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Jane Eyre - Movie Review
GRADE: A-
From the introductory sequences of director Cary Fukunga’s Jane Eyre,it is obvious that the adaptation would lead towards emphasizing the Gothic elements of Charlotte Bronte’s original novel. The film opens, the audience sees 18-year old Jane Eyre running into the country in a directionless path. While context is absent within the opening segment, this so-far meaningless fragment of the film is devastating. The striking cinematographic images and the poignant score within this scene quintessentially evokes a modest subtlety of sorrow. With this subtlety the director forms an expansion of this subtlety throughout the film, creating an adaptation that is undoubtedly haunting and a true representation of Bronte’s original vision.
This film based on the novel of the same name is a coming-of-age story of orphan Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska). The film first tells its story by alternating between memories of the protagonist’s dreadful experiences at her charter school, and her present-day growth into an independent and expressive woman. After the background of the character is established, the film primarily focuses on Jane Eyre, and her romantic relationship with her employer, the Byronic character of Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender). Much of the novel’s main core is cut in order to shorten the length of the film, but the essential thematic elements - feministic independence, love and passion - remain in tact and prevalent; Absent are the elements regarding with religion and atonement. Overall, the film depicts Bronte’s novel in a manner that seems complete, that only slightly loses some coherence, due to the fact that it is principally told in a cookie-cutter manner of storytelling. But what makes Fukunga’s film unique from other interpretations of the novel lays not in the plot, but in the technical production value. Dario Marianelli’s haunting score along with Adrio Goldman’s cinematography, formulates each moment into an emotional tug highlighting the underlying darkness of Bronte’s work.
Jane Eyre would not be able to retain its status in the literary canon without the character complexities of Eyre and Rochester. Luckily, the leads of the film bring life to the characters in an almost fully approximate fashion. Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) plays Edward Rochester perfectly as the Rochester as his he perfectly portrays within his character a transition of an archetypal emotionally dense character to one of passion. But the film’s success can be presumably based on the character of Jane Eyre. Mia Wasikowska (Alice In Wonderland), wholly encapsulates the original character’s struggle to find her own moral compass, but the actress does not quite hit every mark. Eyre is character that should flaunt independence and femininity, but the actress depicts Eyre too emotionally distressed that this aspect of the character is partially dismissed. But Wasikowska’s overall heartfelt performance overshadows this small flaw.
After watching Cary Fukunga’s Sundance favorite, Sin Nombre, I had a feeling that I was witnessing a future thread of a new directorial star. Without a doubt, Fukunga’s sophomore effort, Jane Eyre, further affirms my prediction. Through the complexities expressed by Wasikowska and Fassbender’s characters, their performances give us a dark truth about love, and the moral compasses we must follow to obtain it. Overall, Jane Eyre is a beautiful film that not only incorporates modern production value, but the accurate haunting emotions that Bronte encapsulated within the large threads of her novel. Although some of Eyre’s characterization somewhat falls flat in some aspects, Jane Eyre is a breathtaking adaptation that exceptionally introduces the classic to a modern generation. Grade: A-
