fajrdrako | Jane Eyre... (Reply)

Went tonight to see the new movie version of Jane Eyre, which is and always has been one of my favourite books. There have been a lot of Jane Eyre movies now; my favourite version is the one in which Timothy Dalton plays Mr. Rochester. I like the George C. Scott version least, because the cut too much of the story - it was choppy.

Anyway, this is a good one. Moody. Mia Wasikowska really captures Jane's combination of protestant reserve and passionate heart. All the actors are fine; and Judi Dench is very loveable as Mrs. Fairfax, almost motherly; she tells Jane that Jane should have come to her instead of running away when the wedding with Rochester went bad. Some scenes seemed way too truncated, but they did succeed in making it fairly smooth while still cutting a lot. Only two bits jarred: in the scene when Jane comes back from Gateshead and Rochester is waiting for her at the style, they cut the punchline where she says "wherever you are is my home—my only home." I love that scene in the book, and I always think it her outspoken comment precipitated what followed.

I spent about half the movie trying to remember the name of the dog. (Pilot, if you're wondering.)

The did an interesting revision of the sequence of scenes. The movie starts about three quarters of the way through the book, where Jane runs away from Thornfield and finds herself at a crossroads; wanders through the moors and eventually ends at St. John Rivers' door. Then we get flashbacks. Then we get scenes of her live with the Rivers family. It worked rather well as a frame story.

The ending seemed very abrupt. No "Reader, I married him" lingering on events. It ends on a kiss. Nice. Beulah needed a kleenex.