Traditional, classic Jane (or is it?)

Screen Daily reports how Jane Eyre 2011 is doing in the box office department:

Jane Eyre stands at $4.8m from the UK and Australia following a $1.6m UK launch in third place from 420 venues. (Jeremy Kay)

The Herald reviews Jane Eyre 2011:

Just as Fukunaga stepped into the contemporary world of the Latin American underclass, he’s now nimbly tip-toed into the kind of material that used to be a fondly regarded staple of British Sunday tea-times in front of the television. Jane Eyre is the latest of many adaptations of Charlotte Brontë’s spooky romantic classic, and one of the best. [...]
Fukunaga has resisted the familiar gothic dressings of the story, instead shooting some breeze into its sails by bringing the landscape into play – the magnificent, foreboding Peak District – and seeking a degree of naturalism from his actors.[...]
Scriptwriter Moira Buffini embraces Brontë’s sometimes florid, always entertaining language. Rochester and Mrs Fairfax get the best lines, the master virtually slapping his thigh as he exhorts of Jane, “I’m sure she’ll regenerate me with a vengeance”, the housekeeper casting a note of scepticism when she tells the girl, “I’ve long noticed how you’re a sort of pet of his”.
Script, direction and acting combine to give the film a directness that matches that of its righteous and no-nonsense heroine. The key to the story, as ever, is the rapport of the central couple, and for the most part these up-and-coming actors pull it off – Fassbender growlingly deep-voiced, charismatic and mercurial, Wasikowska pale, delicately featured, clear-eyed, perfectly balancing the fire of Jane’s will with the precariousness she feels through her position; together, they never let us forget the age difference at play, conveying the characters’ understandable discomfort.
The film is exquisitely photographed, Fukunaga shooting in muted tones, but suddenly bringing the screen alive with a composition: red light appearing to streak upwards towards the clouds; Jane, vulnerable, pre-Raphaelite, being swallowed up by the earth. We’ll soon be seeing Andrea Arnold’s more radical reading of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights; for now, there’s much to commend the traditional approach. (Steven Vass)

The Bendigo Advertiser reviews the film too and gives it 2.5 stars:

Unfortunately, the two [Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender] don’t mesh convincingly on screen. This is largely due to the age difference of the actors (Mia is just 21 while Fassbender is 34), despite the plot reminding us Jane is a governess fresh out of school and Rochester is a jaded, rich housemaster.
Naturally, being a Brontë text, there is some passionate and mad running in the moors (something the sisters, especially Emily’s Wuthering Heights characters, were known for), which has always confused me. I know the metaphorical reasons for it but it still seems like a crazy thing to do.
Also lending their prodigious talent to the film is the ever-strong Dame Judi Dench and Jamie Bell.
Dench does not have to stretch her acting talents far as the world-weary housekeeper while Jamie Bell is excellent as the reserved yet determined clergyman.
Cinematically, Jane Eyre is exactly what an audience can expect from a period story that people are familiar with.
Compared to the original novel, the plot has been watered down a great deal and is told in a sort of flashback mode, skipping over a majority of Jane’s early life and focusing on her relationship with Rochester.
It is beautifully shot and edited but it lacks the unique adventure and editing that was seen in Keira Knightley and Mathew Macfadyen’s Pride and Prejudice.
That said, anyone who enjoys a period drama or an intriguing traipse into a slightly Gothic romance story will enjoy Jane Eyre.
It doesn’t break any new ground nor does it have a standout performance but it is engaging enough to see through to the end. (Chris Pedler)

Lynne Ramsay speaks to IndieWire's The Playlist and reveals

“I was asked to direct “Jane Eyre” but I didn’t want to, I’d only do that if it was my version and the producers had a script and wanted it very classic.”

We suppose this is what Cary Fukunaga took over?

Charles Nevin from The Independent suggests 'some areas in need of your inspiration', one of which is:

10. Giving somebody other than the bloody Brontës a go.

Self Taught Idler, iamnotwaynegale, Wahm Bam!, Hope Lies, The Film Oracle and Stainless Steel Droppings review Jane Eyre 2011. Molly and the Princess loves all things Jane Eyre. Bobby's Blog posts about Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, the novels. Pages Unbound reviews Charlotte Brontë's juvenile novella The Secret. Borboleta Azul pays a tribute to Wuthering Heights in Portuguese.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV