Jane Eyre enters into its third weekend (III) ~ BrontëBlog

Film School Rejects talks about Jane Eyre's box office projections:

Jane Eyre is likely to have a decent weekend, as well, as it expands to 90 screen nationally. If it’s able to hold onto the $17,000 per screen average it picked up last weekend, it will be able to bring in over $1 million now. Don’t expect that, but it’s something to watch. (Jeremy Kirk)

The estimations of Box Office Mojo are optimistic:

Domestic Total as of Mar. 25, 2011: $1,181,000 (Estimate)

Rotten Tomatoes: 84 % Fresh (7.4/10) Reviews:80 (63 Fresh / 13 Rotten)
Audience: 77 % (3.7/5) 11,848
Metacritic: 77/100 (33 critics)
Imdb: 7.8 /10 ( 451 votes)

Positive

Vancouver Observer:

There have been so many movie versions of this enduring tale, you’ve probably seen at least one already. Go again. This is one of the best. It’s true to Charlotte Bronte’s beloved novel and still puts a slight modern touch to it. And best of all both Jane and Mr. Rochester are portrayed perfectly. (Volkmar Richter)

Mountain View Voice (and others) (3 and a half stars):

Just when you think the umpteenth adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's beloved 1847 novel couldn't possibly add anything new to the library of cinematic classics, director Cary Joji Fukunaga proves you wrong. (...)
Reader, a new generation will most likely enjoy discovering this enduring classic on the big screen. (Susan Tavernetti)

Video Hound's Movie Retriever:

Of course it is not possible to properly translate a 400 page novel into a two-hour movie. There are always cuts, and creative decisions to be made to convey the essence of the story. And very cleverly, screenwriter Moira Buffini has done just that. Jane's bitter and abusive childhood is recalled by a number of well-placed, and well-acted flashbacks. (...)
We just finished the Hollywood awards season, but I think Adriano Goldman (Sin Nombre) should be clearing his calendar for next year. There are moments in Jane Eyre that made me feel like I was watching a Vermeer or Rembrandt come to life. The use of shadow and candle light were beautifully executed. And the sense of desolation conveyed in the lighting and capturing of the moors was palpable. (Bernie Tague)

The Scorecard Review (8 out of 10) (audio here)

Fukunaga and the team behind Jane Eyre put their own twist, while keeping the core. They realize their is a reason to tell the story their way. So for now, unitl I see a couple other adaptations, this is my Jane Eyre and I am quite pleased with it.

YNN (3 out of stars) (includes video interview with Mia Wasikowska):

"Jane Eyre" is well crafted by director Cary Fukunaga, who makes a effective tradition in the follow up to his Latin gangster film "Sin Nombre." Art direction, costumes and cinematography are strong points of this smart film which caters more to an art house audience than a that of mainstream melodrama. (Victor Diaz)

Miami Herald:

The script is necessarily truncated from its expansive source material — Brontë wrote a fairly hefty novel — but in Fukunara’s (sic) hands you never feel like you’re missing a thing. (Connie Ogle)

BrandonFibbs (3 out of 4 stars):

This is easily the most spiritual of the adaptations. Fukunaga mines the Gothic horror elements of the novel better than any of his predecessors, evoking phantoms, ghouls and specters—of course, the only demons here are secrets, clamoring to get into the light. It is also the most blatantly feminist. (...)
The result of all this fussing is neither stiff and inflexible or radically divergent and reimagined. It is exactly as it should be—a dynamic romance that rings true with the most important critic of all, our heart.

Sun Sentinel:

La adorable Wasikowska encuentra un insustituible compañero en Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds), quien brilla como el cínico, adorable y recatado Mr. Rochester.
Además de relatar con gran maestría una historia de amor imposible, Fukunaga se esfuerza en recrear el ambiente y la atmósfera característicos de la Inglaterra victoriana de aquellos días. (Hernando Olivares)

Love Buzz likes the movie even if she doesn't like the original book much. Univisión (México) gives the film a 9 out of 10. Trailblazer Carson High School, Movie Moxie and Reel Reflections also liked the movie.

