Jane Eyre Conquers the US - Part V

And the final (?) post with articles presenting BBC's Jane Eyre for the American audience.

Chuck Barney in ContraCosta Times is thrilled with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens:

DON'T MISS: "Jane Eyre" -- Newcomer Ruth Wilson delivers a sparkling performance as the title character in this richly layered "Masterpiece Theatre" adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's beloved Victorian novel. Wilson hits all the right emotional notes in bringing to life the plain-looking but spirited young woman who, after escaping a sadistic orphanage, discovers the inner courage and conviction that eventually lead her to an improbable true love. Toby Stephens also deserves raves for his portrayal of Mr. Rochester, the passionate and tormented estate owner who falls for Jane. Director Susanna White ("Bleak House") and screenwriter Sandy Welch deftly mine all the spooky intrigue, psychological texture and fiery romance from Bronte's book to create a first-rate viewing experience.

Georgette Gouveia in The New York Journal News:

When it comes to adaptability, Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" rivals Jane Austen. "It has some challenges, for the reason that there are 26 screen versions," says Susanna White, who throws her own bonnet into the ring as director of the latest. Her "Jane Eyre" begins on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" tonight, with newcomer Ruth Wilson as the plain but passionate titular governess, yearning for self-determination, and Toby Stephens as Rochester, the cynical, enigmatic employer she bonds with. (...)

Hal Boedeker in the Orlando Sentinel compares Jane Eyre with Glenn Ford (!) and praises Ruth Wilson:

Jane Eyre is the Gerald Ford of heroines.
Her steadiness can look rather bland next to the bracing wit of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice or the extravagant passion of Cathy in Wuthering Heights. Jane isn't even the most magnetic figure in her story. That honor goes to her brooding employer, Edward Rochester.
Yet in the long run, like Ford, Jane looks better and better. She is appealing and heroic as played by Ruth Wilson in a new miniseries of Jane Eyre. PBS' Masterpiece Theatre presents this absorbing, two-part adaptation from 9 to 11 p.m. Sunday and Jan. 28. (...)
Even if you know Jane Eyre, you don't know her like this. The camera spins, swoops, glides and jostles. The dreams and flashbacks pack a feverish punch. The mystery carries an exotic frankness.
It's a relief to see a plain Jane, a break with the beauties who have assumed the role. Wilson plays plainness beautifully. Because of her, Jane's loneliness stings.
The actress also portrays character with low-key pluck. Jane is one of the most-put-upon characters in literature: mistreated as a child, shipped off to a ghastly orphanage, deceived as a young woman.
Does she whine? No, she carries on. Wilson personifies gumption. When Jane unleashes her emotions, they mesmerize because of Wilson's striking composure. Jane Eyre -- an antidote to the celebrity tell-all culture.
Sandy Welch's excellent script provides a full portrait of Jane, from her dreary childhood to her maturation into what one character calls "an enterprising young woman -- an unusual specimen."
The main focus is Jane's employment as a governess at the turbulent household of Thornfield Hall. She teaches the young female ward of Rochester (Toby Stephens). He is in turn scary, sexy, sneaky and stressed.
Stephens, the son of Maggie Smith, captures all those moods forcefully. His reckless Rochester freshens the familiar story.
The standouts in an expert supporting cast include Tara Fitzgerald as Jane's horrible aunt; Francesca Annis as a haughty mother; and Anne Reid as a fortuneteller. Andrew Buchan puts a heart-rending spin on a cold, gawky clergyman who helps Jane.
But this Jane Eyre is Jane's show all the way. In a conversation with Rochester about attractiveness, Jane says, " 'Tis the character inside that determines a person. Not the outer shell."
As Jane, Wilson makes that point splendidly. What becomes a literary legend most? Short of a re-reading, a terrific miniseries will do.

