Jane Eyre

I finally got around to seeing the 2011 film adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, and Jamie Bell.

First off, have you read the book? If you have, you know that Mr. Rochester is. . . not really a looker. Go to IMBD.com and scroll through all of the film adaptations. Not a mugly Mr. Rochester among them. Makes it a bit weird when that line of dialogue refers to his unattractiveness. In film, Mr. Rochester is always brooding and always handsome. A general observation.

This most recent adaptation reminded me of the Deathly Hallows movies. I wondered if folks who had not read the last Harry Potter book fully understood what was going on.

Jane Eyre is a simpler story, but there was still room for confusion. When Jane first runs away from Thornfield, she's carrying a bag. We next see her desperate and hopeless on the rocks of the moor, with nothing but her cloak. Where'd the bag go?

What really confused me was a shot of Jane lying in bushes. It's dramatic, but disconcerting. Wehre did these bushes come from? How did she get there? What happened to the rocks?

I enjoyed the use of flashbacks to tell the meat of the story. Though the main action with Rochester is such a long flashback, you may be startled when there's a change. And the cinematography is sumptuous, as required for such period pieces.

But it's a slow movie. I was engaged because I was measuring it against my memory of the story. Without such a yardstick, the pace might be too glacial for you. So read the book first, then see whether you like how the movie tells it.