Book to film: Jane Eyre (2011)

I’m not sure precisely how many times I’ve read Jane Eyre, but it must be more than twenty and probably closer to thirty. When you know a book that well, it’s always a bit of a risk watching a film (or television) adaptation. I came very close to walking out of the cinema when watching the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice, for example, though I have since come to appreciate it more on re-watching over the years. I only read a couple of, fairly brief, reviews of the new version of Jane Eyre, but they did both seem fairly complimentary and I decided therefore to risk it. And I’m really very glad that I did.

If you haven’t read the book, and plan to watch the film, you probably shouldn’t read on, as there are spoilers. This review talks about how the book has been adapted in the film – Jane Eyre (2011) – and therefore refers to some scenes in the book and in the film. And, actually, if you haven’t read the book… go and read it now – if you have a Kindle, you can even download a copy for free! It’s brilliant and, while this is definitely a superior adaptation, it’s still always best (I think) to read a book before seeing the (a) film of the book.

Of course, it’s not a word-for-word adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, but for me it did bring most of the important elements with it. There is also a slight restructuring, which I think worked really well for the film, pulling it all together in a way that a straight repetition of the original structure does not do as well on screen.

I’m not an expert on cinematography, but the camera work and direction really seemed to create the right atmosphere (or at least the one I’ve always felt when reading the book). The accents worked very well, I felt, and seemed more fitting than the upper-class southern accents that have often found their place in film adaptations of books of this era.

Jane Eyre (played by Mia Wasikowska) and Rochester (played by Michael Fassbender) were very close to the pictures I had in my head and Wasikowska played Jane with the right mixture of meek servitude and feisty independence. Judi Dench made a brilliant Mrs Fairfax, managing to impart a whole page of meaning in a single look. And Mrs Rochester (Valentina Cervi) was well done, too. Not the grotesque monster sometimes portrayed, but the very ill woman trapped both in the attic and her extremely troubled mind – and all the more frightening for that.

There were some omissions which I couldn’t help but notice, but none of them detracted from the whole. I was sorry to see Miss Temple and the improved Lowood School left out, but was pleased that Helen was there and not glossed over as I’m sure I remember her being in another adaptation (sorry, can’t remember which one). And I was a little unsure of why the Rivers were apparently not Jane’s cousins – unless perhaps it was felt to be too implausible (not without reason).

All in all, this was an excellent adaptation by Moira Buffini and filmed brilliantly by Cary Fukunaga. It brought a mixture of fear, suspense and romance, and somehow even managed some comic moments that had the whole audience laughing out loud (and not in a bad way).

This is a Sunday Reading post.