"Mummy Porn is what Mills & Boon was to a previous generation"

Emma Clayton is spot on about the erotic retellings of Jane Eyre with this article in The Telegraph & Argus:

Brontë’s novel, about an independent woman seeking connection in a dislocated world, addresses themes of morality, sexuality and social class as well as love and passion. All the men Jane meets, from her cruel schoolmaster to her demanding employer Rochester, use their power to try to dominate her. While swept up in passion, Jane clings to her independence; reflecting Brontë’s views on patriarchal Victorian society.
For passion with substance, the readers of Fifty Shades Of Grey don’t need a sexed-up version of Jane Eyre. The original has enough bristling sexual tension to get pulses racing around the pool – and Byronic Rochester is surely one of the sexiest men in English literature.
While visiting the reference library at Haworth ’s Brontë Parsonage once, I noticed a faded newspaper cutting bearing the line: ‘In Austen, sex is just a kiss on the hand. In the Brontës, everything happens’.
Too right. Give me Rochester’s dark humour and seething rage over Fitzwilliam Darcy’s sanctimonious wit and insufferable pride any day.
While Jane Austen’s men take afternoon tea with giddy girls in bonnets, the Brontës’ heroes brood in the shadows, brimming over with lust.
The post-Bridget Jones years saw a boom in formulaic chick lit, and now the erotica revolution has shaken up the publishing world. But if it’s really so liberating, why are women reading Fifty Shades from behind their Kindles?
This “mummy porn” is what Mills & Boon was to a previous generation. Cheap thrills come and go, but for a truly liberating literary romp, Brontë’s own clandestine classic will outlive them all.

Hat off to her.

Today, weird as it seems, is the French premiere of Jane Eyre 2011 and many French news outlets review or present the film:

Very positive

Le Nouvel Observateur:

Mais le tour de force du réalisateur est d'avoir su transcender le roman originel par une sensibilité visuelle incroyable, un imaginaire riche et une verve fantastique assumée. Le long métrage s'avère alors éminemment "romantique", pas seulement dans le sens sentimental, mais également dans le sens artistique du terme, dans son ambition de traduire visuellement l'inaccessible, le merveilleux, et le mystérieux.
Un couple d'acteurs au talent et à l'alchimie palpable, incarne à merveille ce duo légendaire, improbable et passionné. La mise en scène offre un écrin visuel recherché à une intrigue romantique balisée. Fukunaga confirme indéniablement ses talents de metteur en scène et signe avec "Jane Eyre" une adaptation ombrageuse et gothique d'un des plus grands romans sentimentaux du dix-neuvième siècle. À voir. (Nathalie Epoque) (Translation)

Positive

L'Express:

Et son Jane Eyre ne manque ni de charme ni de puissance. À l'image de ses deux interprètes principaux: Michael Fassbender et Mia Wasikowska . Et du travail sur la lumière d'Adriano Goldman qui entraîne le film dans une atmosphère volontiers gothique et romanesque. (Thierry Chèze) (Translation)

Lukewarm
Le Monde is not pleased with Michael Fassbender's work as Rochester:

Le jeune cinéaste américain (révélé par un drame réaliste sur l'immigration d'Amérique centrale vers les Etats-Unis, Sin Nombre) ne propose pas une relecture radicale de Jane Eyre. Venu de Los Angeles, il s'immerge avec délices dans les brumes des landes anglaises, illuminées par la présence de Mia Wasikowska. (...)
Fassbender reste dans le registre du malheur, de la vie post-traumatique d'un chic type forcé de vivre avec les conséquences d'un acte à peine répréhensible. Cette infidélité au texte introduit surtout un déséquilibre dans la dramaturgie, la Jane de Mia Wasikowska ne trouvant pas d'adversaire à sa mesure. (Thomas Sotinel) (Translation)

La Croix:

Profitant d’une affiche très en vogue et de la présence au générique de seconds rôles de grande qualité (Judie Dench, Sally Hawkins, Jamie Bell…), ce Jane Eyre fait sentir de manière aiguë le désir d’émancipation de son héroïne, mais, au-delà des partis pris adoptés, manque un peu de personnalité pour s’imposer dans la longue liste des adaptations par le cinéma des chefs-d’œuvre de la littérature anglo-saxonne. (Arnaud Schwartz) (Translation)

Nord-Éclair:

