut with absolutes, but Fukunaga and Wasikowska play it entirely practical from start to finish.

This film does not modulate from high to low in great waves. It shows us Jane’s careful evolution, from headstrong child to emancipated woman, precisely because she learned to bind her emotions without ever losing hold of her own truth.

Jane Eyre’s heroic dimensions are the result of her ability to be real in every situation she faces. This makes her a victim at the hands of soiled souls, but, in the end, Bronte ensures there’s a sense of poetic, as well as romantic justice.

Fukunaga doesn’t betray any element of Bronte’s book, least of all the tone.

Every actor brings the same level head and pragmatic presence to the fore. Judi Dench as Mrs. Fairfax is a classical portrait in motion, a rendition delivered so effortlessly, you wonder if she wasn’t that very woman in a previous life.

Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) had big shoes to fill as the fiery Rochester, especially since the role is generally associated with a brooding, eyebrow-bending Orson Welles, but he, too, strips it down to the bare essentials and finds the timeless truth of Bronte’s romance.

Though it’s often seen as such, Jane Eyre is not a story about the extraordinary power of true love. It’s about a far more delicate, but far more meaningful truth. It’s about the ordinariness of true love, and how its redeeming power is accessible to all – even an orphan without means, or a broken man without sight – as long as one is willing to see it for what it is, and what it is not. After all, Jane is not the mad woman consumed with fire and passion. She is the plain, stable, Jane. She is the real thing.

http://articles.philly.com/2011-03-24/news/29181698_1_jane-eyre-director-cary-fukunaga-charlotte-bronte-story

‘Jane Eyre’ rises again, & it’s first-rate
March 24, 2011|By GARY THOMPSON,

"Jane Eyre" is the lumbering Bronte-saurus of cinema, still un-extinct after 18 adaptations.

That's not counting a couple of TV miniseries (the latest an '06 BBC job) that pulled the Charlotte Bronte story out of gothballs.

And it's certainly not counting SCTV send-up "Jane Eyrehead," in which Andrea Martin's Jane is hilariously slow to wake up to strange noises coming from the upstairs room of her wealthy suitor/master.

The SCTV interpretation speaks to the modern woman - these days, girls, you have a right to know what's in your boyfriend's attic.

It's a lesson heeded by the latest heir to the Eyre tradition - Mia Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland"), whose Jane is one of the screen's all-time toughest, and most relatable.

Early scenes establish the orphaned Jane's bred-in-the-bone resilience - bullied by a cousin, mistreated by her cruel aunt (Sally Hawkins!), she doesn't give an inch, and so is packed off to a religious boarding school where further horrors await (though very much abridged from the novel).

Jane emerges in adult form as Wasikowska, who's exactly right for this role. She has a stoic defiance (also on display in "The Kids Are All Right") that is never insolent or wounded, and that here seems to come from a place of otherworldly self-confidence.

This makes her a source of fascination to her new master - she finds work as a governess to the reclusive gentleman Mr. Rochester, whose initial bullying is met with Jane's tactful, forceful rebuttal. Rochester is smitten.

He's played by Michael Fassbender, whose chemistry/contrast with Wasikowska is very good. He's large, deep-voiced, his Rochester moody, fitful and self-pitying. Wasikowska is smaller, frail, quiet and pale, but emotionally unshakable. The trials that have weakened Rochester have only made Jane stronger.

The power reversal brought about by their mutual attraction and complementary flaws/attributes has rarely been better committed to screen, or made more intriguing.

Our belief in the relationship keeps us invested in "Eyre" even as its dated gender/class ideas test (sometimes too much) our 21st-century sensibilities, and the story rolls out its gothic hooey.

Also holding our interest is the movie's ravishing, understated presentation. Director Cary Fukunaga's first film - the harrowing migrant story "Sin Nombre" - was ripped for being too beautiful.

His instinct for the showy image will not be a point of contention here. The cool beauty he brings to "Jane Eyre" complements the long tradition of costume drama style.

