Jane Eyre enters into its fifth weekend (II)

Surprise (not really)! - more Jane Eyre 2011 reviews.

Positive

Buffalo News gives it 4 stars:

Forgive me, then, if I try to cut through the haze of indifference and say that this is, by far, the best "Jane Eyre" on any screen I've ever seen. I liked Franco Zeffirelli's 1996 version but only because Charlotte Gainsbourg bowled me over (and hasn't on film since).
This is richly conceived, magnificently mounted and beautifully acted in every way -- a great Gothic romance filmed with what actually boils down to realism that is somehow both sumptuous and scrupulous.
Every shot of this movie is beautifully framed. It's a dark, candlelit world at night and during the day of sun that is often obscured by mist outdoors and seen indoors through oddly angled windows.
The whole movie seems to have a Western exposure -- all of it perfectly suitable to the most famous repressed romance in English literature. (Jeff Simon)

The Kansas City Star gives it 3 stars:

If Fukunaga takes some big chances here he also sets up an interesting payoff, making his Jane and Rochester two incomplete individuals who together create a functional whole. They’d be disasters if paired with sane mates.
It also helps that the pair are physically perfect for these roles. With her hair pulled severely back and free of any hint of glamour, Wasikowska (“The Kids Are All Right,” Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”) at first is a perfect “plain Jane.” But the more you watch her, the more beautiful she becomes, especially given the loving way Fukunaga and cinematographer Adriano Goldman use candlelight to illuminate her. At times she looks like a Vermeer portrait come to life.
Fassbender (who will play Magneto in the upcoming “X-Men: First Class”) masks his handsome if vaguely sharp features with unruly side whiskers and lank hair. His may be the film’s most dangerous interpretation. He threatens to become utterly unlikable, yet we still sense why Jane loves him. Ultimately he emerges as a romantic figure.
Technically the film is first-rate, shot in browns and gun-metal grays. Even on a sunny day, this England looks overcast. (Robert W. Butler)

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gives it 3 stars out of 4:

Ms. Wasikowska, who at 21 is closer to the age of Jane in the book, brings a stoicism and quietly stubborn, intellectual and independent streak to the governess. She is best, though, in the scenes when her emotional defenses are down and she unleashes years of disappointment and pain.
Mr. Fassbender, the British film critic turned spy in "Inglourious Basterds," Bobby Sands in "Hunger" and a handsome stranger who feeds a teenage girl's fury and desperate need for freedom in "Fish Tank," makes a marvelous Rochester. (Barbara Vancheri)

The Albany Times Union:

The acting is simply first-rate. George C. Scott is my favorite Rochester, but Fassbender gives him a run for his money. And Wasikowska’s Jane is subtle and intense, a performance that is astonishing for such a young actress. It was very hard for me to find fault with this film. For Fukunaga, a relatively inexperienced (but obviously very talented) director to tackle this classic is a bold move. He gives the film a gothic sensibility that is often missing from filmed versions of Brontë’s novel, which often focus on the romantic elements of the story. (Peg Aloi)

Eesti Päevaleht (Estonia):

Nii et filmiga on kõik korras. (Ja seda ilmselt nii kahesaja aasta eest sündinud Brontë kui ka praeguse teismelise meelest.) Huvitav on hoopis, milline nüüdisaja romaan võiks järgmise 150 aasta jooksul nii palju tõlgendamist väärida/leida.  (Mari Peegel) (Translation)

Aripaev (Estonia):

Filmist on oodata ilusaid loodusvõtteid, head kaameratööd ja meeldejäävat näitlemist. See on tore võimalus kohtuda taas tuntud looga. (Madis Luik) (Translation)

Õhtuleht (Estonia):

Veatu see film pole, ent haarab kaasa.  (Triin Tael) (Translation)

Mostly positive

The Oklahoman:

The rest of the story unfolds in familiar fashion, with some spooky, well-placed shocks and a proper but perhaps too-slow developing ardor between Jane, all demure and noble, and Rochester, tortured and temperamental.
But that slow-burning chemistry between Wasikowska and Fassbender does eventually ignite, and its compelling glow finally manages to assure this stylish and impressive translation of Brontë’s classic. (Dennis King)

