Jane Eyre (Fukunaga, 2011)

[DavidSeven]

Anyone interested? The early reviews are encouraging, and it's in limited release this weekend. Never saw Fukunaga's debut, Sin Nombre, but it was also well-received.

http://content8.flixster.com/rtmovie/71/20/71206_gal.jpg

They did the the head within body graphic a heck of lot better than X-Men: First Class.

Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/user/FocusFeatures?v=8IFsdfk3mlk&feature=pyv&ad=9011990506&kw=jane%20eyre%20trailer)

[Sycophant]

I'm gonna let Mara decide whether or not I see this.

[EyesWideOpen]

I'm super excited too bad it's not playing anywhere near me this weekend. I really like Mia Wasikowska.

[megladon8]

Michael Fassbender is becoming one of my favorites.

[Morris Schæffer]

Michael Fassbender is becoming one of my favorites.

Ah lol that's him again too, not just the same poster design as X-Men First Class.:D

[Mara]

I'm gonna let Mara decide whether or not I see this.

I'm jumping out of my skin to see this one, but it doesn't come out here until some time in early April. Early reviews are extremely encouraging.

[Mara]

Michael Fassbender is becoming one of my favorites.

The only thing I've seen him in was the worst-- I mean, the worst-- supernatural show on the BBC. It was laughably inept.

He was good-looking, though. I just have trouble taking him seriously as an actor now.

[Boner M]

Let's talk shit about Duke in this thread, cos he'll never read it.

[balmakboor]

I'm very interested. I hadn't made the "same director as Sin Nombre" connection. I loved that movie. Of course I like Wasikowska and Fassbender.

[Mara]

A review I read said that they are telling it out of chronological order.

Spoilered for the handful who haven't read the book.

They begin the film with Jane fleeing and encountering St. John, and then tell how she got there through flashbacks.

I think this is a very clever way to condense down the story and hit the main plot points without feeling like you're just getting the cliff notes.

[EyesWideOpen]

The only thing I've seen him in was the worst-- I mean, the worst-- supernatural show on the BBC. It was laughably inept.

He was good-looking, though. I just have trouble taking him seriously as an actor now.

He was really good in Fish Tank.

[Mara]

He was really good in Fish Tank.

Yeah, that's on my instant queue. I should really watch it.

[Raiders]

He was really good in Fish Tank.

... and amazing in Hunger. Also pretty good in Inglourious Basterds. He was kinda wasted in Eden Lake.

Mara, are you talking about Hex? That does look laughable indeed.

[Mara]

Mara, are you talking about Hex? That does look laughable indeed.

It's SO BAD. I mean, it has all the elements I like in a show, but done piss-poorly. It's almost worth seeing just to laugh at it, but falls short of even that redeeming factor.

A quick search verifies that I'm not going to see Hunger. Sometimes I think about seeing Inglorious Basterds, but then I remember that I find Quentin Tarantino obnoxious and I just don't seem to be in his audience sphere.

But Fish Tank is right up my alley. I'm going to watch it.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I liked Sin Nombre, and I'm very interested in seeing this. Though, like Mara, my wife is nearly crippled with anticipation, so even if I wasn't interested, it's likely I'd be watching this anyway.

[Mara]

Reviews keep showing this happy, smiley picture:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/jane_eyre03.jpg

Which is annoying me. Too much sunshine and twitterpation. Remember, this is the book that frightened me so much the first time I tried to read it that I had to put it away for five years. It should be a little more...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/2011_jane_eyre_001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/Jane_Eyre_710895a.jpg

...there we go.

[Kurosawa Fan]

That still is from this clip (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/janeeyre/).

[Mara]

That still is from this clip (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/janeeyre/).

I'm of two minds about that clip.

There's a possibility that I will hate this film just because I'm too excited so it disappoints. It's happened before.