Mostly Positive
Chicago Journal & Topics (7 out of 10):

I have no beefs with what's on the screen in this newest version, but I do with what's missing as a lot of key "filler" material that helps frame - and give purpose to - characters and their complicated emotional entanglements. (Michael Poulos)

Slackerwood:

Jane Eyre is naive, since she has lived a good portion of her life in a secluded all-girls school. But both Buffini and Mia Wasikowksa make this character someone who can stand on her own two feet, a woman who could understandably be essential to the true happiness of a certain haunted man.
Jane Eyre has flaws, though they aren't many. The shaky-cam at the start of the film is a bit much. Then some of the scenes from this kinetic beginning reappear in the middle of the movie, which just seems repetitive instead of whatever feeling the director was going for. Some facets of the story get short shrift, but the overall pacing is just right. (Elizabeth Stoddard)

The Oregonian:

Is it dreary, stingy and strained? Well, yes: it’s “Jane Eyre,” after all. But it’s also robust and full-blooded and forceful: it’s “Jane Eyre,” after all. And besides, if time has taught us anything about film adaptations of “Jane Eyre,” if you don’t care for one, another one will be along in five years or so which you might prefer. (Shawn Levy)

Voir:

Qu'apporte à la vingtaine de films et téléfilms inspirés de l'un des chefs-d'oeuvre de la littérature romantique gothique cette adaptation de Cary Joji Fukanaga (sic) (Sin Nombre)? Rien de plus qu'une fidèle, élégante et sage lecture du riche roman introspectif de Charlotte Brontë.(Manon Dumais)

Writing, Reading, Living posts about differences between novel and film. Literary Ladies Discussion Society complains about the duration of the film (too short).

Lukewarm
Twin Cities Daily Planet:

Sometimes adaptations of great literature sound precisely like Adaptations of Great Literature, and this is that kind of movie.This adaptation also strips the complexity out of the central relationship. Rochester is so much infinitely more simpatico with Jane than any other character is—and he's just so damn sexy—that there's never any doubt that the two are meant to be together. (Jay Gabler)

Borderstan:

My main problem with the current Jane Eyre is that it skews the narrative in order to introduce the Rivers family of two sisters and a brother early, and so to make the brother central in offering refuge to Jane. He ought to be — and he ought to be more sternly demanding than he is in the film. (...) Nevertheless, Fukunaga and Wasikowska and Fassbender convey most of what makes Jane Eyre such an enduring masterpiece. And the film enriches the story with images– landscape, costume, the shadows and gleam of a great mansion, and the characters themselves–that the mind’s eye can only approximate. Even so, we lovers of Charlotte Brontë’s novel want to say: “It’s the story of an orphaned and rejected girl finding love at last, and without surrendering her independence of spirit. Don’t make it so confusing.” (Mary Burgan)

St Paul Pioneer Press:

I'm positive Fukanaga digs Jane Eyre, but I'm still not sure he's into "Jane Eyre." He mishandles the big fat secret, making it a big fat bore. And other than a few amusing costumes (in general, the more ruffles and flounces a character wears, the nastier she is), Fukanaga doesn't seem to care about anyone who is not named either Jane or Rochester.
As those maybe/kinda/possibly lovers, Wasikowska and Fassbender are wonderful together. They have a joking flirtiness that seems just right for a time when public kissing would have been as off-limits as public nudity today. But when those two are not on-screen, all of the eyre goes out of the movie. (Chris Hewitt)

Canoe (3 out of 5 stars)

On salue la fraîcheur et le naturel de Mia Wasikowska, sur le visage de laquelle on sent des mélanges de Cate Blanchett et de Nastassja Kinski. On aime aussi le couple qu’elle forme avec Michael Fassbender, leurs âges respectifs (20 et 33 ans) étant cohérents avec le roman original.

