JANE EYRE

        A devoted fan asked for a column about Jane Eyre movies. His favorite book and story are still beloved by thousands more than 170 years after it was published. There are around seven movies and just as many TV series varying in their faithfulness to the book and in their merit. What to do, what to do? Fear not, Mr. Movie is here for you. 

I’ll start at the top of the line with my own personal favorite. The 2011 version with Michael Fassbender as Rochester and Mia Wasikowska as a perfect Jane is just good enough to eat. Jane’s speech to Rochester about how she is plain and ignored but has deep feelings is just absolutely wonderful. Mia is plain. There’s nothing cute or pretty about her and that is just the way Jane is presented in the book. Fassbender is perfectly dark and brooding, yet very sympathetic when misfortune befalls him. We also have the iconic Judi Dench as Mrs. Fairfax, the kindly housekeeper at Thornfield. 

And speaking of icons, the 1934 version features Orson Welles as Rochester. And of course he pulls off this difficult part with aplomb. I think Joan Fontaine is way too pretty to be a convincing Jane, but the backgrounds in this one are spot on. Lowood, the dreadful school where Jane was a student and later a teacher, feels gloomy and sad. And Rochester’s manor, Thornfield, immediately feels dark and full of awful secrets. (And of course, it is both). 

I also like the 1996 version with Anna Paquin as Jane as a spirited child that awful things happen to. Charlotte Gainsborough is quite fine as the adult Jane and William Hurt is better as Rochester than you thought he would be. In this one, Jane’s awareness that as a poor female orphan she can’t expect much from the world is very much in keeping with the book. Charlotte Bronte’s somewhat tacked-on happy ending is appropriately muted.

I must mention a made for TV series which surfaced in 1983. It had Timothy Dalton (yep, one of the James Bonds) and a pretty much unknown Zelah Clark. This one is 11 episodes long and as faithful to the book as it could possibly be. You can find this series, but you might have to buy it. I can’t find a free one anywhere. 

Some other Jane Eyre versions worth a look include the 1970 with George C. Scott and Susannah York, and a 1997 made for TV version with Ciarin Hinds as Rochester and Samantha Morton as Jane. Morton is a chameleon-like actor anyway, who seems to be able to look as pretty or as plain as the material requires.

Trivia tidbit: Charlotte Bronte had to write under an assumed (male) name to get this thing published. Yep, because of course girls couldn’t write.  So- Currer Bell was the pen name of Ms. Bronte.  

The films in this article are most available as set out in the text. You can find some nice summaries of the story on Wikipedia. There isn’t anything in any of these that would appeal to children. Adults only, please.