Jane Eyre (2011) Review

For some books, like Emma, I read through to the end, closed the book, and wanted to watch a movie version pretty much right away. This was not the case with Jane Eyre. In fact, it was years after I first read it that I watched a movie version.

From all I had seen of others discussing the subject, I decided I would probably like the 2011 Jane Eyre best, and I thusly decided to watch that one first. Mia Wasikowska looks by far the closest to the Jane of my imagination (due to the cover of the book we have, I’ve always pictured Jane with reddish-brown hair), and it looked like it would have lovely aesthetics and be fairly true to the book.

All these things were true…however, I sadly did not end up liking the movie as much as I had wanted to. Ms. Wasikowska was good as Jane. She physically looked the part – she was young and small, and didn’t look drop-dead gorgeous. But although I did like her performance, I think she came across as too quiet and too submissive. Jane is not submissive. She keeps her emotions hidden a great deal of the time, but she has an inner fire and passion and is very strong-willed. She feels perfectly at ease sassing her employer, staying in the house of her dying aunt alone with two selfish, self-absorbed girls, teaching a spoiled (though it’s not her fault, poor Adele) little child, etc. She may not be loud about it, but Jane can take control of any situation life hands her.

I liked Michael Fassbender’s Mr. Rochester even less. I think he could have been good in the part, but, again, he seemed to be missing the inner zest and passion. For me, when I read the book, that seems to be the main link between Jane and Mr. Rochester, their big similarity – despite all their differences, they both had a passion for living. Both would rather rebel than submit. This Mr. Rochester seemed almost lethargic, strangely passive, to me. Certainly not the vibrant, larger-than-life character you find in the book.

Also – and this leads me to another concern – their romance was so rushed it lost all plausibility. The viewer obviously sees early on that they’re attracted to each other, but we really don’t see why. There simply isn’t enough time to establish their relationship, and to establish why Jane would like Mr. Rochester (or why Mr. Rochester would like Jane, for that matter). Oh, and why did they never explain why Mr. Rochester was pretending he was going to marry Blanche Ingram? I suppose you might be able to figure it out, but why not just state it clearly?

The other concern this leads to is that the whole movie felt much too rushed. I wasn’t able to really feel present in any of the scenes – they went so quickly and didn’t give you any chance to absorb yourself in them. I think the non-linear storytelling had a lot to do with that, too. For the entire story, I felt very distanced from the characters. I never felt like I was in the story; I was just on the sidelines watching it.

I also just didn’t like the non-linear storytelling in any case. It lent a sad and depressing tone to everything, even the bits that aren’t supposed to be sad and depressing.

Something I did like was how little they changed of the plot. They took things out (which I suppose is only natural; you have to cut something out of a biggish book like Jane Eyre when you make a two-hour movie), but they didn’t really add anything major in. (Well, except if you count the strange little bit where Jane wanders around and looks at the nude painting. Very random and not needed (though it was overkill to rate it PG-13 for that, in my opinion).)

Another thing I liked was the soundtrack. The music was beautiful, melancholic, dramatic – really good. I had heard and very much liked “Wandering Jane” before I saw the movie, so it was cool to hear it in its proper context.

The movie was aesthetically rich, too…but…it didn’t seem like the right aesthetic to me. Jane Eyre is somewhat dark, but it’s rich and full and deep. I think of warm dark colors when I think of Jane Eyre – purples and browns and blacks. The color aesthetic here seemed too…I don’t know…washed up? A lot of the lighting and colors were just grey and black, and the very muted lighting in the vast majority of the scenes began to get to me after a while.

Most of the side characters were fairly good. St. John was – well – all right. I don’t think they got his St. John -ishness across enough; he didn’t annoy me anywhere near as much as he did in the book. (Also, those sideburns probably didn’t help, but I didn’t really find him as good-looking as St. John is supposed to be…) The Rivers sisters were fine. I think I probably had known that the ’05 Georgiana Darcy was one of the Rivers here, but I’d forgotten, so it was a fun surprise when she showed up. I have not yet seen Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliott, so it wasn’t too weird for me to see her as Mrs. Reed.

I was also glad that they kept at least some of the religious themes in the book. Jane Eyre is really quite religious (book and character), and while I wouldn’t say that the movie emphasized that, it didn’t try to erase it either.

And oh, I was so glad they kept Jane’s impassioned speech, nearly word-for-word, to Mr. Rochester as he’s sort-of-semi proposing to her.

“Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you, — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh; — it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal, — as we are!”

Ughh, chills.

So, the conclusion of this rambling review is: I liked things about this movie. There were also major things I didn’t like. It’s worth a watch, but I’m holding out hopes of finding a better version of Jane Eyre.

What did you think of the 2011 Jane Eyre? Is it your favorite version? Which Jane Eyres have you seen?