JANE EYRE (FUKUNAGA, 2011) - I need to write a piece on Jane Eyre (in general, but discussing this adaptation in particular) this weekend, so I don’t want to get too much into this one, but the short version is: I really liked many of the choices taken here, including the casting and the style and the performances and the structure, but there was something missing. I reliably lose it at the garden scene, whether it’s reading the book or watching the Fontaine version or the Gainsbourg version or the BBC series from a few years ago, but now? A bit of a lump in my throat, but I didn’t need a handkerchief. I’m still trying to figure out why: I think it might be that the new realist style of making period dramas* coexists uneasily with the supernatural elements and the emotional proclamations about souls, it might be that the insistence on including the St.John subplot, while understandable (it’s thematically quite important), rushes the rest, especially Rochester and Jane’s falling in love. Still, there’s much to like: the symbolic use of clothing, for example, the teasing out of the feminism of the book, the natural lighting and the use of landscape to represent inner confusion. And I guess I’ve written more than planned, anyhow - oh well, guess I’ll just see it as preparation for the longer piece.
*see also: the Knightley PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and the most successful example so far, BRIGHT STAR.
