Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
... View MoreGood , But It Is Overrated By Some
... View MoreA lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
... View MoreGreat movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
... View MoreThere's no denying that this miniseries is beautifully filmed, with exquisite production values. It's too traditionally filmed to beat the cinematography of the 2011 movie, but it comes pretty close.I also agree with most reviewers that the two leads had great chemistry. The Gothic horror parts were well done, the music was great (especially at the moor sequences), and the ending/reunion scenes were probably the best I've seen in any Jane Eyre version. That's the good.Ultimately, this version was still a disappointment to me, because of the script and the interpretation of the characters. I actually don't mind shortening or modernizing of the dialogue to a degree. I get it: it makes it easier for us to relate to the characters. As brilliant as Timothy Dalton (1983) was, for example, his lengthy monologues at times threatened to take me out of the story, because it is simply hard to imagine real people talking like that. And I suppose screenwriter Sandy Welch avoided blatant anachronisms (except for "Young-ish". Really??) but it still wasn't worth it in this case. Not only were the new lines of much less originality and beauty, but the script was annoyingly dumbed down. Everything seemed to get spoon fed to us, then repeated to make sure we got the point. For example, Eshton's theory about twins, an obvious foreshadowing for Jane and Rochester's later telepathic connection. I think it was repeated three times! Also, the beyond stupid Ouija board scene, clearly meant to cement the fact that Blanche was bad. You know, in case we'd missed it. Actually, this was a general tendency when it came to Blanche and her mother. It was like there was a man standing with a megaphone, yelling THESE ARE THE VILLAINS OF THE STORY. SEE HOW THEY HAVE ALL KINDS OF BAD ATTITUDES, ESPECIALLY FROM A MODERN POINT OF VIEW? IT'S TO SPARE YOU ANY DOUBT AS TO WHOM TO ROOT FOR. NO THINKING REQUIRED!In the same vein, they removed much of the complexity of Jane and Rochester's characters, and that is my single biggest issue with this adaptation. Jane and Rochester seemed reduced to a conventional Hero and Heroine: Likable, with correct attitudes, having mostly to overcome external obstacles, not internal. Of course, Jane always was strong and deeply moral, but she was also emotionally closed off. Ruth Wilson is an excellent actress, but she (or her director/screenwriter) didn't seem to get this important aspect of the character, unlike Mia Wasikowska (2011), who portrayed it beautifully. Jane isn't reserved just because Rochester is her employer! If you haven't been loved, you protect yourself by not showing feelings. This is why Rochester dangles Blanche in Jane's face, and even goes to the length of impersonating (hiring) a fortune teller: He's trying to provoke a response from her, because it's so hard to get any clue as to how she really feels. In this version, all he would have had to to was stay home after the night of the fire, and she might have thrown herself in his arms. Removing this part of Jane may have made her more relatable to the audience and easier to understand, but it's not true to the book, nor does it make sense psychologically for someone with her upbringing to be so open, calm and carefree. It also as good as removes the impact of her famous line: "Do you think that because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, that I am soulless and heartless?" Nobody would ever think Wilson's Jane was either of these things, except poor. These are the words of someone who has been on her guard, but finally cracks. Wilson's Jane had at this point been chummy and flirty with Rochester for quite a while already, when really she should have shown her feelings (to the viewers) only when she was alone. Then there's Rochester, who seems very hard to get right, as you have to portray a Byronic, melodramatic (anti-)hero and at the same time make him feel real. Rochester is also full of contradictions. Toby Stephens had no easy task, and could have been worse, but again, he was mostly the conventional hero. Too nice and good-humoured, sometimes depressed and "changeable" (talked of, but rarely seen), but not nearly intense, ill-tempered, selfish or tormented enough. The post-wedding departure scene between him and Jane.. There is no excuse for that, and I don't mean the fact that they make out, though it's weird that Jane would allow it (not because she's Victorian, but because of what she just found out), I mean the lack of urgency. This is the story's most important turning point, yet it's clumsily told in split-up flashback, and it lacks temperature and urgency. Rochester is meant to be desperate, attempting every trick in the book to get Jane to stay. (I guess that's why he first thoroughly smooches her, then promises he won't touch her if they live together? What?!) Jane is meant to steel herself, making him even more desperate. The only reason I can think of for this scene being so unforgivably subdued, is that Rochester manages to make himself believe that she will not really leave. Because she doesn't make a clean break, she tricks him into thinking she might consider the Mediterranean villa. (Now, is that something Jane Eyre would do??) They almost made up for this with the moving reunion scenes - almost - and I loved that Jane finally got her family portrait. I just wish she and the other characters had been less black-and-white.
