Jane Eyre (2011)

[DB7]

'Jane Eyre'
It’s been shot silently and with sound, it’s been serialised, sequelised and prequelised, now Charlotte Bronte’s sweeping Yorkshire romance ‘Jane Eyre’ is back on our screens courtesy of ‘Sin Nombre’ director Cary Fukunaga. Tom Huddleston takes a look at the first trailer.

There’s a telling moment a little way into this trailer for Cary Fukunaga’s forthcoming adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel. We’ve already been treated to 30-odd seconds of rainswept burials, raging fires, little girls running along creepy corridors, black smoke pouring spectrally from fireplaces and a discussion on the nature of hell. But when the theme from Dario Argento’s ‘Suspiria’ kicks in, it suddenly becomes clear where this latest screen version is heading.

The two stories aren’t entirely dissimilar, at least aesthetically: both concern remote girls’ schools, unnerving elderly women, heavy weather and lashings of grim death. And while this doesn’t mean we’re likely to see Blanche Ingram fall into a pit of barbed wire or Mrs Fairfax turn out to be one of the Three Mothers, it does hopefully imply that Fukunaga has looked a little further afield for his influences than the usual staid BBC period fare.

The rest of the trailer – following Michael Fassbender’s Wellesian introduction on horseback – seeks to deepen the mystery, with notable nods to the likes of ‘The Others’ and ‘The Exorcist’ along with the expected ‘Gosford Park’ stately home trappings. It might all be terribly overwrought and silly, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing (as anyone who’s seen ‘Suspiria’ can attest), and there’s certainly enough in this trailer to whet our cinematic appetites while we wait for Andrea Arnold’s feverishly anticipated take on ‘Wuthering Heights’. Stay off the moors!

[didi-5]

I'm very much looking forward to this. There is no such thing as 'too many adaptations of Jane Eyre' IMO.

[will.15]

Another Jane Eyre.

[jaycad]

preferable to another superhero remake though!!

[faginsgirl]

It has been done to death and I don`t think you can beat the Sorcha Cusack version (1973)

[didi-5]

True - the Cusack/Jayston version is excellent ...

[margeurite]

I'm glad it had Michael Fassbender as Mr Rochester - it is about time we started seeing more of him after his excellent performance in Fish Tank.

[Stephen Gilchrist]

It has been done to death and I don`t think you can beat the Sorcha Cusack version (1973)

Thanks so much for remebering Sorcha's version of Jane Eyre. Shortly after this version was televised, in 1974, I was working as a trainee solicitor in a London practice, on the point of qualifying. We needed a temp one day, and who should walk through the door but Sorcha! When she wasn't working in the business, she was gainfully employed as a legal secretary at which she excelled. We became friends and she offered some invaluable advice regarding a stage show in which I was then involved. Two years ago, I bumped into her at Chichester Festival Theatre after many many years, and she had a complete recollection of those times so many years before. Delightful!!

[faginsgirl]

This is being heavily advertsed now but I can`t see the point myself, there doesn`t seem to be any origionality in style about it IMO. Tim Burton should have a bash me thinks!

[didi-5]

I am still going to see it, originality or not! I like the idea of the film starting with Jane fleeing Thornfield, then telling her story to the Rivers, with flashbacks. Of course this might not work, but we'll have to see.

[scraller]

I watched this version just recently, and, while it looked wonderfully of the period, gorgeous costumes and all, Jane and Rochester had as much spark together as a dead battery. Tedious

[didi-5]

I watched this version just recently, and, while it looked wonderfully of the period, gorgeous costumes and all, Jane and Rochester had as much spark together as a dead battery. Tedious

As I feared ... pity. Still, in a couple of weeks I'll be watching it anyway ...

[jaycad]

It looks about as good as the recent 'Brideshead Revisited' going by the trailer! Period novels are only worth adapting for TV.

[Elaine]

Mmm..another Jane Eyre. I hope it is better than I think it will be. Sorcha Cusack and Micheal Jayston were my first memory of Jane Eyre, and apart from Timothy Dalton's version, have the edge on all of those remakes over the years.

[scraller]

I even watched it twice -! to give it another chance, thinking I might have missed something the first time around. Couldn't make it halfway through. Disappointing, as I had been looking forward to it since its release earlier in the year.

There's no emotional oomph between the two principals. And they 'emote' their lines at each other very hurriedly, as if they need to catch the last bus of the night in ten minutes.

[Onedin]

'Jane Eyre' is my personal book - Charlotte Brontë wrote it for me.

I've seen a few filmed or televised adaptations, and I have to admit I fell in love with Mr. Rochester when he was portrayed by Ciarán Hinds, but I think it is fair to say that I'm a purist when it comes to this book - which I have read over 20 times by now.

[Edward G]

OK Onedin, I'll cut to the chase and reveal all, so you won't have to experience it for the 21st time.
"Reader, I married him"..

'Jane Eyre' is my personal book - Charlotte Brontë wrote it for me.

I've seen a few filmed or televised adaptations, and I have to admit I fell in love with Mr. Rochester when he was portrayed by Ciarán Hinds, but I think it is fair to say that I'm a purist when it comes to this book - which I have read over 20 times by now.

[didi-5]

'Jane Eyre' is my personal book - Charlotte Brontë wrote it for me.

I've seen a few filmed or televised adaptations, and I have to admit I fell in love with Mr. Rochester when he was portrayed by Ciarán Hinds, but I think it is fair to say that I'm a purist when it comes to this book - which I have read over 20 times by now.

Goodness - Ciaran Hinds was absolutely NOT my idea of Rochester. Captain Wentworth in Persuasion, yes, but not Rochester. Maybe it was the moustache. Maybe it was the shouting. However I have liked all the other film/TV versions I have seen so far, although William Hurt was a bit too blonde and wimpy.

In terms of the Janes Samantha Morton was excellent despite having Hinds in her film ...

[Onedin]

Goodness - Ciaran Hinds was absolutely NOT my idea of Rochester. Captain Wentworth in Persuasion, yes, but not Rochester. Maybe it was the moustache. Maybe it was the shouting. However I have liked all the other film/TV versions I have seen so far, although William Hurt was a bit too blonde and wimpy.

In terms of the Janes Samantha Morton was excellent despite having Hinds in her film ...

Well yes he could've done without the moustache, but he has very powerful eyes, whatever he does. There's a raw emotion there that I thought was very Mr. Rochester.

And yes, Sam Morton was superb as Jane.

[didi-5]

Well, I'll rank 'my' Janes and Rochesters :)

Janes: Zelah Clarke '83 / Sorcha Cusack '73 / Susannah York '70 / Samantha Morton '97 / Ruth Wilson '06 / Joan Fontaine '43 / Charlotte Gainsbourg '96 / Virginia Bruce '34
Rochesters: Timothy Dalton '83 / George C Scott '70 / Orson Welles '43 / Michael Jayston '73 / Toby Stephens '06 / William Hurt '96 / Ciaran Hinds '97 / Colin Clive '34

I'm waiting to see where this new one fits in!

Incidentally has anyone seen the Stanley Baker one from 1956? I saw a clip of it and was slightly disappointed, although those who remember it do so with affection.