Héroïne romantique s'il en est, Jane Eyre est cette fois jouée avec justesse par Mia Wasikowska, confrontée au regard fiévreux d'un toujours impeccable Michael Fassbender. Mais plus que leurs interprétations individuelles, et celles des nombreux seconds rôles, c'est leur duo qui fait le piment du film. Sous la sensible direction de Cary Fukunaga, ils matérialisent presque le déchirement de deux âmes auxquelles le bonheur se refuse. On n'est pas loin de penser à la sublime adaptation d'Ang Lee de Raisons et Sentiments, et ce n'est pas peu dire. Si ce n'est qu'Ang Lee ajoutait à son histoire malice et fantaisie. Deux sentiments absents du film de Fukunaga, Californien qui fait siennes avec bonheur les brumes de la campagne anglaise. Plongeant ses personnages dans les landes, il en fait des êtres d'émotions pures, entre flots tourmentés et élans limpides et évidents. Une réussite romantique, vous dit-on. (Fadette Drouard) (Translation)

Télérama:

Mia Wasikowska, peau rosissante et cheveux tirés, est une Jane Eyre parfaite, mixte d'austérité taciturne et de flamme retenue ; tandis que Michael Fassbender, lui, a plutôt l'air absent, à peine concerné. Une faiblesse qui renforce paradoxalement la solitude extrême de l'héroïne. (Jacques Morice) (Translation)

Cinema Teaser:

Des petits airs de « mélo horrifique » rafraîchissants, auxquels se succèdent tour à tour un réalisme social et une poésie picturale digne de la beauté plastique du Bright Star de Jane Campion. Pas un mince compliment pour la photographie lumineuse d’Adriano Goldman irradiant de sa présence Jane Eyre. Un bijou d’esthétisme qui n’en oublie pas les fondamentaux : l’émotion, véhiculée avec une indéniable classe par son couple pas banal Mia Wasikowska/Michael Fassbender. À tous, on tire notre chapeau, car désormais on ne pourra plus rouspéter de voir l’œuvre de Brontë empester la naphtaline. (Julien Munoz) (Translation)

Terrafemina:

Néanmoins, si vous aimez les grands sentiments chargés de panache, les héroïnes pudiques mais passionnées, « Jane Eyre » est un film fait pour vous. Même si Cary Fukunaga et son équipe n’ont pas à rougir de leur travail, ce n’est pas la meilleure adaptation du roman, mais c’est assurément la plus belle visuellement, et la plus glamour en ce qui concerne le casting. (Alexandra Guimaraes) (Translation)

Le Parisien:

Élégant ** (Charlotte Moreau) (Translation)

Le Point praises the cast of the film (particularly Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska). The film is also presented in La Nouvelle République and Public. More reviews on Critikat, Cinephilia, Filmosphere, Le Ciné d'Alain, Faceless...

Playbill has an article about the new performances of William Luce's Brontë: Portrait of Charlotte by the Alloy Theater Company at the Actors Temple Theatre in New York (a preview of the play can be seen on YouTube):

Directed by Timothy Douglas, the biographical one-woman work features Maxine Linehan (South Pacific national tour). The recent engagement, which officially opened May 8, concluded May 25 at Theater 511. (...)
"This story of Charlotte Brontë speaks to me in a very personal way," said actress Linehan in a statement. "I read the play one night and by the time I'd reached the final page I knew I had to bring this woman to life on stage." (Michael Gioia)

The Toronto Star on the erotic retellings of classics:

Elaine Bander, the president of the Canadian branch of the Jane Austen Society of North America, agrees it’s a savvy business move.
“Anything with Austen’s name on it will sell,” she said.. (...)
“Charlotte Brontë would have been perturbed,” she said. “But I think Jane Austen would be chuckling . . . and then asked for royalties.”
“It’s a way of deflating the seriousness we bring to the classics,” she added. Jane Austen herself “took the stories of her time and played with them.” (...)
But for Jason Rekulak, the editor of the bestselling Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, introducing soft porn in Austen crosses a line.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “That’s the opposite of what those books were about, (they are) all about anticipation and mystery and things left unsaid.
Christine Bolus-Reichert, a professor of English at the University of Toronto, is skeptical that the erotic makeover will lure new readers toward the original books.
“Austen is a gateway into Austen. I don’t think we need another,” she says. “If they are sexually explicit that is going to be a completely different product than a Jane Austen novel or Charlotte Brontë novel, and I think they would get different audiences.” (Alyshah Hasham)

Examiner reviews Flea's EP Helen Burns:

Named for the faith-empowered friend of the titular character from Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel Jane Eyre, the EP consists of tracks Flea made after the Pepper’s lengthy Stadium Arcadium tour in 2007. Recorded by engineer friend Chris Warren, Helen has guest appearances by Chili drummers past (Jack Irons) and present (Chad Smith), and cameos by percussionist Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Swahili Blonde). (...)
“Godmother of Punk” Patty Smith lends her delicate vocals to the bittersweet title track. “She bids farewell to the source of all her sorrow,” she coos over Flea’s gentle piano. “Her dress trills as she goes, burning patterns in the snow.” It’s a calm cut, a sort of eye-of-the storm song sandwiched between longer, busier tracks. But it is the EP’s spiritual center. (John Frusciante)