... View More(contains possible spoilers) I read through the reviews and this movie has to be one of the most polarized out there. With few exceptions people either adore it or hate it fiercely. The haters are right in complaining that this version does not slavishly follow the book. Juicy parts are left out and any number of things are added. SO WHAT?? Why not just call it "adapted from" or "inspired by" and get off your high horse? If you want more accuracy just watch the version with Timothy Dalton. I have, but I simply do not keep going back to it like I do this version.There are too many wonderful elements of this movie to list but examples for me include the funny byplay when Jane asks for a leave of absence, the first proposal, and the expressions on Toby Stephen's face when he first sees Jane the bride, and again in the church where his thunderous stare speaks volumes about his defiance that he WILL marry Jane by God. Also their reunion which is given the time it deserves and captures the playfulness of the scenes in the book. This is left out of the Fassbender version which is a major detraction from that movie. You just have to have it!Finally, the main problem with this movie is that currently it costs a lot of money to buy. I am sure this limits its exposure compared to the other versions, and that is simply a shame.
... View MoreI first discovered this mini-series late one night, back in 2007, when I was still very young. I rapidly feel in love with this enchanting dark tale, which broadened my horizons to classical literature.With that in mind, this 2006 BBC adaptation is one of my favorite mini-series, based in one that has also became one of my favorite books. The acting is superb, with the actors delivering very likable performances, which allows the viewer to feel the love, between the main characters, grow (which I didn't feel at all in the 2011 Jane Eyre movie). The soundtrack, scenery, attention to detail and overall feeling of the show is spot on, which creates a beautiful atmosphere that suits the story very well. I've re-watched it several times over the years and I still cherish it just the same, thus recommending it vividly! It is, in my opinion, a very underrated mini-series that deserves more willingness to be seen and appreciation!
... View MoreIt's nowhere even near the book, the woman who wrote the screenplay read too many cheesy romantic novels, so she invented the whole story, the dialogue and presented it to us as "Jane Eyre", to attract viewers. The series start with some red cloth, waved at our faces for many minutes, are we in communist China? Then, some girl, sitting in a desert, fiddling with sand. What desert, what sand? There is no desert and no sand in "Jane Eyre". The, some silly scene with some painter, which is not in the book also. Due to the desert and the painter, the scenes from childhood were cut off, and one can hardly understand what ailed the girl - she was closed in some room where she stared at the portrait, and it seemed to be her main grudge (no illness, no breakdown). The next second, "Jane" opens her eyes, and she is in a luxurious bed, attended by a doctor. In the book, the aunt called an apothecary to save money on a doctor's visit. In fact, the doctor promises to return again, meaning the evil aunts pays for two expensive visits, that's how evil she is. When Jane tells the aunt how she feels, instead of being indignant at the aunt's lies, she sounds like a prim teacher, telling the older woman what to do and how to behave. One can barely stand not to slap the brat and tell her not to order others around. In Lowood, everything is skipped through, scenes look more like flashbacks. Jane's friend Mary sounds borderline imbecilic, instead of the smartest girl in the school. She also looks extremely righteous and self-satisfied. Thornton Hall does not look as a house of a wealthy aristocratic gentleman, but like some Gothic ruins, to enter which you must crawl almost on all fours into some dilapidated gate (surely a rich man could have paid to fix it). Inside, it's all ruins, too, in which a couple of rooms were cleared and some furniture was installed. Aunt's Reed's house is a real gentlemanly house, and she was nowhere near Mr Rochester in riches. Adele is portrayed like a cretin girl, interested only in clothes, jewels and presents. Mr Rochester is a self-satisfied creep, who knows that he has a pretty face but is constantly fishing for compliments. He is also constantly mentioning his 20K, in case the pretty face was not enough. Original Mr Rochester never mentioned the exact sum of his fortune, no gentleman ever would. Mr Rochester in series is also giggling all the time, like he is deranged, plays with Ouija board (the "real" one was an educated man and would have never stooped to such rubbish), and bullies and humiliates other people playing on their superstitions. But, he found his match in Jane Eyre. In a book, Jane was an educated woman and she was extremely modern, had a career, hobbies, dreams. In these series, she can't even educate Adele properly, who continues to wiggle and giggle. She, too, is fishing for the compliments all the time, playing the victim card ("I was not fed for eight years", "yes, sir, they didn't feed me", "yes, but remember, sir, I told you how they never fed me"). "Real" Jane had too much taste and tact to talk like this. She disclosed some of the abuse that went in the school when asked directly, but never went around with "woe to me, everyone was bad to me" look, permanently plastered to her face. The real Jane never shared a full story about her inheritance with Mr Rochester, the Jane in the series brags about it, to show off and to fish for compliment on her "generosity". She was judgmental, never did much but sketched something, left Adele entirely to her French bonne, and was preoccupied with the one thing only - how to attract a man. The actress is not plain at all either, though the blotched lip injections did disfigured her face, giving her lips a lop-sided look, with the upper lip constantly hovering over the lower one. Her female cousins, instead of being educated well bred women, talked at once and screeched like magpies, also giggled all the time God knows why, and could outgiggle Mr Rochester himself on a good day. The whole thing was turned into a cheap cheesy pseudoromantic farce. Poor author must be turning in her grave. I could never understood why people blotched books so. If the writer of the screenplay thought she was better than Bronte, she should have written her own screenplay, call it "An imbecilic governess captures a rich man" and produce it as a mini series, which, of course, no one would have wanted to watch. Instead, piggy riding on a great name, we are forced to watch complete and utter rubbish, which has absolutely nothing to do with the book.
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