Jane Eyre (2006) - Charlotte Bronte - Literatur Classics

I love this film, the characters, the way it is presented and the storyline, in short, everything about it.Charlotte Bronte demonstrates the ability to realistically present the heartaches, suffering, hardships, cruelty, passionate love and sheer sorrow which her characters go through.There is happiness in small doses but at the very end one is heartened to know that there is the outcome of a multitude of blessings in spite of everything.The imagination portrayed in the plot is exceptional, knowing that the Bronte family led a simple life in a quiet Yorkshire village. There must have been much broad reading and learning from books and education from tutors to enable such a great talent.It is a film which I will watch time and time again.

Brilliant cast

Having grown up in a non-English speaking country I only recently came across the 2006 Jane Eyre movie - by way of recommendation from Amazon. I was doubtful at first whether I should buy the DVD as four hours seemed quite a lot of time to invest in something I had never even heard of. However, after reading all the glowing reviews on Amazon (US and UK), most of them being 5* reviews, I decided to order it. Am I ever glad I did! I loved every single second of it and really, the chemistry and sexual tension between Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens was absolutely sizzling. Both of them have truly expressive faces and eyes that can convey the most complex feelings with just one look! I felt every emotion they were going through. It was a revelation and a joy to watch - especially since this is so rare in today's world of plastic, expressionless "beauties" on TV or in movies. And of course the entire story of how Jane and Rochester fell in and found the love of their lives is so beautiful it makes me want to watch it again and again (which I do!!). I found them both so perfectly suited for their roles (contrary to some of the weird 1* reviews I read condemning the entire movie simply because Toby and Ruth were no carbon copies of what these reviewers imagined Mr. Rochester and Jane should look like ... mindboggling really!). I have one recommendation for these people and in Jane's words too: "It is the character inside that determines a person, not the outer shell"! Might be worth thinking about!What I don't understand either is the total obsession some of the so called purists have that Toby Stephens was too handsome or too young to be Mr. Rochester. To me he IS Mr. Rochester. I read the book after I saw the movie - I must have read a totally different book than the purists however, because I never saw an ugly man, certainly not by looking at him through Jane's eyes. Need proof? I think it is best to let Jane herself do the talking, so here she is "... And was Mr. Rochester now ugly in my eyes? No reader: gratitude and many associations, .... made his face the object I best liked to see ...." and further "Most true is that "beauty is in the eye of the gazer". My master's colourless, olive face .... firm grim mouth - all energy, decision, will - were not beautiful, according to rule; but they were more than beautiful to me ....". He also had beautiful eyes as Jane mentions at least twice "... in his great, dark eyes, for he had great, dark eyes, and very fine eyes, too ..." and again as she was drawing him while staying with her aunt before she died "Now for the eyes ... I drew them large, I shaped them well: the eyelashes I traced long and sombre, the irids lustrous and large ...". He was only "ugly" when compared to such inbred (the result of generations of cousins marrying cousins) "beauties" as Mr. Mason for example - Jane again "... fine-looking man, at first sight especially. On closer examination, you detected something in his face that displeased; or rather, that failed to please ..." and then she concludes "... no power in that smooth-skinned face of full oval shape, no firmness in that aquiline nose and small cherry mouth; there was no thought on the low even forehead; no command in that blank, brown eye." Who on earth would want a man with a "small cherry mouth" or as Jane says "a sleek gander" if you could have a "fierce falcon"? True, Mr. Rochester didn't seem to be very attractive when they first met but he was in a very bad mood and bitter, as he confesses to Jane after their botched wedding. I have never seen anybody looking good under such circumstances! And as to Toby Stephens being too young ... Well, when Jane met Mr. Rochester after his accident she thought he was approximately 35 years old, and later on she told Mrs. Fairfax "... Mr. Rochester looks as young, and is as young as some men at five-and-twenty." Toby Stephens was able to make him look older and world weary at the beginning of the movie and he seemed to become younger and more playful the more he fell for Jane.I truly believe that Charlotte Bronte's imagination skipped a few generations in the character of Mr. Rochester and she created a thoroughly modern, 21st century man. Of course Edward Rochester was flawed and imperfect (aren't we all?) but at the same time he was owing up to his mistakes, he was all man, considerate, not afraid to show his feelings, treated Jane (a woman!!) as his equal partner, had an athletic body (broad shoulders and narrow hips) and instead of being "ugly" was ruggedly handsome and had a great and sarcastic sense of humor (the best there is!) - In other words, he was the perfect modern man way ahead of his time!

