Charlotte Brontë's internal descriptions of Jane's feelings and thoughts: so interesting and so relevant, even today

WPSU interviews Cary Fukunaga and asks him about directing Jane Eyre in 2011.

[TERRY] GROSS: So in 2011, you directed an adaptation of "Jane Eyre." And I really love your adaptation of it. I was assigned to read "Jane Eyre" in high school like so many people are, and I don't think I loved the book when I read it. And I don't think I really understood the book when I read it in high school because I kept being, like, baffled. Like why would a young woman like her voluntarily marry an older man like him? (Laughter) I couldn't - I just couldn't comprehend it. But there's something the way - in your movie you really get a sense, which is hard to do sometimes in a film, that they each have a rich inner life and that somehow they are connected to each other, both by their intelligence and also by their understanding that it's really hard for them to conform to the social norms of the time, that it's very constricting to each of them. They see that in each other. What attracted you to the book that made you want to do, like, another adaptation? There had already been adaptations of it, most famously with Orson Welles.
FUKUNAGA: Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine, yeah. I grew up watching that version of the film. My mom was a lover of classic Hollywood films. And that was definitely one of them. I don't know what it was about the story that it fascinated me as a child. It was probably the reveal at the end of Bertha Mason, his wife. Or I don't know if it was just the sort of haunting life or the tragic life that she lived and how unfair it seemed to me. But as an adult, it always stuck with me. I really wanted to be faithful to it. And I thought that Charlotte Brontë's internal descriptions of Jane's feelings and thoughts and observations were so interesting and so relevant, even today, in terms of how people interact and that feeling of isolation - not just physically, in terms of living in sort of the middle of nowhere of northern England, but the isolation of not knowing if you have an intellectual equal, if there's someone who thinks the same way as you. That still happens today, even in a city as dense as New York, where you'd think you'd find so many like-minded hearts and souls. It's still very hard to find people who are your people. And I think that's why it's still a relevant story and relevant also for young women in terms of, you know, the choices you make and not necessarily being a prisoner to society's current sort of rules. It was also a challenge, I think, from a directing standpoint to do something on a fairly low budget that was quiet and contained and really about two people and was a very different project than, say, "Sin Nombre," had been, which I'd been living with for a very long time, and "Beasts Of No Nation," which I'd also written just before that as well. So those were two projects that I really wanted to sort of move away from for that next film.

You can also listen to it.

That adaptation's soundtrack was by Dario Marianelli and it is mentioned on Cinefile (Italy) in a review of Craig Armstrong soundtrack for the latest screen adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd.

Voci che Armstrong sembra voler preferenzialmente identificare con quella del violino solo, protagonista di molti momenti della partitura in modalità abbastanza simili a quelle utilizzate da Howard in The Village o, per restare in atmosfere più prossime, da Dario Marianelli in Jane Eyre; violino che peraltro sa interagire anche con altri strumenti, in primis l’arpa, creando un’atmosfera angelicale e profondamente intima, dai risvolti consapevolmente struggenti (“Never been kissed”). Emerge lentamente dallo score un’impronta bucolica che rimanda all’epoca rurale vittoriana in cui è ambientata la vicenda, ma con evidenti influssi romantici, che s’interrompono saltuariamente per lasciare spazio a momenti più risoluti e affermativi, come in “Spring sheep dip” o “Oak leaves”. (Roberto Pugliese) (Translation)

The New Strait Times asks the writers of Pulse and Plush about books they'd like to 'revisit' during the holidays.

Ninot Aziz (Contributing Writer) Time and again, I read books that define the different stages of my life. The most memorable novel I read in school was Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. As a teenager, the idea of a dark, tormented love borne out in the rugged moors must have been irresistible. Along with the tale Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Touch Not The Cat by Mary Stewart, classics and gothic tales dominated my book shelf.

Bustle mentions Wuthering Heights in an article about love triangles in fiction.

Even the Brontës got involved in the love triangle business — in Wuthering Heights, Catherine is torn between her passion for the dangerous Heathcliff and an advantageous marriage to the wealthy Edgar Linton. (Nico Lang)

Also on Bustle: a list of 11 Literary-Inspired Christmas Desserts

9. Seed Cake: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Miss Temple gives Helen and Jane some seed cake in Jane Eyre, which is described as "nectar and ambrosia." Um, sign me up. Re-watch your favorite Jane Eyre adaptation and ignore the cold weather while you whip up this pretty and warm dessert. (Julia Seales)

The National has an article on a new BBC documentary about Scottish author William McIlvanney. The reviewer recalls,

I read my first McIlvanney novel at school and was initially annoyed that we were being force-fed Scottish literature. A pretentious wee madam, I wanted to read the best novels, not just the best Scottish novels - and was dismayed at being handed three Scottish authors. What about the rest of the world, eh?
The first book, Weir of Hermiston, was tedious so when I arrived at the next on the reading list, McIlvanney’s Docherty, I was probably in a black mood but when I realised how fine and rich it was I no longer resented English pupils who’d be reading their Austen and Brontës. (Julie McDowall)

Le nouvel observateur (France) lists 10 things you might not know about actress Daisy Ridley.

"'Star Wars' ne représentait pas grand-chose pour moi, avoue cette fan de Julia Roberts et de Charlotte Brontë. (Nicolas Schaller) (Translation)

According to the Yorkshire Post,

Few places in Britain are as picturesque at any time of the day as Main Street in Haworth , the road once trod by the Brontë sisters.

AnneBronte.org discusses the first publiction of Agnes Grey and Wuthering Heights.