Terrifying, Sweet and Gripping

The Region 1 DVD/Blu-Ray release of Jane Eyre 2011 is reviewed by:

The Cleveland Plain Dealer (and here):

The relentlessly grim 2011 adaptation emphasizes the spooky aspects of Charlotte Brontë's oft-filmed mid-19th-century classic novel.
Judi Dench provides sympathetic support as Rochester's hovering housekeeper. PG-13, 121 minutes. Grade: B. Extras: A-. (Chris Ball)

Let the debate begin: Did director Cary Fukunaga ("Sin Nombre") monkey around too much with the beloved Charlotte Brontë classic "Jane Eyre"? He certainly got the casting right, with Mia Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland") as plain but heroic Jane, and Michael Fassbender ("Inglourious Basterds") as the broody Mr. Rochester. (Julie Washington)

Sioux City Journal:

The film features plenty of Brontë hallmarks but it's Wasikowska's spare performance that propels it forward.
For fans of the book who feel they've lost some scenes thanks to Fukunaga's tight direction, there are plenty of extras on the DVD, including those moments. (...)
While there's more to "Jane Eyre" than this film suggests, it's a good introduction to a sprawling book. Watch the DVD and you'll be eager to read the Brontë classic. Teachers, take note. (Bruce R. Miller)

Boston Globe:

Charlotte Brontë’s classic is adapted yet again, this time by director Cary Fukunaga (“Sin Nombre’’), who overdoes some narrative fracturing but also delivers striking visuals and strong casting. Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland’’) is all milky grace as the young heroine doggedly clinging to her sense of self while being buffeted from childhood hardship to a life of suppressed yearning. Michael Fassbender (“X-Men: First Class’’) commands attention as Rochester, enigmatic lord of Miss Eyre’s heart. (Tom Russo)

Reading Eagle:

I loved Cary Joji Fukunaga's spare, moving rendition of "Jane Eyre," due on DVD this week. Mia Wasikowska proves a perfect Jane, and Michael Fassbender an enigmatic Rochester. Adriana Goldman's bleached, bleak cinematography added immensely to its power, serving as a metaphor for the lead characters.  (George Hatza)

Seattle Times:

There are, it seems, nearly as many screen versions of "Jane Eyre" as there are readers of Charlotte Brontë's beloved novel. Should you need a reason to watch one more, look no further than the wary yet vulnerable eyes of Mia Wasikowska as Jane in Cary Fukunaga's elegant rendition, in theaters earlier this year and out on DVD this Tuesday. Filmed in elegant, shadowy light, this "Jane Eyre" brought back memories of my own first, breathless reading of the book decades ago — and the wonderfully talented Wasikowska ("The Kids Are All Right," "Alice in Wonderland") perfectly embodies the very young orphaned governess who, against all odds, ultimately finds love. (Moira MacDonald)

Los Angeles Times:

There's nothing staid about director Cary Fukunaga and screenwriter Moira Buffini's adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre." Mia Wasikowska brings bruised angst to the title character, a governess who falls in love with her master Edward Rochester (powerfully played by Michael Fassbender), and Fukunaga and Buffini tell their story via a time-jumbled structure that emphasizes the extremes of emotions in the heroine's life, from pained despair to romantic rapture. The movie is terrifying at times, sweet at others, and gripping throughout. The well-assembled DVD and Blu-ray add deleted scenes, featurettes (including a fascinating and too-brief one about Dario Marianelli's score) and a Fukunaga commentary track. (Noel Murray)

More reviews can be found on Julia Barrett's World, Pale Clouded White and The Students' Blog.

Faiza Rahman in The Express Tribune (Pakistan) doesn't seem to have read too many English novels, at least not the ones we have read. An overdose of Mills & Boon plus Bollywood?

The insipidity of some kinds of English literature. Start with a finicky, orphan girl, thrown in a rich lord, an affected aunt or two, a poor love-struck bloke — and there you go. That’s a Jane Austen/Charlotte Brontë masterpiece for you.

The Guardian (Trinidad and Tobago) recommends ebook readers:

Charles Dickens harboured Great Expectations. Charlotte Brontë created the heroine Jane Eyre. Wuthering Heights became the setting for her sister Emily Brontë’s classics. To savour these literary experiences, the reader had to purchase a copy or borrow each book from the nearby library. (Michelle Loubon)

The Island Packet interviews the writer Cassandra King (with a free-of-charge blunder):

King still reads her favorite books over and over again, savoring character and diction like chocolate. Her favorites include "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, "Jane Eyre" by Emily Brontë (SIC!!!), "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Zelda" by Nancy Milford, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, "Gift of the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier and "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway. (David Lauderdale)

The case of Greg McGee aka Alix Bosco reminds us of the first reviews of Jane Eyre and the debate about whether Currer Bell was a man or a woman. In the Sunday Star-Times:

His lead was a woman. So he would be too. The decision spawned column centimetres of speculation. Only a man would write those sex scenes; violence is portrayed from a female perspective; the author's favourite read Wuthering Heights (as revealed in a Listener email interview with Bosco) was a book only a woman would look back on fondly. (Kim Knight)

The Skinny reviews the play What Remains performed at The Traverse in Edinburgh:

[David Paul] Jones's tortured artist is a faithful homage to the classic lonely, obsessive and cloistered monomaniac, a tribute to everyone from Faustus to Heathcliff to Hannibal Lecter. (Colin Chaloner)

The Sunday Times's Pick of Paperbacks features Everything and Nothing by Araminta Hall:

From Jane Eyre and Mary Poppins to The Nanny Diaries, novelists have used the nanny as a device to point out the inadequacies of parents.

Bella Online is waiting for the US release of Wuthering Heights 2011; The Most Illustrious Order of the Bookworms posts about a meeting discussing Jane Eyre; crazylacereader17 reviews on YouTube Charlotte Brontë's novel; Viaje na Leitura (in Portuguese) has a giveaway of the Portuguese edition of Romancing Miss Brontë by Juliet Gael. On DeviantArt: lawksie uploaded a portrait of Rochester, sekhmet1394 has customised a Pullip inspired by Jane Eyre, Pifalo painted a Jane Eyre book cover, Aureila did a Brontë photoshoot in Yorkshire.

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