Supporting performances are also first-rate. Judi Dench tamps down her intelligence to play Rochester's dotty housekeeper; Jaime Bell is quietly attentive then intrusive as Jane's missionary admirer.

http://www.canada.com/This+plain+Jane+real+deal+Latest+Jane+Eyre+movie+goes+straight+Bronte+story+bone+Movie+Review/4497099/story.html

This plain Jane is the real deal: Latest Jane Eyre movie goes straight to Bronte story's bone. Movie Review

By Katherine Monk, Postmedia News March 24, 2011

Jane Eyre

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins and Jamie Bell

Directed by: Cary Fukunaga

Parental advisory: violence

Running time: 121 minutes

Rating: Four stars out of five

Consider it movie menses: Jane Eyre adaptations are part of some mysterious female cycle that moves with moons and emotional tides.

They are as regular as the mechanical whirr of a projector, beginning at the very dawn of cinema in 1910, then another five times before the close of the decade, and an average of twice more every decade following.

Now at 20 film incarnations, it may well be the most-adapted novel to the screen, which presented relative newcomer Cary Fukunaga with a rather daunting challenge as a director: How to rediscover such well-trodden material in cinematic form without pandering to device aimed at a pixel-addicted generation?

Judging from the results, a technically elegant weave of myriad cinematic crafts, the Sundance-winning auteur behind Sin Nombre didn't flinch. Fukunaga goes straight to the bone of the Charlotte Bronte narrative about an orphaned girl who refuses to bend.

Jane Eyre is a girl who creates herself and, as a result, becomes her own woman. She is the prototype for the post-liberated 20th-century female, which goes a long way toward explaining her recurring presence in your local movie house: She represents feminism's ground zero, ensuring every new generation of women will recognize and refer back to this heroine in order to calibrate her own world view.

Through Fukunaga's crisp lens, she feels very familiar - and not just because it's It-Girl Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right, Alice in Wonderland) in period dress. She feels close because Wasikowska infuses her character with an emotional truth that immediately makes her real and empathetic.

Pulling an iconic role off the shelf is harder than originating a whole new one, because you have to move through the ghosts of everyone who has gone before, but neither star nor director shudders among the tombstones.

Wasikowska creates a Jane who is believably fearless and vulnerable at the same time, and one who has enough depth of character and intellectual smarts to see the bigger picture around her without being seduced by short-term gain.

She carries the strength in her character's square shoulders, and it's a posture Fukunaga meets in mirror form through the camera. Most of the film is composed through head-on frames, without angles - meaning we're square to the architecture, and the characters - lending the whole experience a painterly quality. The images rotate between muted landscapes and cold interiors, all emulating canvas, from the pastoral tableaus of John Constable to the chiaroscuro of Rembrandt.

The movie is also bathed in harsh, natural light, and the effect is entirely apropos to Fukunaga's vision for the whole film as narrative document, instead of melodrama.

Previous versions of Jane Eyre have played on the story's Gothic elements, and pulled Bronte's yarn taut with absolutes, but Fukunaga and Wasikowska play it entirely practical from start to finish.

This film does not modulate from high to low in great waves. It shows us Jane's careful evolution, from headstrong child to emancipated woman, precisely because she learned to bind her emotions without ever losing hold of her own truth.

Jane Eyre's heroic dimensions are the result of her ability to be real in every situation she faces. This makes her a victim at the hands of soiled souls, but, in the end, Bronte ensures there's a sense of poetic, as well as romantic justice.

Fukunaga doesn't betray any element of Bronte's book, least of all the tone. He keeps a steady hand all the way through, without falling prey to potential melodrama.

Not even the proverbial ``mad woman in the attic'' scene goes off the rails. We get some graphic, but highly realistic, gore to enhance the horror - but not once does Fukunaga raise his directorial voice.

Every actor brings the same level head and pragmatic presence to the fore. Judi Dench as Mrs. Fairfax is a classical portrait in motion, a rendition delivered so effortlessly, you wonder if she wasn't that very woman in a previous life.

Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) had big shoes to fill as the fiery Rochester, especially since the role is generally associated with a brooding, eyebrow-bending Orson Welles, but he, too, strips it down to the bare essentials and finds the timeless truth of Bronte's romance.