Les Echos (France) reviews Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre (in French  Quand j'étais Jane Eyre):

Le roman donne une vision très crédible de la gestation d'un chef d'oeuvre, en partant d'une période brève et obscure de la vie de Charlotte : lorsqu'elle celle-ci se retrouve à Manchester pour veiller sur son père, opéré des yeux. C'est comme si la cécité temporaire de ce dernier lui donnait une vision nouvelle, plus affûtée _des autres, du monde, de ses frustrations, de sa solitude et de ses vaines amours. En lui conférant une liberté d'écriture jamais atteinte jusqu'ici (comme en témoigne son premier roman inabouti, « Le professeur »).
Via le « masterwork in progress », Sheila Kohler nous fait redécouvrir les tourments de la femme-écrivain : son amour impossible pour un professeur de français bruxellois, marié et père, mais à qui elle doit son éclosion littéraire ; son rapport fusionnel avec son frère en perdition et surtout avec ses deux soeurs Anne et Emily. (Philippe Chevilley) (Translation)

The Guardian's Book Blog talks about the links between Fifty Shades of Grey and Thomas Hardy's Tess of D'Urbervilles and adds:

There are also numerous examples of tempestuous, potentially dangerous relationships: Cathy and Heathcliff, Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester, Becky Sharp and Rawdon Crawley. (Stuart Kelly)

The Manchester Evening News talks about the new Portico Literary Prize:

“I think it’s really important to have a prize like the Portico prize because of the quality of writing in the north. This celebrates creativity outside of the capital but also nods to the history of the region, to the Brontës and Dickens.” [says MMU lecturer in poetry writing and published poet Adam O’Riordan] (Sarah Walters)

The Chattanoogan has a Brontë reference which seems a bit forced:

The weather was misty, making me definitely feel like I was in a Brontë sisters’ book about Britain of old. (John Shearer)

The Midland Daily News talks about different Wuthering Heights film adaptations:

Wuthering Heights has been made at least twice before for the silver screen not to mention television versions. Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon starred in the 1939 version. Somehow even though they hated each other they managed to make a Heathcliff and Cathy that the critics and the movie-going public loved. But in 1971 Timothy Dalton and Anne Calder-Marshall played the star-crossed lovers much more like the book written by Emily Bronte wrote them. The 1971 film was actually filmed in England while the 1939 version was shot on a movie set. Also the scriptwriter for the 1971 version kept much closer to the book than the 1939 version.
Movies progress in small ways but do so constantly. And it’s an obvious progress when you see a movie made 72 years ago. Merle Oberon’s make up hardly changed from when she was supposedly a young girl running on the moors with Heathcliff to the scene where she dies in childbirth. Her hair is perfectly done. Her make-up is perfect and her idea of acting was opening her eyes wider.
The new version of Wuthering Heights will be released October 5, 2012 starring Kaya Scodelaria and James Howson. James Howson will be a completely different Heathcliff since they have chosen to have a Heathcliff who looks like the Gypsy foundling brought home by Mr. Linton after a trip to London. This is a really big departure and I wonder how that new Heathcliff will go over with the audience? (Virginia Florey)

The Frisky lists literary characters "we've had crushes on":

Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre: He was played by Fassbender in the movie, if that gives you any indication.

Brontë Weather Project posts on the last days of the Hope's Whisper exhibition in Thornton;  The World Was Hers for the Reading, A.J. Locke and Cashmere Sunday review Wuthering Heights. Some posts about Jane Eyre:  Celeste Goulding, Me, Darcy and I, Shelbylee is daydreaming...  La Soif de lire d'Ellcrys and Adalana's Imaginary World (these four in French), Charlie's Book Reviews, Sophie Writes; Literaturen.net (in German) posts about Villette; Kerr's About Reading doesn't like Agnes Grey and Książkozaur na tropie... (in Polish) likes it a little better; Felice's Journal posts a photo gallery of Wuthering Heights 1939; The Hundred Book Project reviews April Lindner's Jane; My Thoughts on Books and Life reviews The Flight of Gemma Hardy; The Spooky Islands talks about Whernside Manor, formerly known as High Rigg End, a possible source of inspiration for Wuthering Heights; You, Me & Everyone We Didn't Know reviews Wuthering Heights 2009 and Writer Michael Burge posts about Branwell Brontë.