Mostly negative

The Lafayette Journal and Courier gives it 2 stars out of 4:

To be clear, this is a well-crafted movie, with fine production design that captures the isolation -- physical and spiritual -- of its heroine.
And the script singularly defines the class distinctions and mores of the period.
Yet, overall the film lacks spark.
Possibly it is because the two leads are as tightly bound as their period costumes. (Bob Bloom)

Thriving in Grace, Not Ready for Granny Panties, Love is the Adventure (on video), Dominican Cooperator Brother, What About Yellow, CineWhore, Susan Granger, Let`s Go! LiveForThis! Live! Live! (in Estonian) and Andy's Film Blog all review the film as well.

The Independent, commenting on the very Brontë month that September is going to be in the UK, with both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights being released then (on September 9 and 30 respectively), wonders about costume dramas being filmed over and over again.

You could be forgiven for thinking that the centre of the British film industry isn't Pinewood or Soho but a small parsonage on the Yorkshire moors. Later this year, we will be treated to not one but two new films based on novels by those eccentric Brontë sisters who used to live in Haworth, West Yorkshire. It will be a full-blown battle of the Brontës at the box office. Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre, adapted from Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel and starring Mia Wasikowka, is due for release in early September, just a couple of weeks before Andrea Arnold's new version of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Each has a rival British broadcaster behind them. Jane Eyre is supported by BBC Films and Wuthering Heights by Film4. [...]
The question all this frantic activity raises is just why British film-makers remain so obsessed with dusting down 19th-century literary classics – and whether these new movies can add anything to the dozens of Dickens and Brontë adaptations that have already been made for the big screen, let alone the endless TV mini-series and radio dramas that Dickens and the Brontës continue to spawn.
Every time, a new adaptation is hatched, the rhetoric is always the same. The film-makers talk earnestly about reinventing a much-loved novel for a new generation. They insist that the novel retains its relevance and topicality – and then invariably they go ahead and make yet another film featuring women in bonnets and crinolines and scowling men in top hats. When the films are released, the debate will then start as to whether they've strayed too far from the original text or stuck too closely to it. Academics will be wheeled out to point up the inaccuracies and anachronisms. If film-makers are too revisionist or cavalier, they'll be attacked for betraying their source material. If they're too faithful, they'll be criticised for dullness. Opinion will become so clouded by the memory of the novel and of all the previous adaptations that it will be forgotten that these are actually movies that should be seen in their own right.
There is something disheartening about a film-maker as adventurous as Andrea Arnold turning toward Victorian fiction for inspiration. [...]
Hollywood continues to regard classic British literature as a useful resource. When it comes to making tasteful, high-end dramas that might win critics' prizes and earn respectful reviews, Thackeray, Dickens and Brontë are natural choices. Literary adaptations will appeal to older cinemagoers who don't necessarily want to go to see the latest Marvel spin-off. They often have plum roles: moody young leads jump at the chance to play Rochester or Heathcliff while leading actresses will always vie to play Jane Eyre or Becky Sharp. However, relatively few work at the box office. [...]
Advance word on the new Jane Eyre has been largely favourable. The New York Times called it "a splendid example of how to tackle the daunting duty of turning a beloved work of classic literature into a movie" while praising its vigour and "sense of emotional detail". The producers of the new Wuthering Heights are pitching their film as "a passionate tale of two teenagers whose elemental love for each other creates a storm of vengeance". If anyone can give the film emotional urgency and make it feel contemporary it is surely Andrea Arnold. Even so, this Brontë mania doesn't do the British film industry any favours at all. Surely it's time for the film-makers and their financiers to wean themselves away from yet more adaptations of Victorians novels, leave Haworth parsonage to the tourists, and look to the present instead. (Geoffrey Macnab)

Needless to say, we don't agree with any of it at all. Yes, film-makers could look at other classics, but why abandon them altogether?

There are also more reviews for Shared Experience's Brontë.