Though it's often seen as such, Jane Eyre is not a story about the extraordinary power of true love. It's about a far more delicate, but far more meaningful truth. It's about the ordinariness of true love, and how its redeeming power is accessible to all - even an orphan without means, or a broken man without sight - as long as one is willing to see it for what it is, and what it is not. After all, Jane is not the mad woman consumed with fire and passion. She is the plain, stable, Jane. She is the real thing.

Potentially one of the best Jane Eyres ever realized on screen, Fukunaga's take might seem to douse the flames of passion in favour of moderate heat, but it's refreshing to take a breath in such a breathless story, and feel secure in the knowledge our heroine is rock solid, unflappable and non-flammable, while remaining all human.

kmonk@postmedia.com

twitter: @Katherinemonk

CAPSULE REVIEW: Jane Eyre - Cary Fukunaga directs this update on the Charlotte Bronte classic with a steady hand and an unflinching eye. Steering clear of melodrama to deliver a relatively matter-of-fact story of Victorian survival, the director lets the plot do all the heavy dramatic lifting while the actors are left to keep things minimal, and authentic. A refreshing change from the musty bodice rippers of the past, this Jane Eyre pays homage to Bronte's heroine and her unflagging strength in the face of adversity. Rating: Four stars out of five - Katherine Monk

http://www.stlbeacon.org/arts-life/25-movies-tv/109091-review-of-jane-eyre-and-of-gods-and-men

On Movies: 'Jane Eyre' embraces the romance
By Harper Barnes, Special to the Beacon
Posted 11:00 am, Thu., 3.24.11

'Jane Eyre'

In the past century, “Jane Eyre” has been made into a film or a television series more than 20 times, according to the invaluable Internet Movie Database (imdb.com). But it would be ridiculous to call the fine new movie version of the ever-popular Gothic romance a “remake.”

This passionate yet intelligent new reading of Charlotte Bronte’s timeless mid-19th-century tale of cruelty, ambition, love and betrayal seems fresher and more relevant today than any number of recent romantic films set in the 21st century. At the same time, director Cary Fukunaga (“Sin Nombre”) and screenwriter Moira Buffini (“Tamara Drewe”) remain true to the nature of Bronte’s heroine, a woman who was very much of her time but refused to be a victim of it.

The story is familiar, in part because it has since been told in essence so many times in the past 160 years under so many different titles.

An orphaned girl is cheated and abused by her selfish wealthy step aunt, shipped off to a school for poor girls run by casual sadists, watches her best friend die and becomes determined to escape poverty, goes to work as a governess at a country mansion, falls in love with the mysterious, haunted master of the house, and reaches a moment of great happiness only to discover a horrifying truth. She runs away in misery, weeping uncontrollably as the rain slashes at her, the thunder rumbles fearfully in the heavens and an eerie voice calls her name.

One reason this primal gothic romance has inspired so many filmmakers is that its scenes are so memorably visual – an agonized schoolgirl forced to stand for hours and hours on a high stool, a horse and rider rearing out of a wooded mist, flames that appear from nowhere and threaten to destroy everyone and everything, a young woman fleeing in tears across a forbidding landscape with an ominous castle looming in the background.

The new movie, which was filmed luminously by cinematographer Adriano Goldman, opens with the scene of Jane Eyre fleeing from the castle of the man she loves and finally finding shelter. It then unfolds in a series of flashbacks, beginning where the novel begins, with Jane being unjustly berated by her aunt.

It is tempting to call the scenes of Jane’s cruel childhood “Dickensian,” except that “Jane Eyre” was published two years before “David Copperfield” and more than a decade before “Great Expectations.” And Jane Eyre not only has to fight her way through poverty and class oppression, like Dickens heroes, but she also suffers because of her relative powerlessness as a woman.

In its heart and soul, “Jane Eyre” is about a woman overcoming obstacles and breaking boundaries through the sheer force of her will. It is, in part, about love, but love in Bronte, as in Jane Austen, is also about survival, which is why Jane’s scornful refusal of a marriage of convenience is so striking.

Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland”) is superb in a revelatory performance as Jane, who thinks of herself as “plain” and dresses and wears her hair accordingly, but has a fierce intelligence and wit to go with her iron will. Wasikowska lets us see the real Jane in her bright eyes, in the tilting corners of her mouth, and in her small but forceful gestures. She’s unlike any of the other women we meet in the story, and we can see why Rochester, the handsome, soul-tortured master of the house (Michael Fassbender, appropriately Byronic and mercurial), cannot resist her.

In addition to an excellent cast that includes Judi Dench as a kindly housekeeper and Sally Hawkins as the dissolute aunt, a principal reason the new movie of “Jane Eyre” is so successful – much better than the 1996 version with William Hurt as a neurotic Rochester – is that the director was not afraid of the material. “Jane Eyre” is unabashedly a romance – perhaps the romance – and Fukunaga stages it that way, particularly in the scenes in the majestic moors where the stormy heavens and the brutal earth seem complicit in a conspiracy to destroy Jane Eyre. You have two choices with a movie like this: either dismiss it as too ferociously romantic, or let it sweep you away.

Opens Friday, March 25

http://www.citypaper.net/movies/2011-03-24-jane-eyre.html

Jane Eyre
City Paper Grade: B

By Shaun Brady

MOMENT IN THE SUN: Save for his lovers' brief gasps at happiness, director Cary Joji Fukunaga's Jane Eyre is shot in barren, unforgiving light.

[ CITY PAPER GRADE: B ]

Perhaps the one element that's tripped up so many adapters of Jane Eyre over the years is also the one that's entranced so many young imaginations: Jane's voice. At once overly assured and lacking in confidence, stubbornly grounded yet given to flights of whimsy, Charlotte Brontë's heroine has remained a recognizable standard-bearer for the onset of maturity in all its fevered romance and startling naÏveté for generations.

This latest adaptation, by screenwriter Moira Buffini and director Cary Joji Fukunaga, overcomes that hurdle by simply casting it aside. Austere and downcast, this Jane Eyre keeps us as starkly distant from the heroine's inner workings as it from the haunted characters she encounters. The mystery here is less about strange sounds emanating from the attic than how anyone could find even meager happiness in such a harsh existence. To that end, Fukunaga jettisons the Gothic horror and moonlit gloom that so often overwhelm the tale. Instead, he enshrouds the film in a tubercular chill, gray, drab and barren.

Jane is faced with a constant sense of mortality and separation, an unshakable wintry cast that colors all, including the muted passions with which her romance with Mr. Rochester unfolds. Mia Wasikowska would seem an odd choice for the famously "plain and obscure" Jane, but with a mousy brown bun and perpetually knitted brow, she captures the plainness of the character's self-image, coming alive when challenged in a way that utterly justifies Rochester's attraction.

Michael Fassbender brings a desperation to his Rochester that is far removed from Orson Welles' thunderous brooding. His mercurial moods are the lashings of a wounded animal, striking out in frustration over the burden that still creaks the floorboards above. In the unforgiving light, the tragic lovers allow themselves only brief grasps at happiness, doled out in slow measures, as if neither is willing to admit that such a drastic change is even possible, let alone desirable.
About the movie
Jane Eyre
Genre:
Drama; Romance
MPAA rating:
PG-13
for some thematic elements including a nude image and brief violent content
Running time:
02:01
Release date:
2011
Cast:
Harry Lloyd; Sally Hawkins; Sophie Ward; Michael Fassbender; Imogen Poots; Judi Dench; Simon McBurney; Mia Wasikowska; Tamzin Merchant; Jamie Bell
Directed by:
Cary Fukunaga
On the web:


Jane Eyre Official Site

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http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/2011/03/24/bored-of-the-moors/

Bored of the moors
Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender are charming but fail to make things new in the millionth adaptation of Jane Eyre
by ROXANE HUDON
March 24, 2011

PLAIN JANE: Fassbender and Wasikowska

Since its publication in 1847, there have been 18 feature films, nine television films, several musical productions and even one graphic novel inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel Jane Eyre. Considering Hollywood seems to be suffering from a heavy drought of original ideas in 2011, why not dish out another adaptation?