[Mara]

My favorite scenes in the books aren't talking scenes, though. Maybe that's why I'm underwhelmed. I can't wait to see:

*The burning bed
*The scene where Jane is stuck holding in the guts of Richard Mason as he bleeds out
*Pretty much anything with Bertha
*The burning of Thornfield

You know, the gruesome stuff.

[NickGlass]

Put me in the patiently excited camp for this. I guess it's my duty as a New Yorker to see it soon and report back, though.

I love the book, and find the actors more than accomplished but still very fresh; and from what I've seen in Sin Nombre, I think Fukunaga will be more than capable of handling the Gothic tones.

[Mara]

Going all the way into the District to see this today. If it sucks I'm gonna be pissed.

[Mara]

So, this was strong. Not perfect, but quite strong. Fukunaga brings an artist's eye to the piece, playing down the beauty of the leads and playing up the beauty of the landscapes, making the English countryside look both wild and desolate.

Wasikowska was a revelation as Jane. Ramrod straight and pale, she conveys both strength and turmoil with the flick of an eyelash and the set of her lips. There's one scene where she actually acts primarily with the back of her neck, which is quite an achievement. If anything, the scenes where she is expected to laugh or cry actually feel a little bit like overkill-- everything we need to know about how she is feeling is emoted so well that we don't really need that much excess. Her physical presence-- especially her expressive hands and fingers-- is excellent. In one scene she is ripping off her clothing, tearing at her corset laces with rage and shock and grief, and I felt like I could have watched that for hours.

Everyone else is a supporting character in this version, including Rochester. The script cuts a lot of his development in order to focus on Jane, but Fassbender does what he can with his curtailed scenes, showing a man who is broken and clings to Jane both for who she is and for who he needs her to be-- his salvation and redemption, something pure and otherworldly that will save him from his own faults. His faults are a little whitewashed in this adaptation, although not as badly as I've seen before.

My only real complaint with the film was that I felt it lost strength and focus for a crucial couple of scenes. Spoilered for those who don't know the plot.

I felt like the tone of the piece started going off during the happy-courtship montage prior to the wedding, but the wedding scene and the revelation of Bertha both felt confusing and anticlimactic. This should be an enormous reveal: TA DA! Instead it just sort of happened. The story and direction both rushed right through it, without giving anyone time to react. Bertha looked more or less healthy (for someone who has been locked in an attic for fifteen years) and didn't seem either dangerous or insane. It certainly wasn't clear that she had stabbed her brother earlier in the film.

I thought, Oh, it's too bad that the film decided to go to crap two-thirds of the way through. But, then, it found its footing again and ended strongly. As a matter of fact, since the end of the book is by far my least favorite part, I thought the ending was actually sort of beautiful.

Overall, it's setting well. I think that although not perfect, this is certainly my favorite adaptation so far. The film is worth seeing for Wasikowska's performance alone.

[EyesWideOpen]

This was fantastic. I went in blind not having read the book or knowing any bit about the story. I mainly went because of Mia Wasikowska who is becoming one of my favorite young actresses. She was phenomenal in Alice in Wonderland and my favorite performance in The Kids Are All Right. It's too bad this didn't come out later in the year because I definitely think she should get a nomination for this role.

The actress who played her as a child was strong as well. I really liked the scene where she was being chased by her older cousin and gets her head slammed against the wall and then without wasting a second jumps on top of him. The thump made pretty much everyone in the audience gasp.

[Mara]

My audience had a really hard time with all the child violence. They kept gasping and tsk-ing. I guess most of them hadn't read the book-- it's even worse in there.

[Bosco B Thug]

Fukunaga and Moira Buffini's Jane Eyre is a Cliff Notes adaptation, Bronte's story stripped of any of its insight and nuance. Wasikowska and Fassbender fight tooth-and-nail to bring life to the film and screenplay, but they are snuffed out by such a one-note, gratuitous film.

I'll reduce my complaints against the film to one observation: at one point in the film, Fassbender tells Wasikowska, "We've become friends, haven't we, Jane?", or something like that. Good, he says that in the book, at about this time in the chronology.