Spoonfed (3 out of 5 stars):

Teale sweetly presents the playful childhood of the brother and sisters and contrasts it with their bleak adulthood, but the plot isn't that memorable. There's no gripping storyline here; it's just one sad event after another. Instead, you get a portrait of a family, and the moving experience of seeing them cope in crises. Hearing each sister talk of her own ideas, priorities and love for her brother is where the real brilliance of this play lies. That, and the amazing set.
Through one giant optical illusion, designer Ruth Sutcliffe and her team present the bare stone walls of the Brontë's home, turn them into a rich forest when Emily imagines Cathy, and an ominous cliff surface when Anne seeks the fresh sea air. The background changes seamlessly transporting the characters and the audience; something that sums up nicely why you should go. Don't go for the story but go for the characters and expect to be transported to their world for a couple of hours. (Naima Khan)

Londonist:

It’s an interestingly written play. The actors skip confidently between performance and narration, and extracts from the sisters’ novels are integrated seamlessly and effectively into the action.
Meckler has done an excellent job of pulling it all together into a cohesive production, splicing straight theatre with movement-based performance and some mesmerisingly beautiful imagery, enhanced by a haunting soundscape by Peter Salem.
Particularly powerful is the animalistic interplay between Kristin Atherton as Charlotte and Frances McNamee as the proverbial madwoman in the attic, Mrs Rochester. McNamee slithers and dances and throws herself around the stage in a whirlwind of red velvet, all sensuality and devilry and life itself – the embodiment of Charlotte’s inner beast, her repressed passions. It’s a striking piece of physical theatre.
Although, at times, some of the performances feel a little too large, a little too loud for the intimacy of the Tricycle, the acting is nonetheless accomplished and assured. Atherton’s controlled, domineering Charlotte is outwardly stable with a fiery core of desperate ambition and longing, while Elizabeth Crarer skilfully expresses deep-rooted emotion through a fluid, visceral physicality as the more reserved Emily.
Flora Nicholson and Mark Edel-Hunt give sturdy performances as Anne and Branwell, and McNamee is a tempest of pure, uninhibited passion as Cathy and Mrs Rochester – accentuating the similarities between the two, while sustaining a character contrast of near Ariel/Caliban proportions.
A visually spellbinding production; imaginative in its conception and inspired in execution. (Victoria Rudland)

Regrettably The Telegraph's critic, quite opposite to what he thinks, crosses some lines about what is proper to say in a review and what is, to put it mildly, rude. There is a difference between being radically sincere and being unabashedly cruel:

The Telegraph:

I’m afraid both Teale’s script and Meckler’s production felt like stale theatrical buns to me, pretentious art about art with nothing of interest to say. The performances by a young acting company are often fresh and intense but I fear that for Shared Experience the game is up. (Charles Spencer)

The Post Crescent seems to say that Wuthering Heights is the ultimate soap opera:

Consider soap operas first. The always-twisting plot, the constant arguments and feuds, the emphasis on poor choices in relationships and lost love — for those of us who have read Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights," this doesn't sound too unfamiliar.
An especially difficult novel with a slower beginning, "Wuthering Heights" often frustrates modern readers and leads many to divert to SparkNotes. If a reader can see past the difficult language and make it through the first 150 or so pages, however, they will find a rich plot and a broken, vengeful villain that resembles distinctly a brilliant soap opera. (Rachel Martens)

The Huffington Post interviews Charlotte Brontë (by quoting from various writings by her). Variety has an article on Bernard Herrmann's centennial and mentions the forthcoming opening of his Wuthering Heights opera at the Minnesota Opera.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal has an alert for today:

“Dancing with Mr. Darcy” — 7 p.m. Friday at the D’Venue Ballroom, 62092 Iola Ave. Second annual Jane Austen evening with the Vernacular Music Center. Event includes a demonstration of English country dancing in the fashion of the Brontës and author Jane Austen, music by Texas Tech Celtic Ensemble, expert dancers from Tech Set Dancers and Caprock Morris, period costumes, instruction in dancing and deportment, 19th century light buffet and farewell coffee service.

Given the title of the event (among other things), we would have left the Brontës out of it.

Kaladufra and Living 'La Dolce Vita' write about Jane Eyre. Bookladylinda's Blog posts briefly about Juliet Gael's Romancing Miss Brontë. PoetryReincarnations has uploaded to YouTube 'a virtual movie of Anne Brontë' reading her poem 'O God! if this indeed be all'.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Theatre, Wuthering Heights