"Jane Eyre" of Charlotte Bronte has been one of my favourite books ever since I was eighteen (quite a long time ago...) so, I didn't think I was going to find any adaptation of this great book that really could satisfy me. It is really difficult when you have a portrayal of a character for many years in your imagination to accept anyone given by others. Imagination is so powerful!That is why I was gladly surprised by this series. It really made me believe that Ruth Wilson and Toby Stevens were Jane and Mr Rochester. I found the performance of both remarkable but I loved particularly this Mr Rochester so rich in shades. Dark, passionate and yet lively and tender as well and above all, full of humour. I think that this joyfulness, this sense of humour, his spontaneous and hearty laugh, his amused eyes and engaging smiles is what I think make fresher the performance of Stevens. I am used to watching passionate and sulky Rochesters frowning almost all the time. Plenty of them. It is necessary to be sulky and gloomy to be passionate? Stevens shows here that it is not so. He is as attractive when he sulks as when he smiles and that it is not easy. There is something very appealing in a man who suffers, especially if he suffers for love. Even the great Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice BBC mini-series lost some of his sex-appeal when he was happy... (Fortunately he became happy just at the end).I also think that this mini-series really captures the gothic atmosphere of the book and reflects very well the oppressive feeling that something dreadful can happen any moment. The spirit of the book is all there. For me this is enough because I don't think really that any film, even an adaptation of a classic book, has to be entirely faithful, word by word to the book. I think that a film is also a creation of somebody else who has the right to leave his own mark as well. After all is no like if you are re-writing the book. You are doing something completely different with different means and in a different time. So, I try to judge just the whole, the final outcome and I like it very much in this case.I loved that red curtain fluttering in the North Tower window which has nothing to do with the book and it is all the same so expressive and fits so well with what is happening. Something red wild which tries to escape ... And of course I didn't mind at all if the erotic scene between Jane and Rochester wasn't in the book. I liked it all the same. These words of Rochester, something like: "...the flesh so soft and yielding and yet the soul like an iron fist..." (Something like that) I found it so beautiful and so much Jane... Is it impossible that such a passionate Jane could be carried away just a little knowing that she was going to leave him? I don't find that so impossible and if it was I choose to believe that it could be possible. More impossible it appears to me Margaret and John in North and South BBC series kissing in a railway station in the 19th century... In fact, my mother wouldn't ever kiss in a railway station and certainly she doesn't belong to the 19th century. All the same this was one of the most beautiful scenes that I have ever seen.Though I must confess that for me, the more erotic scene of the film is when Jane is leaving Mr Rochester's room after saving his life in the fire. He holds her hands and put on his dressing-gown over her shoulders. Both figures in profile, only their dark silhouettes against the light. Jane facing him very closely and he swallows hard to holding the feeling... The repressed passion is so erotic!To finish with just a touch of critical eye, I have to complain:Why, for God' sake must that horrid mad woman speak Spanish?Her name was Bertha Mason (Not Spanish at all) , her brother spoke perfect English without traces of Spanish accent and as far as I know in Jamaica people speak English. So... English-spoken women become bilingual when they are mad?

J'ai bien aimé

Very good. My second favourite version of Jane Eyre.

Great mini series. Much better than the movie version.Potential Australian customers don’t be put off by the warning from Amazon. If you read the back of the DVD label image you will see that it’s suitable for regions 2+4 not just 2 so it works in Australia.Great service by Chalky Oz and their supplier. Delivered by international priority post a month earlier than stated by Amazon when I placed the order.

原作小説の筋を省略せず、４時間の映像ドラマに仕上げた力作です。すごいと思いました。作中人物の言動の現代性に光を当てて大きな物語を重厚に描き出しつつ、衣装や舞台は１９世紀イギリスの雰囲気を見事に伝えています。俳優の演技もすばらしい。ロチェスター氏が美男子ですが「容貌より内面の美が大切」というテーマに免じて許しましょう。原作になじみのない方は、あらすじをインターネット等で見ておいた方がいいのでは。もとが本場イギリスのテレビドラマなので視聴者が筋を知っている前提らしく、話がちょっと飛んだり後戻りしたりする箇所があります。

Sono un'appassionata di Jane Eyre dal giorno in cui realizzai che questa storia, scritta oltre un secolo fa, era più moderna che mai! Jane e' decisamente un'eroina senza tempo in cui molti possono riconoscersi. Io l'ho amata per la sua anima ribelle ed inquieta, la sete di conoscenza, la consapevolezza di essere sola ma di non volersi ne' potersi arrendere all'idea di esserlo. Ho amato la sua fiera indipendenza e la grande capacità di amare ma anche la fame d'amore che guida i suoi passi. Questa trasposizione della BBC e' senz'altro tra le più belle che ho visto e vi potete fidare perché le ho viste praticamente tutte. La storia è quasi del tutto fedele al libro tranne che per qualche scena che, si capisce bene, e' stata aggiunta per meglio rendere il tormento di due anime gemelle che cercano, disperatamente, la loro strada l'una verso l'altro. Interpreti credibilissimi sia quelli principali che quelli di contorno. Ruth Wilson è una splendida Jane e Toby Stephens un Mr Rochester tra i migliori che ho visto sullo schermo, e non sono molti. Difatti io amo solo 3 tra le 18 versioni televisive e cinematografiche: questa, quella del 1983 con Timothy Dalton e Zelah Clarke e quella del 2011 con Michael Fassbender e Mia Wasikoskawa. Insomma bellissima storia e bellissima lettura per la tv con un'ambientazione meravigliosa e una splendida colonna sonora. Il dvd e' composto da due dischi con i quattro episodi più scene tagliate e interviste agli attori ed autori. La lingua è l'inglese come anche i sottotitoli. Arrivato senza problemi con anticipo sulla data attesa. Da possedere se amanti del genere o anche solo se si è degli inguaribili romantici e si sogna la propria anima gemella. Ah, se solo esistesse davvero un Mr Rochester anche per me...