The problem is, that friendship is hardly felt in the film... or were we supposed to see this forging of deep bonds in that "Oooh are they gonna kiss??? Their faces are getting incrementally closer together!!!" moment earlier, Fukunaga's teen-drama-derived idea of complex romance?

[Kurosawa Fan]

For some reason, this opened at my local theater today, so instead of seeing Bridesmaids this weekend, my wife is getting ready right now and we're going to an 11 o'clock showing. Like I said, my wife has been fairly excited for this.

[number8]

I hear the movie looks great, and that they didn't use any lighting at all for the night scenes. It's all lit by the in-camera candles, nothing simulated. That's fucking impressive.

[Lazlo]

I hear the movie looks great, and that they didn't use any lighting at all for the night scenes. It's all lit by the in-camera candles, nothing simulated. That's fucking impressive.

Yeah it really is a beautiful movie. Hopefully it'll get some awards attention at the end of the year.

[[ETM]]

I've just seen it. It's stunningly beautiful on BluRay. You can take pretty much any frame and put it up on your wall as art. Lighting was sublime.

I also went in without any knowledge of the plot (although I recognized the "twist" from seeing some of a previous adaptation at some point) and I felt the story wasn't hampered by short-cuts in any meaningful way. From speaking with my g/f (who's a huge fan and loves the BBC miniseries), I gather that St. John and his sisters are "hit" the most, as well as Jane's time at the school as a child, but we both feel that this was an excellent condensation with just all the right ingredients. I know Bosco, for example, feels differently, but I think there's sufficient material between the lines to justify all the beats in the leads' relationship. I also agree with Mara about Wasikowska's physical acting - there's pages upon pages of inner monologue in that wonderful neck of hers. Fassbender let quite a bit of an accent through in some scenes, but other than that he was refreshingly human in the role. And one more thing - I'm now REALLY glad Tamzin Merchant didn't end up playing Daenerys in "Game of Thrones". She's scary, and... all face.

[Bosco B Thug]

;368273']I know Bosco, for example, feels differently, but I think there's sufficient material between the lines to justify all the beats in the leads' relationship. I do. I really, really do. :sad: Not disagree with you about the screenplay, but really dislike this movie. :)

It's personality-less and insight-less. I'd have guessed everyone who wasn't familiar with the story or characters would have been bored to death.

[[ETM]]

I've been thinking about the film a lot since. One of the things that struck me during the viewing, that I didn't mention before, was how the direction deliberately sidelines virtually all of the characters besides Jane, Rochester, Mrs. Fairfax and St. John. There's also Adele and the sisters, but they're always there through Jane's POV, even though the camera is in third person view. You literally don't remember the faces of anyone else, including Miss Ingram, because they're only there to support the main relationships and turn the cogs of plot. I found it fascinating, and something not easily achieved through such means. I'm liking Fukunaga's subtle work more and more the more I dwell on it.

[Spinal]

I'd have guessed everyone who wasn't familiar with the story or characters would have been bored to death.

Far from it. I had never read the book, never seen an adaptation, but I found their relationship to be fascinating. Loved Wasikowska in this, particularly the proposal scene.

[Robby P]

Yes, I thought this was excellent. Among the contenders for my favorite movie of the year. Wasikowska and Fassbender both deserve more awards consideration for their performances.

[Peng]

Finished the book earlier this month, and this threatens every so often to be a faithful Cliff Note version of it, including retaining the dialogue on the leads' appearance even though both are too movie-pretty for it, particularly Fassbender (like keeping his "Do you think me handsome?" and her negative answer). Some shrewd choices though, especially the non-chronological one of opening with a sequence more than halfway through the book, to establish the source's vibe right away. Plus Fukunaga directs this with the right kind of darkly dreamy atmosphere, and the two leads are great (with Wasikowska's physicality conveying the character's essence and capturing pages of inner monologue wonderfully) and have terrific chemistry together. 7.5/10