Ted Mahar in The Oregonian:

White emphasizes from the opening shot that this "Jane" is a film. A little girl trekking across a desert is soon revealed as Jane in a fantasy, enjoying one of the countless faraway places she reads of, knowing she will never see them. The golden glowing desert gives way to the drab grays of Jane's real life, and White manipulates color, camera movement, composition and movement within the frame to create or enhance mood throughout the film.
Even though one is nearly always aware of the camera work, it is not artistic bravado. "Jane" is, in fact, a potential downer of black hole power. Jane's childhood is almost satirically grim -- although, alas, not unrealistic for her time, the early 1800s. Anything that can provide artistic variety and emotional breathing space is welcome, and White's visual design gets a strong handshake and hearty back clap.
Bronte was no scriptwriter, but "Jane" lives in more memories these days as a photographed actress than a woman on the page. And, of course, much trimming is done to keep the films from being a week long. Welch and White coolly condense Jane's childhood in the home of her hostile aunt and in the prison-like boarding school (...)
Jane is pointedly described as plain, and Rochester is handsome, but in a way that suggests previous dissipation and emotional turmoil. They feel an attraction, but numberless conventions and complications keep them from frank talk for, well, quite a while.
Time, like Thornfield Hall, seems to have virtually infinite dimensions. If you don't known the plot, this is as good a way as any to get a Classics Illustrated Comics precis.
White and Welch love the work and share their appreciation with us. (In 1934 Christy Cabanne directed a 67-minute "Jane." It must be something to see.) Wilson is an ideal Jane, although no actress has ever conveyed the plainness that is so important to the novel; Jane is always saying loser stuff like inner beauty is what's important, but every actress who's ever played her looks just fine, and so does Wilson.
Stephens is a more reasonable, less demented Rochester than many, which also is good. Simply going by Charlotte's descriptions, he seems psychotic. It's good to make him a manageable neurotic.
We're with Wilson all the time, and she carries the four-hour production. She is passionate but aloof, feeling but politely restrained, helplessly in love but rigidly controlled. When her emotions finally overwhelm her deep into the story, we feel it. She makes us glad to see our old pal Jane again.

Misha Berson in The Seattle Times gives a detailed, and documented, description of the series:

BBC screenwriter Sandy Welch (also responsible for a superb 1998 treatment of Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend") chose to shed much of the novel's early chapters, which detail young, orphaned Jane's early experiences at Lowood, a brutal boarding school. (...)
Another major choice: whether to preserve the book's first-person narration. Novelist and literary scholar Joyce Carol Oates praises Jane's authorial voice "in its directness, its ruefulness and scarcely concealed rage." She finds that voice "startlingly contemporary" and key to making the reversal of Jane's meager fortunes believable.
This new version uses scant narration. It inserts flashback material. And in numerous instances Welch has streamlined the dialogue. She does so in unshowy ways that don't offend my ears — but may bother some literary purists.

The portrayal of Jane

On the page, Jane is depicted as "plain" and "small" — no match in conventional beauty to her rival for Rochester's affection (the snooty socialite Blanche). (...)
The latest Jane, newcomer Ruth Wilson, strikes the right balance. Long-faced, broad-featured and pale, she is a wallflower one moment and naturally radiant the next.
Along with her fascinating looks, Wilson also has the acting skill to reveal the subtle gradations of Jane's pride, anguish and courage, as this little "nobody" quietly defies social convention.(...)

Jane's chemistry with Rochester

What's so right about Wilson's Jane and Toby Stephens' virile, tormented Rochester is that their mutual erotic charge is matched by the teasing, bantering rapport of intellectual equals.
That affinity glimmers through Brontë's book but not always between screen couples. And Stephens (a newly-minted matinee idol in this role) also clarifies another aspect of Rochester.
The cruel tests he demands of Jane's love are not exercises in sadism in Stephens' reading. They are the fearful ploys of a man whose first marriage (to a faithless, deranged courtesan) was a tragic disaster. And he won't be fooled again.

Visuals

(...) But while the costumes, lighting and locales are all up to the BBC's high Victorian-lit standard, what's notable in Susanna White's direction is the creative camera work and editing.
Patterns of shadows and silhouettes intensify the erotic tension and the mystery of dead-of-night malicious mischief at Thornfield. There are also misty memory, dream and fantasy sequences, and potent Jungian images of fire, water and landscape.
A few of these visual gambits are a bit much.
But they give the series a vividly sensual texture. In the end, no dramatization could fully replicate Brontë's "Jane Eyre." And to achieve any distinction, each has to approach the familiar tale anew.
This one does. And like Rochester's faith in Jane Eyre and vice versa, the risks are worth the taking.

Categories: Movies-DVD-TV, Jane Eyre