Following in the footsteps of Joan Fontaine (1944), Susannah York (1970) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996), who have all played the plain but passionate governess, is the lovely Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland). Moira Buffini’s screenplay begins with Wasikowska escaping from an estate, playing around with the linear narrative of the original story. She finds refuge at the residence of clergyman St. John (Jamie Bell). Through flashbacks, you find out about young Jane (Amelia Clarkson) being cast away from her wealthy aunt’s house and sent to a strict and oppressive all-girl boarding school, where she grows up.

But most of the film focuses on Jane’s time at Thornfield, a large mansion where she works for the master of the house, Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender). Anyway, you know the sto­ry by now, unless you skipped out on high school—in which case, lucky you, a great, dark twist awaits!

I wish I could say that I saw every adaptation of Brontë’s novel in order to properly judge director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s version, but I’d be lying. The story itself wasn’t even fresh in my mind, con­sidering I read it when I was 12. In the end, this is probably the best way to enjoy the film, because Fukunaga offers a beautiful, very well-acted period film, but doesn’t add anything to the story that you haven’t seen before. Judi Dench plays an uptight figure of authority for the umpteenth time as the severe housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax. Wasikowska is perfectly innocent, while Fassbender offers a very charming Mr. Rochester.

Unfortunately, it’s just terribly unoriginal. Yes, a gothic mansion and gloomy moors are lovely to look at, but we’ve seen that creepy house and we’ve roamed those hills. We’ve entered a dark period for creativity and Hollywood is giving up. We may as well forget that it has all been done before and pretend that everything is innovative and really great. ■

JANE EYRE OPENS THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 25

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/jane-eyres-wild-ride/Content?oid=3686935

Jane Eyre's Wild Ride
Gothic, Overblown, and Totally Entertaining
by Alison Hallett
JANE EYRE Don't go in the basement!

Jane Eyre
dir. Cary Fukunaga Opens Fri March 25 Various Theaters
(Scroll down for showtimes)

IF IT'S BEEN AWHILE since you spent any time with the Brontës, there's one thing you need to keep in mind when watching Cary Fukunaga's new adaptation of Jane Eyre: From a plot standpoint, Jane Eyre is completely, intrinsically ridiculous. Further, it's a story that suffers from translation to film: In order to swallow Jane's woes-to-riches tale, it helps to be able to dog ear the page and pause between revelations of secret wives, tubercular schoolgirls, long-lost relatives, and surprise inheritances.

The newest adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's oft-adapted book embraces the gothic sensationalism of its source material, playing it straight and spooky, with nary a wink to the audience. Wind and rain whip across the moors, rooms are lit only by candle, and Fukunaga throws in a few good old-fashioned jump scares, just because he can. (It's worth noting that Fukunaga previously directed the nerve-wracking Sin Nombre, i.e., "that movie about Mexican gang members with scary face tattoos.") It's this commitment to Jane Eyre's gothic side that keeps the film from straying into camp, and keeps it fundamentally entertaining even as it tears through that goofy story: orphan Jane's heartless aunt, her hellish boarding school, her post as a governess where she meets the almost comically virile Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender), and learns his deep, dark secret.

Jane is played by Mia Wasikowska, a pretty girl who passes for plain with the help of some extremely unflattering hairstyles. Wasikowska—who previously played Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and the daughter in The Kids Are All Right—lends the role a dreamy primness that's more Anne of Green Gables than Jane Eyre, and despite the impassioned speeches that handsome Mr. Rochester occasionally provokes her to give, it's not entirely plausible that she has an inner life. (For his part, Fassbender overacts with gusto, but he's so handsome that all is forgiven.) But it's a testament to Fukunaga's intelligent direction that even with a silly plot and lackluster Jane, his Jane Eyre is moodily, spookily enjoyable.

Jane Eyre
Official Site: www.JaneEyretheMovie.com
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Writer: Charlotte Brontë and Moira Buffini
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Jamie Bell, Michael Fassbender, Judi Dench, Tamzin Merchant, Sally Hawkins, Imogen Poots, Simon McBurney, Sophie Ward and Harry Lloyd
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http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-03-24/film/gothic-type/

Gothic Type
A new adaptation of Jane Eyre stresses the pursuit of independence.
By Karina Longworth Wednesday, Mar 23 2011

If Jane Eyre is not the greatest of the Great Books with a permanent position on required-reading lists, it may be the most frequently filmed: At least ten cinematic versions of the story have been made dating back to the dawn of the silent era — more, if you count made-for-TV adaptations and loose glosses such as Jacques Tourneur's I Walked With a Zombie.

