Jane Eyre

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Amberly

Love the Suspiria music in that trailer.

Now, despite being adapted about 200 times and despite my mothers strong affection for anything Brontë, I didn't know too much about the story. So when some tickets fell into my lap (Big thanks!) I jumped at the chance to go to this advanced screening, I really enjoyed it.

I can't speak for other versions but this one is always teetering on the edge of becoming more of a horror thriller but is constantly pulled back into the drama. I was dying for it to up the ante and embrace the darker side but it never quite got there. Still I should probably be grateful that there was any at all in such a period drama.

I didn't much care for Dario Marianelli's score. I really loved his work in Pride and Prejudice but this is a completely different beast. I did like the dark gloominess of the photography. They weren't afraid to make the night scenes look pitch black with only faint candlelight illuminating parts of the frame.

Mia Wasikowska is very cold and reserved as Jane Eyre. But she does a great job of showing us there's something going on underneath the blank exterior.  I like Michael Fassbender a little better as Magneto, but he's great here too.

I think what threw me most was my preconceived notions about what to expect. The ending surprised me. I was a little disappointed it wasn't more tragic. As it is, it's not overly happy either, it's a little unsatisfying but I feel that could well change on repeat viewing.

On the whole, this was far more enjoyable than not. I think, like Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, it keeps all the period detail and language but feels much more like a modern film. That's great for people like me, who can find period drama a little stuffy in film adaptation.