It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Beautiful, moving film.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

this is the only adaptation i have seen for the great Jane Eyre book and i liked how BBC managed to tell the story with changing any of the details but i think that there were some small details which made the book so great not mentioned in the series and that disappointed me somehow. The total ignorance of Jane's suffering and hunger after leaving Thornfield really disappointed me and made me give 8 star rating instead of 9 stars for this well done series. I really liked how Ruth Wilson performed her role awesomely but i think BBC had done mistake by not making Toby Stephens so ugly as Mr. Rochester should be. All in all, i think BBC did good job in filming this masterpiece book.

This four-part mini series is an exciting and interesting adaptation from the book. Jane's childhood is squashed into the first episode, and fans of the book will find that a lot is missed, especially the Lowood years. Having said that, they had only four hours and otherwise stuck to the plot very well.Ruth Wilson is a believable and compelling Jane - she reduced me to tears twice - though perhaps a little gutsier and less self-deprecating than Bronte's Jane, for me that was an improvement. She is the highlight for me - a very straight, honest performance with good understanding of her character and brave delivery. Toby Stephens is also wonderful as always, he plays a rather ironic, mischievous Rochester.Other notable performances: Lorraine Ashbourne is an excellent Mrs Fairfax, bringing some life and personality to a rather dull role. Pam Ferris is a frankly terrifying Grace Poole - I jumped in episode four when I saw her carrying the baby and rather wanted to snatch it out of her hands - so great work there, and Cosima Littlewood was born to play Adele. You grow to love her as Jane does, and she is extremely funny, though she always retains an infuriating materialistic and coquettish nature.My only downvote would be for Andrew Buchan as Mr Rivers. He rises to the challenge of cold and aloof so well that he in fact ends up with no presence at all, sucking warmth and interest from the screen. I would have liked to see a more Ralph Fiennesey Mr Rivers, but there we are, it doesn't spoil the series at all.If you like good drama, watch this series, it's wonderful.

I believe that Jane Eyre (2006) is one of the greatest period dramas of all time, and almost definitely the greatest period romance. There is next to nothing that I would like to criticize about this miniseries. The perfectly written script combines with the marvelous acting to make a brilliant masterpiece that beats every other version of Jane Eyre I've seen (and that is saying something, because I liked the 2011 version very much). Even my brother, one of the harshest movie critics I know and a hater of silly love stories, found himself drawn into the room while my friends and I watched it for our girls night movie, and he proclaimed it an excellent movie. It is perfect – funny, scary, sad, romantic, and (to those who have not read the book) extremely unpredictable.For the purpose of this review, I'll put aside my personal love of Bronte's characters and storyline not only to avoid spoilers, but also so I might analyze aspects of this film itself. It is brilliantly done. To say that Ruth Wilson is impressive in her first real role (right out of acting school) would be an immense understatement. Jane Eyre's reserved nature and intricate mind make her an extremely difficult character to portray on screen, and Wilson accomplishes this task beautifully. She looks the part - somehow she just seems exactly the sort of person the book describes, though I know that's a very opinionated statement. The emotion she is able to deliver to the audience even with her character's reticence is neither too great nor too small. I see almost no flaws in her portrayal of Jane Eyre.I believe I fell in love with Toby Stephens over the course of this series. Readers of the book will attest to the fact that Rochester is "supposed to be ugly." It's one of the biggest problems fans of the book cite when analyzing others who've portrayed this character – Rochester is too handsome or too young, or both. Still, what girl can deny that she secretly hopes he'll be at least a bit attractive? When this Rochester came on the screen, I think many book fans (including myself) were sufficiently pleased with his rough, not-really-that-handsome appearance (forgive me for lack of a better adjective than 'not-really-that-handsome!') But even with this observation comes the worry that he'll not be very likable… after all, we all know that a character's good looks contribute a great deal to his or her likability. By the end of this film however… I didn't remember ever having considered him anything but handsome. The character is charming, interesting, and on several occasions absolutely hysterical. My whole living room was laughing at some of his conversations with Jane. He flat out nailed the role of Edward Rochester. I'm convinced someone charmed the character to rise off the pages of the book, and he happened to take the form of Toby Stephens. It is that good.The side characters are all very good as well, but the real commendation should go to the screen-writers. Film adaptations of books obviously need to have discrepancies, and there is a science to making this work well. Some seem to pull the dialogue right from the pages, word for word, creating a rather restricted atmosphere. Other times you feel in your bones that the dialogue is too modern. Often, as well, plot points are jumbled together within the script in a rabid attempt to get everything said, so that the script sounds like an eleventh grader reading out his plot summary for English class. Obviously the length of this film made it possible to gradually introduce and develop each plot point, but that takes nothing away from the brilliant dialogue with which this was done. I felt like I was looking through a window into 19th century Britain. The makers of this film brought Charlotte Bronte's characters to life in the most brilliant way possible.It's about the time where I generally find something – anything – to criticize, but I can think of nothing. Lovers of the book should have nothing to complain about, since I feel that it contained almost every scene from the book. If I had to name one problem… I suppose it would be young Jane. I love Georgie Henley, but I do admit that her acting seemed a bit forced, and didn't really capture the essence of young Jane. Still, Georgie Henley looks so much like Ruth Wilson (I marveled at that for about twenty minutes) that I feel I probably would have made that casting choice as well.All things considered, this is the closest thing to a perfect period drama I have ever seen. Miniseries such as this one have the unique privilege to be able to contain nearly every plot point, since they are allowed to be long, and are thus generally very good and well-liked by book fans. This one in particular just seems to do everything a half step better than the rest. It is truly excellent. Watch it, see for yourself, and enjoy!

