I'm still coming up for air after watching Jane Eyre last Sunday. Ok so it's a costume drama based on a classic novel with Michael Fassbender, Dame Judi Dench and Jamie Bell in it, so it had a head start. But, wow, I wasn't quite expecting it to leave me speechless.
Haven't read the book for years so I'm not sure exactly how faithful it is to the novel but it certainly seemed to get right to the heart of it. The time line of the film is certainly different from the book. The film starts near the end of the story so it becomes a tale of how did Jane Eyre end up wandering the rain lashed moors looking for shelter.
What director Cary Fukunaga has done (he made the fantastic Sin Nombre) is create a film that is positively dripping with atmosphere and so emotionally charged that I was choking back the tears through most of it.
The genius is that it is so subtly done. There isn't masses of dialogue so it's very much about what isn't said and that relies on great acting and great direction and here it is in the bucket loads. Mia Wasikowska's Jane is beautifully pitched; reserved but with just enough hint of emotion underneath. And Michael Fassbender never fails to convince as Rochester - a man in turmoil constantly fighting his emotions, duty and the ghosts of his past.
For Jane Eyre to work Rochester has to be a hard, brusk man but with chink in the armour that convinces you that Jane would fall in love with him. And I was convinced. The relationship between the two leads crackles with tension and repressed emotion. It is the fire against the bleak backdrop of the setting.
My only very slight niggle is the underused talents of the likes of Mr Bell as St John and Sally Hawkins as Jane's cruel aunt.
It's gone straight to the top of my DVD list and I'm giving it 95%. On IMDb it's got 75% from users and the Metacritic score is 76%. On Rotten Tomatoes it's got 86% from critics and 79% from audiences.
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