Considering the glut of Jane Eyres available to anyone with a Netflix account, there may be no more compelling reason for this new version of the story — directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender — than timing. In 1996, when Franco Zeffirelli had the last big-screen go at Charlotte Brontë's novel, the Merchant Ivory era of prestige period-pic catnip for Academy voters and AP English students was just past its peak; 15 years later, if there's anything hotter in Hollywood than dull British respectability, it's gothic romances about teen girls.

The moment may be right to cash in on Jane Eyre's blend of girl-to-woman rites of passage, supernatural/psychological paranoia, tragic love and English accents, but Fukunaga's film is anything but trendy. Rather than Twilight-izing a classic tale — as Catherine Hardwicke appears to have done with Red Riding Hood — Fukunaga has made his Jane Eyre an intimate, thoughtful epic, anchored by strong lead performances and the gorgeous, moody 100-shades-of-gray cinematography of Adriano Goldman.

Fukunaga (whose only previous feature is the 2009 Sundance Prize-winning Sin Nombre) fragments the narrative, introducing us to Jane (Wasikowska) as a young woman run ragged, fleeing an unspecified threat. She is taken in by young clergyman St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell) and nursed back to health by his sisters; from there, Jane flashes back to her beginnings. Setting up Jane's tale as a mystery — what was she running from, and why? — Fukunaga skips back and forth across years at the speed of memory. This lends an urgency to character-driven vignettes that demonstrate how Jane's identity has been shaped through hardships: the petty cruelty and eventual abandonment by her aunt (Sally Hawkins), Jane's guardian after her parents die; the cherished female friend who dies in her arms at charity school; and, finally, the loneliness of life as governess to Adele, a French orphan who lives in a spooky country house alone but for servants and occasional visits from her ostensible caretaker, the mysterious Mr. Rochester (Fassbender).

It's in the latter phase that Jane longingly states what Fukunaga and screenwriter Moira Buffini have isolated as one of the story's key themes: "I wish a woman could have action in her life, like a man." In her station, the best she can hope for is action through a man — and so when Rochester begins calling her to join him for fireside chats, it upends Jane's world. Fukunaga never overplays Jane's sexual awakening, allowing it instead to become evident through her restless distraction. Even after a real romance with Rochester begins, Jane is ever conscious of the social strata and years that separate her and her beloved; their union feels "unreal," every moment of bliss tinged with paranoia. (The brilliantly evocative sound design deepens the sense of the unknown lurking in every scene, from wind through a chimney to thunder rumbling under a first kiss.)

Jane Eyre hits its glorious gothic peak with Jane in flight from that romance — alone in a storm in a deserted field, the pain of having opened her heart only to have it broken twinned with literal sickness resulting from "exposure." Though she has hit rock bottom, it's this "action" that will ultimately lead Jane to what she's been looking for. Even as it romanticizes agony, Fukunaga's Jane Eyre plays as a correction to the Twilight series — in which a teenage girl idolizes mystically powerful boys — arguing that love, in its perfect state, is a meeting between equals. Using Brontë's text as the basis for an inquiry into free will versus servitude, Fukunaga mounts a subtly shaded yet emotionally devastating examination of what it really means to choose one's own way.

http://www.slackerwood.com/

Jane Eyre -- Arguably Charlotte Brontë's story of the reclusive Mr. Rochester and the stalwart young Jane Eyre is responsible for more undeserved forgiveness in relationships than any other classic story. Cary Fukunaga's interpretation of the classic novel is hurt by the running time, as the subtleties of the relationship in this gothic romance just don't have enough time to develop. Read Elizabeth's review for more. (wide)

Review: Jane Eyre
By Elizabeth Stoddard on March 25, 2011 - 12:00pm in

Mia Wasikowska in Jane Eyre

In ninth grade I read Jane Eyre of my own volition; it wasn't required reading at my school. The novel was dark and romantic, so of course I adored it. I watched the melodramatic 1943 classic with Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles (and a very young Elizabeth Taylor in an uncredited role). I haven't re-read the novel since and was unsure what to expect from this 2011 Jane Eyre film adaptation. Would any slight reference to Wide Sargasso Sea be made? (Answer: not really.) I found myself inferring certain things from that parallel novel as I watched Cary Fukunaga's take on Charlotte Bronte's original story.

