Charlotte Brontë’s Gothic romance Jane Eyre (1847) presents many challenges to a screenwriter looking
to adapt the story into a film. Not only
is one burdened with the usual pressures remaining faithful to the characters and
flavour of the novel while creating a new work, but Jane Eyre has been adapted dozens of times to film, radio, television, and the stage. From
the 1943 classic Hollywood adaptation starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine with
its impressive score by Bernard Herrmann to the much loved BBC adaptations such as in the 1983 version with Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke, it has been done well so many times that it is a challenge to find a new angle to take with the story.
When I
heard that Cary Jōji Fukunaga had
taken on the challenge, I was both excited – surely the director of an
impressive debut feature like Sin Nombre
(2009) could bring something new and refreshing to Jane Eyre! – and trepidatious.
The trepidation was not only because of the great adaptations mentioned above but
also because there have been two solid adaptations in recent memory: Franco
Zefferelli’s 1996 version starring William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg and
the wonderful 2006 BBC adaptation with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson. That being
said, it is rare for even a very good adaptation of Jane Eyre to tick all the right boxes for me. The biggest pitfalls are: making Jane too
plain/boring, making Rochester so temperamental and creepy that one couldn't imagine Jane falling for him, and not exploring the Gothic nature of the story
far enough.
Fukunaga’s
version manages to avoid all of these pitfalls: Mia Wasikowska, with her expressive eyes, plays Jane as an
intelligent young woman who knows her place in society but has just enough
backbone to stand up for herself when she feels she is being badly
treated. Michael Fassbinder, who is one of those rare actors able to transform himself completely into his
characters, makes Rochester sympathetic enough for us to understand why Jane
learns to love him, while at the same time showing him to be a man conflicted
by the miserable cards that life has dealt him. There is also real chemistry between
Wasikowka and Fassbinder – a must have when depicting a period where more is
said through looks and demeanor than action.
A nod must also be given to the supporting cast – particularly Judi Dench who brings a great deal of
warmth to Mrs. Fairfax, and Sally
Hawkins who is practically unrecognizable as the horrid Mrs. Reed. This
is the first time that I have seen Hawkins play an unsympathetic character and
she really took advantage of the opportunity to show her range as an actress.
This adaptation
easily ranks as one of the best versions of Jane
Eyre for two reasons: its use of landscape and its
exploitation of the Gothic romance genre.
The moors play such an important role in setting atmosphere in the novel
and this is the first adaptation that I felt really got the fact that the
landscape like another character in the story. Shot in the Hathersage moors (not quite
Haworth moor but one probably couldn't shoot there without tourists getting in
the way), Fukunaga and cinematographer Adriano
Goldman really capture the connection between the landscape and the
character of Jane.
The
cinematography was also a key element of the Gothic look of the piece. Being "Gothic" is not just about finding the right castle – it is also about capturing the romance and suspense of a Gothic novel. The interior scenes set at night in this adaptation make great use of dark and light.
This was a time where rooms would have only been lit by fireplaces, candles,
and Paraffin lamps (aka Kerosene lamps in North America). The lighting in these scenes not only
captures the historical reality but the shadow also adds to the general
suspense. The scenes where Jane hears
noises but does yet know what their source is are so expertly done that I found
myself on the edge of my seat even though I knew exactly what was going to
happen. Many adaptations concentrate so
strongly on building the character of Jane that they forget that the story
belongs to the Gothic romance genre. The
dash of Hitchcock added to the mix made Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre well worth the price of admission.
cmmhotes 2012
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Cary Jōji Fukunaga is a Japanese-Swedish American director. His debut feature film Sin Nombre (2009) won him much acclaim including the directing
award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Warner Brothers has signed him up to adapt Stephen King’s It in two parts with Chase Palmer writing the screenplay. See The
Hollywood Reporter for more details.