This adaptation of Jane Eyre is undeniably a controversial one. Many reviewers have pointed out the many shortcomings which I will not got into in much detail here since other reviewers have already done so. They are (in a nutshell):Ruth Wilson looks wrong for the part: She does - They changed vital parts of the story and included crappy modern scenes like the Ouija Board and the bedroom scene: They did - They modernised some of the language and therefore ruined parts of the dialog: TrueHowever (and it's a big however) they got one part of the script right, and luckily for them, it's the most important part: The very careful fleshing out of the relationship between Jane and Rochester. Another thing they got perfectly right: The lead actors. Yes, Ruth Wilson is too tall and too fleshy to play Jane (by no means fat but Jane is supposed to be tiny and thin as a rake and Ruth is just a normal girl). But she has enormous acting skills and gets Janes character to a tee. And I cannot tell you how brilliant Toby Stephens is. He looks right for Rochester I think, he even has the oft-mentioned "shaggy black mane". Others have claimed he's too attractive but I think he's just right. He isn't ugly for sure but he has the sort of face which seems unattractive at first sight and then starts to grow on you until you find it looks attractive after all. Which is EXACTLY what Rochesters visage is supposed to do. I also agree that his Rochester is a bit too nice. But on the other hand, I much prefer this to getting a too rude Rochester that leaves you at a loss to understand why Jane would like him. And Wilson and Stephens are one of the few pairs (together with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton) who get the very very subtle humour that the two characters share right. And many of the other adaptations shorten the end to an unpardonable degree (the worst being the latest adaptation which allows 1 minute for the last meeting of Jane and Rochester). Not so this one, the ending is intensely romantic and touching. As it should. Many people have a favourite line from the book and I'm afraid to say mine is: "Am I hideous, Jane?" – "Very, sir. You always were you know." I don't like to do without that and they kept it in… So basically this is a flawed adaptation that is salvaged by two fantastic leads and the large amount of screen time that they are allowed together. Given that I don't mind (well I do mind but not too much) that Rochester didn't play the Gypsy woman himself (a thing I've always found to be a credibility stretch even in the book) or the unnecessary amount of sexing up which culminates in the intensely sexy but completely wrong bedroom scene… I'm willing to forgive all these faults because they got the most important thing right. They could have kept closer to the book and it would have all amounted to nothing if the romance leaves you feeling flat and cold. But luckily, that was the one mistake they avoided making.