On déplore, par contre, la réalisation conventionnelle, à de rares exceptions près, de Fukunaga qui rend encore plus obsolète cette histoire vieille de 150 ans et à laquelle on a du mal, parfois, à s’identifier.(Isabelle Hontebeyrie)

Moncinéma (Cyberpresse) (3 out of 5 stars):

Évidemment, les relents d’interdits entourant la liaison sentimentale entre Jane Eyre et Rochester devraient en principe constituer le pivot émotionnel du récit. Or, cet élément se révèle étonnamment lisse, reléguant ainsi cette adaptation au rayon de tous ces films «à costumes» un peu fades, correctement faits mais desquels n’émane aucune passion. Même s’il insère parfois dans sa mise en scène quelques éléments suggérant l’attirance douloureuse liant les deux êtres, Fukunaga n’a visiblement rien voulu céder au romanesque, ni au lyrisme. (Marc-André Lussier)

And .Nick.Burns, My very own Pensieve.

Negative:

DVD Talk:

Fukunaga and Buffini's Jane Eyre is not a god-awful abomination, but its many failings are made all the more sad by the things it got really right. (...)
What with all the shimmering candles and foreboding secrets, Jane Eyre should have been breathy and over-the-top; instead, the finished film is a bloodless snooze. (Jamie S. Rich)

LeCinema:

Très loin de l'admirable effort réalisé par Robert Stevenson en 1944 (qui mettait en vedette Joan Fontaine, Orson Welles et Elizabeth Taylor, sur un scénario d'Aldous Huxley et une trame sonore de Bernard Herrmann), celui de 2011 laisse froid malgré sa propension à impressionner la rétine. À force de vouloir en mettre plein la vue, le metteur en scène en oublie cette chaleur humaine si importante, celle qui donnait de l'âme à des films à costumes tels «Atonement», «Tess» ou, dans une moindre mesure, «Bright Star» et «Never Let Me Go». Lorsque l'amour finit par ennuyer, c'est qu'il y a un problème quelque part. (Martin Gignac)

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Houston Press discusses the importance of Jane Eyre today:

It shouldn't be a surprise that 2011 has brought us yet another film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 proto-feminist novel Jane Eyre. The story of a young girl shaped by hardship, taking control of her destiny in an oppressive brutal world, is as modern as anything contemporary literature and film has to offer in this century. The issues Brontë wrote about, including the subject of free will, are as real today as they were when the story was first written.
Free will is scary. Exercising it can lead us to the very fringes of society and sanity. Scary yes, but what's the alternative? Servitude. Lack of creativity. An uninteresting life that by example gives a tacit "yes" to those who accrue their power thanks to people who don't ask questions, have no imagination, and are afraid to follow their heart. The questions Brontë's protagonist asks are questions that any modern young woman will at some point have to address either privately or, especially in this day and age, in the public eye. (Chris Pecker)

The Washington Post discusses the PG-13 rating of Jane Eyre:

This darkly emotional film is darn good and likely to appeal to literary-minded high-schoolers. There’s nothing in this “Jane Eyre” that’s inappropriate for middle-schoolers. Most already know the story: Edward Rochester takes to Jane’s innocence, and she falls in love with him. But when he tries to wed her, his mad first wife proves a moral impediment. Jane flees. Eventually, though, she is drawn back to Thornfield Hall.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The atmosphere in the film is decidedly dark and chilly. The students at Jane’s childhood school are beaten, underfed and freezing. Her best friend there dies in the night. The sexual charge between Jane and Mr. Rochester is quite apparent, though never explicit. After an incident with the madwoman in the attic, a visitor has a bloody gash in his neck. (Jane Horvitz)

The Derby Telegraph looks into some of the Derbyshire locations used in the movie, particulary Haddon Hall:

