Jane Eyre (2011) movie review

Cast, crew, rating, etc:  Jane Eyre (2011) on IMDB, Plugged In review
Overall rating:  4.5 out of 5 stars. 

My mom, sister, and I went to see this movie when it first came out, and I just re-watched it on DVD.  I was really looking forward to this version, having read the book years ago and watched several pretty good versions (Orson Welles, Timothy Dalton, Toby Stephens).  It's an excellent movie all-round, so I feel weird saying I was very disappointed.  Don't let that discourage you, anyway.  ;)  The trailer already describes the plot, so I'll skip right to the review.

Firstly, the costumes, setting, and cinematography were gorgeous, not disappointing at all!  Yorkshire really looks like Yorkshire, the dresses are really 1840s-50s, and there's even an attempt at Yorkshire accents (not consistent, but a good effort).  Visually, there's never been a better Jane Eyre...the bleakness, candlelit rooms, and bright afternoons are wonderfully Gothic/realistic.  And I know many people don't care for the Victorian hairstyles, but I thought Mia had the prettiest hairstyles in this film. 

The soundtrack was beautiful, too--lots of violin, piano, and strings.  I think it'd be a nice one to listen to even on its own.  :)

Loved the script, overall.  I'm super impressed with how much the scriptwriters fit into two hours, and it doesn't feel incomplete or too fast-paced.  The dialogue is also pretty faithful to the spirit of the book.  This is a Focus Features film; they also made the 2005 Pride & Prejudice, but fortunately the scriptwriting is way more accurate in Jane Eyre.  It's true that Jane's childhood is shown in flashbacks, but I actually liked it better this way--it puts Jane's attitude/character in context and creates some interesting parallels between the two points of her life. 

The PG-13 rating is a huge overstatement.  There's a scene with a wounded character, but it's not nearly as intense as, say, the surgery in Cranford.  Then there's a scene with a closeup of an old painting (i.e. the "nude image" mentioned in the rating), but that's it.  There was one swear word.  Really, the rating is pretty misleading; this is one of the cleanest costume films/TV series around, especially for the intended audience (teens and up).

Moving on to the cast.  Mia is by far the best Jane Eyre I've seen.  I'd seen her before in Alice in Wonderland, but as Jane she has much more acting range.  It isn't easy to portray someone who was psychologically altered by a harsh childhood, yet Mia convincingly portrays that and the Victorian era in her character, with stoicism and stifled emotions.  Not only that, but she definitely comes across as the young and naive nineteen-year-old who Jane is supposed to be.  Perfect casting.

It's too bad, then, that the next important character was very badly cast.  Rochester (played by Fassbender) isn't much like the Byronic hero of the book; instead, he comes across as just plain boring.  There's no mysterious charm and not an ounce of charisma in this portrayal.  He's unconvincing in most of the scenes, whether he's trying to be intimidating, witty, romantic, funny, etc.  His conversations with Jane are mostly awkward and painful to watch; the main exceptions being the proposal and ending scenes.  Other reviewers said he was too good-looking...I didn't think him good-looking at all, though Rochester isn't supposed to be handsome anyway.  Again, while Fassbender played the part well enough, they really should have cast somebody with more stage presence and who fit the role better.

Last character worth mentioning is St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell).  Though he is only in a handful of scenes, St. John is solidly portrayed in all his narrow-minded, austere self-righteousness.  And I never expected to say this, but I ended up liking him better than Rochester.  There's much more chemistry between St. John and Jane, and though we despise St. John's obnoxious behavior, we see that they have things in common. They're neither of them very worldly-wise and they're both trying to do the right thing.  The trouble with St. John is that he's approaching it the wrong way.

All in all, Jane Eyre is disappointing as a romantic film but excellent as a story and adaptation.  Recommended.