Starring:Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds), Judi Dench (Casino Royale, everything else), Jamie Bell (Billy Elliott)
Directed By:Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre)
Release Date: March 11, 2011
Opening Weekend:(Limited Release) $182,885
Rating:PG-13
Run Time: 2 Hours
Synopsis: (Based on Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre) Girl is orphaned, has horrible loveless childhood. Grows up to be free spirited, independent and mature person, challenging the standard for women of her time. Girl gets job as governess at mysterious old manor. Manor's owner is moody, volatile and bored with women around him. Girl and owner form a strange friendship. Owner and girl start to fall in love. Girl thinks her life is finally going to change for the better but soon discovers dark sinister secret about her fairytale romance.
DISCLAIMER: It's been a good 8 years since I read Jane Eyre back in freshman year of high school and my memory of the storyline was pretty vague going into watching this film. I saw it twice in the theaters.
So How Was It?: Apparently less is more, a lot more. In an era of film obsessed with pushing the envelope and showing skin, its refreshing to watch a movie that builds a powerful underlying sexual passion without showing more than a glimpse of a bare knees and a handful of short kisses. Call it old fashioned, but Bronte's classic tale of 19th century love is more alive than ever.
A novel the length of Jane Eyre is almost impossible to ever fully and faithfully adapt because of one simple thing: books tell and movies show. The two mediums are so different that things will inevitably get lost in translation. Are the film's flashbacks of Jane's cruel childhood a bit over dramatic and underdeveloped? Yes. Do her and Rochester's deeply passionate love happen way too quickly? Yes. Is it possible to squeeze all the details of a 480 page 19th century novel into a 2 hour film that can withstand the infamously short attention span of the modern day audience member? No. Does Fukunaga create a painfully beautiful and touching film about the importance of love and staying true to yourself? A hundred times yes.
