Much flailing ensues.
I.
Love.
Jane Eyre.
Seriously guys, I love Jane Eyre more than Jane Austen. WHOA, I know? What a thing to say! But the more I watch my favorite JE adaptations, the more I fall in love with them every single time.
So let’s vent my big black secret right now: I’ve never read the book. Shock! Gasp! I know, I know, I know, a horrible little secret that I probably shouldn’t admit. Believe me, it’s a situation I know I need to remedy, and it’s right on my To-Read list. Y’know, after The Girl Who Played With Fire and Never Let Me Go.
Alright, having completely destroyed any credibility I may have had, let me analyze why I love Jane Eyre so much and let me critique the three film/TV adaptations I’ve seen.
Why do I love it? Sigh. Because of Jane and Mr. Rochester. I love them both so much. I think Mr. Rochester is the most romantic character in all of fiction (yes, even more than Mr. Darcy). I have a ginormous crush on him. I want Mr. Rochester to want me the way he wants Jane. What a tortured soul, and what woman can’t resist that? Tall, dark, and brooding… guh.
And then there’s Jane! Mr. Rochester is everything a romantic hero should be - flawed, hurt, and passionate - but this would mean absolutely nothing unless he had a suitable heroine to fall in love with. Enter Jane - reserved, quiet, silently suffering, accepting her lot in life. There is so much I admire in that. To me, this is incredibly reminiscent of Anne Elliott of Persuasion, my favorite Austen heroine (shock! Elizabeth Bennett is not my favorite Austen heroine!). And yet, when you peel away the outer layers of Jane, when you get past her reserve, her quiet, you discover that still water runs deep, and inside her soul still lives the passionate little girl who got in such trouble at the beginning of the story. She is passionate and strong-minded. Quiet does not equate to weak; that is everything that Jane stands for. She is a complex, fully-formed female character, with a mind of her own and a will of iron that is well-concealed beneath a docile exterior. I love her. So much.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Jane Eyre: Charlotte Gainsborough
Mr. Rochester: William Hurt
1994
This was the first Jane Eyre adaptation I ever saw. It was made in the midst of Hollywood’s mid-nineties fascination with Jane Eyre, so it was natural they turned to other costume dramas. Plus Franco Zeffirelli? The man has made some of the most iconic costume dramas in all of film.
Then why the hell is this film more boring than molasses?
Because WOW, what a dull, dull film. There is no oomph. There is no fire. Mr. Rochester is boring. Jane is INCREDIBLY boring. In this Jane, there is no inner fire, which to me, is the entire POINT of the book. If there is no passion in the story, then it’s just meek little Jane meets boorish Mr. Rochester. Sadly, that is exactly what this movie delivers. Plain Jane. Literally. Is it a bad film, per se? No, not at all, but it’s certainly not good. It’d dull. Dull, dull, dull, dull, dull. Wow, I thought that Jane Eyre was kind of a boring story after I watched this film.
Director: Robert Young
Jane Eyre: Samantha Morton
Mr. Rochester: Ciaran Hinds
1997
And then along came this version. Made for the BBC, shown as a TV miniseries on the states in A&E, this version made me understand the magic of Jane Eyre. The characters were completely different. Here was a Jane with fire, a Jane with passion, a Jane who cries out for love of her Mr. Rochester, a Jane who wants to fight for her man. Thank goodness! Speaking superficially as well, this version brings a satisfactory transformation of Jane from “simple ugly” to “simple pretty.”
Sigh. And then there’s Ciaran Hinds. As delightful as Samantha Morton is in this adaptation, it is not she who makes this worth every penny you’ll spend when you buy it on DVD. It’s Ciaran Hinds as Mr. Rochester. He jumps off the screen in every single scene he’s in. He’s pompous, he’s blustering, but he’s also tender and enormously passionate. He’s literally violently in love with Jane. He cannot control himself. That’s a kind of passion that is rarely committed to the screen, and for this reason, he remains the pinnacle of Mr. Rochesters. I adore that Ciaran Hinds is not traditionally good-looking. It makes the story so much more believable, that this plain little girl and this moody, slightly ugly man come together in a magical way.
Director: Susanna White
Jane Eyre: Ruth Wilson
Mr. Rochester: Toby Stephens
2006
So, for about seven years, I’ve been hopelessly in love with Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. Imagine my total and utter delight when I learn that the BBC is making a new, longer (and rather unnecessary) adaptation. Because come on, it’s the BBC, the British know how to adapt their own works.
This newest Jane Eyre is incredibly fulfilling. It’s much longer so it allows for a lot more details and scenes that the previous two versions left out. (I’m assuming that these are scenes from the book, of course, but as I admitted at the outset, I wouldn’t exactly know.)
What sets this version apart from the previous one is that the relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester seems a much more modern take. Once they express their love for one another, and you take their costumes away, it seems as though you could be watching any modern film couple, any modern TV couple. Is it accurate to the book or the time period? To the book, I don’t know. To the time period, probably not. HOWEVER, is it always necessary to be 100% accurate? I don’t think so. I think the producers made a wise choice in differentiating the fundamental relationship here, by making it feel modern and fresh. Plus come on, who doesn’t want to see Mr. Rochester make out with Jane? Again and again and again? Because you get that with this version.
Ruth Wilson is amazing. She completely carries the film. She does an amazing job. She is so willful and passionate, and you can literally see her falling head over heels in love with Mr. Rochester. As for Mr. Rochester, Toby Stephens (Maggie Smith’s son!) is very good. In my humble opinion, he’s not as good of a Mr. Rochester as Ciaran Hinds because he’s not quite as unhinged, but he’s very very good. You can see how badly he loves Jane, how he yearns for her, how he’s fighting with his deep dark secret. He’s a little too good-looking for Mr. Rochester as well, but I suppose that isn’t exactly a bad thing. It just makes him, as Mr. Rochester, a little less interesting.
While I’m ranting on about Jane Eyre, I’d figured I’d take the opportunity to address the issue that some people have with the story. I’ve heard from others that they just can’t get on Mr. Rochester’s side because he keeps such a horrible secret from Jane. Alright. I hear you. I can completely understand why this might prevent some from really falling in love with the story. In rebuffing it, all I can really say is why it doesn’t bother me. Why not? Because it’s completely torturing Mr. Rochester. To me, that’s the key behind it. This isn’t something that he keeps from Jane easily. He didn’t expect to fall in love with Jane; he didn’t expect to want to marry her; why on earth would he tell her from the outset that this would present a difficulty? And then, once he did fall in love with her, he was in too deep. He didn’t want to scare her away. And it’s completely torturing him. As I said before, that’s the key. He doesn’t want to hurt Jane; he just can’t control himself. And really, at the very least, he comes clean eventually. What makes me love the story even more is that Jane leaves after she finds out. Jane loves him so much, with her entire being, but she is such a vital, strong character that she simply cannot stay. She is not willing to sacrifice her morals or herself to stay with him. Yet, despite all of this, in time she forgives him and returns. She shows the depth of her character by leaving, and then in turn, returning.
Sigh. I love Jane Eyre. And if you love it like I do, you probably already own a couple versions on DVD. Apparently, Ellen Page is signed on to do another Hollywood Jane Eyre. I’m much more nervous about a Hollywood interpretation, and Ellen Page doesn’t help. However, I am willing to give any version of Jane Eyre the benefit of the doubt. I love it that much.