Mia Wasikowska plays our heroine Jane as undiminished, wistful and a sort of realist. "I imagine things I'm powerless to execute," she confesses to her employer's housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench!). In flashbacks, we see how Jane's young fire slowly dims in her dealings with a spiteful aunt (Sally Hawkins) and then with the teachers at the autocratic school to which her aunt sends her. Her first position after leaving school is as governess to a French-speaking orphan who is under the guardianship of the imposing, darkly handsome and slightly shady Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender).

You probably know the story of Jane Eyre from here, but the relationship between Jane and the Rivers family who discover her stranded on the moor is worth a mention. Jamie Bell's St. John Rivers is a striking figure -- the last movie I remembered seeing Bell in was Nicholas Nickleby, and he's certainly filled out since then!

http://www.slackerwood.com/node/2191

Review: Jane Eyre
By Elizabeth Stoddard on March 25, 2011 - 12:00pm in

* Reviews
* New Releases

Mia Wasikowska in Jane Eyre

In ninth grade I read Jane Eyre of my own volition; it wasn't required reading at my school. The novel was dark and romantic, so of course I adored it. I watched the melodramatic 1943 classic with Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles (and a very young Elizabeth Taylor in an uncredited role). I haven't re-read the novel since and was unsure what to expect from this 2011 Jane Eyre film adaptation. Would any slight reference to Wide Sargasso Sea be made? (Answer: not really.) I found myself inferring certain things from that parallel novel as I watched Cary Fukunaga's take on Charlotte Bronte's original story.

Mia Wasikowska plays our heroine Jane as undiminished, wistful and a sort of realist. "I imagine things I'm powerless to execute," she confesses to her employer's housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench!). In flashbacks, we see how Jane's young fire slowly dims in her dealings with a spiteful aunt (Sally Hawkins) and then with the teachers at the autocratic school to which her aunt sends her. Her first position after leaving school is as governess to a French-speaking orphan who is under the guardianship of the imposing, darkly handsome and slightly shady Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender).

You probably know the story of Jane Eyre from here, but the relationship between Jane and the Rivers family who discover her stranded on the moor is worth a mention. Jamie Bell's St. John Rivers is a striking figure -- the last movie I remembered seeing Bell in was Nicholas Nickleby, and he's certainly filled out since then!

Moira Buffini's screenplay and Fukunaga's deft direction work together to create a film that balances well the creepy and suspenseful moments with the lovely and hopeful. Light and shadow interplay; silhouettes, dim candlelight and natural light are used to set tone throughout Jane Eyre. Some of the shot composition and color palettes used seem reminiscent of Jane Campion's sublime Bright Star (not a bad thing, certainly).

Another likely influence, to the film's string-dependent score by Dario Marianelli at least, is Samuel Barber. Marianelli's music for the film has a more 20th century than 19th century feel to it. It plays sparingly in the film, leaving the quiet in the background of some scenes to create a feeling of uncertainty.

Jane Eyre is naive, since she has lived a good portion of her life in a secluded all-girls school. But both Buffini and Mia Wasikowksa make this character someone who can stand on her own two feet, a woman who could understandably be essential to the true happiness of a certain haunted man.

Jane Eyre has flaws, though they aren't many. The shaky-cam at the start of the film is a bit much. Then some of the scenes from this kinetic beginning reappear in the middle of the movie, which just seems repetitive instead of whatever feeling the director was going for. Some facets of the story get short shrift, but the overall pacing is just right.

The film might be worth a visit to the theater for audience reaction alone: at our screening, one woman yelped in surprise when something popped up onscreen, and there was an audible gasp from a large part of the crowd when Thornfield (Rochester's estate) appears towards the end. My friend and I agreed that those people likely hadn't read the book.