Dramatic scenes for a new big-budget adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre have been filmed in the Derbyshire countryside.
Both Haddon Hall and the grounds of Chatsworth House feature in the romantic movie, starring Jamie Bell and Dame Judi Dench, and set for UK release in September.
And now the film's director and its crew have told of the delights and pitfalls of filming in the county.
Chatsworth was used as the setting for the first meeting between Jane and her eventual husband, Edward Rochester.
The crew found a spot at top of the gardens to set the scene where Rochester's horse rears as Jane suddenly appears and startles it.
Director Cary Fukunaga said the eventual shots were worth it but that the film crew found themselves at the mercy of the weather – including freezing rain and high winds.
He said: "What the audience won't know is that we were thick with mud, and that visibility was down to 100 yards."
Adriano Goldman, the man behind the film's cinematography, said consistency in the filming was tricky.
He said: "We always tried to shoot outside when the light was best, but we had to be consistent with the mood that Cary had established from the beginning.
"So when there was no fog we'd have to bring some in using special effects."
Haddon Hall and its surroundings were used as the set for Thornfield Hall, the venue for much of the story, because of the way its features have been preserved.
Production designer Will Hughes-Jones said the hall held a lot of secrets that helped with filming.
He said: "We were walking around with custodians of the building, and said how we needed a secret door for the cast to go through.
"One of the custodians said, 'Like this?' and pulled back a tapestry – and there was a secret door.
"You can get lost in Haddon Hall for hours. It can feel dark and frightening, but then again, when the sun is shining on it, it's a beautiful place."
Mr Fukunaga said the craggy rocks around the hall gave it a "darker and more oppressive look".
Janet Blackwell, manager at Haddon Hall, said filming days were long and hectic but enjoyable.
She said: "From the moment the trailers arrived in the car park, there was a real buzz about the place.
"Once filming had finished, and the props all cleared out, Haddon seemed quiet." (Chris Mallet)

Time Magazine interviews Mia Wasikowska (Jane's Heir):

What they'll find in Fukunaga's film is a realism both disconcerting and exciting. This is not just because Wasikowska's entire makeup routine consisted of applying moisturizer and having her eyebrows brushed. ("It is not the role to be vain with," she says. "I hope that people can still see the beauty in her.") What feels so radical is the contrast between her Jane and Michael Fassbender's sensual, very adult Rochester. When Wasikowska learned Fassbender (of Inglourious Basterds and the upcoming X-Men: First Class) had been cast, she thought, But he's a man. I've only acted with boys. Seeing them together deepens the understanding of the power dynamic at work in this romance, of what it took for Jane to resist him. Her strength is her self-respect, which Wasikowska relished. "You put her in modern-day society and she'd thrive," she says. (Mary Pols)

Music Films Daily interviews Sky Ferreira who happens to like the film:

Have you seen any good films recently?
Jane Eyre was good, that just came out with Mia… I don’t know how to say her last name, Mia something. (...) Jane Eyre was really good, I think that was the last movie I watched that was really good, in the last few weeks. (Nathan Bohatch)

Houston Chronicle says about the film:

In an innovative twist, this version begins Jane's story at the end of the book, with Jane looking back on her life, and lacks the often overblown elements of other adaptations, like a puffed-up Welles bellowing "Jane!" over the moors.
Though he may indeed be an actor's director, he is a trained cinematographer and worked closely with his director of photography, Adriano Goldman, to praised results. At a recent Q&A, an audience member raised her hand not to ask a question but to compliment Fukunaga, saying scenes popped like Vermeer and Caravaggio. Fukunaga grinned sheepishly.
In one of the film's scenes, Jane Eyre expresses displeasure with her sketches, lamenting, "I imagine things I'm powerless to execute."
So far, for the young director, that seems not to be a problem. (Sara Brickman)

Monsters & Critics runs a contest connected to the film:

Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender star in the romantic drama Jane Eyre and M&C’s giving away a $50 movie theater gift card and other prizes from the film – in theaters now! (Patrick Luce)

Another contest related to the release of the film:

To celebrate the release of Jane Eyre, Vintage Books and Focus Features are pleased to present the Jane Eyre Gothic Story Competition for Young Writers. Enter by submitting your own gothic short story for the chance to win a trip for two to visit “Brontë Country,” in Yorkshire, England, including economy roundtrip airfare, four-star hotel accommodations for four nights, a trip to visit the Brontë sisters’ Parsonage, and a guided walking tour of Brontë Country.