He is seldom home but when he is, he's a restless, somewhat tormented man. Her job is to educate her ward under the supervision of the housekeeper, Mrs Fairfax, played with meticulous grace and intelligence by Judi Dench.Īt first Rochester treats Jane with sarcastic contempt. Jane is hired to be governess to Rochester's daughter Adele (Romy Moore). They are the curate St John Rivers (Jamie Bell), and Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender), who owns the old mansion on the bleak moors where Jane is sent to live. She will not be diminished by the men who expect her, indeed all women, to be humble, obedient and grateful. The story is filled with secrets and revelations, but Fukunaga keeps his focus trained on Jane as she confronts both her sexuality and her determination to live her life on her own terms. Most of the previous film versions of Jane Eyre have taken a soft option, indulging in the Masterpiece Theatre treatment, with opulent decor and romantic melodrama that lulls complacent audiences into believe that they are imbibing "culture".
They were forced to publish their novels, all of which gained international success, under a male pseudonym because publishers at the time refused to print books written by women. Moira Buffini's taut, pared-down screenplay focuses tightly on Jane (Wasikowska), a woman who has no money or social status, but who is intelligent and brave enough to believe that women need not become just a useful tool in the social apparatus of male domination and power of that age.īronte and her sisters, Anne and Emily, were very much aware of those limitations. There is no overdressed period glamour or mawkish Victorian romance to stifle the novel's powerful feminist theme. This version of Jane Eyre is bold and passionate, and the emotions on screen are raw and real. This is no reverential exhumation of a classic novel that has been wheeled out for students and old-fogey audiences. It is my opinion that with Japanese-American director Cary Fukunaga at the helm and an Australian actress, Mia Wasikowska, in the lead role, this new Jane Eyre is the best film version of the book we have yet seen - a passionate, intimate drama that speaks directly and cogently to a modern audience. You might imagine that there are no fresh surprises or interesting insights to be had from this classic novel, but this new film version you will prove you wrong. Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel Jane Eyre has been filmed 16 times and there have been 10 television versions, to say nothing of an opera and a ballet.