There’s something you should know about me. Give me a miniseries adaption of a literary classic with beautiful costumes to watch and I will be a happy woman. I’ve been a bit of a miniseries junkie for as long as I can remember. I first got hooked on Anne of Green Gables and then the Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle Pride and Prejudice. I love seeing my favorite books as films. That is, unless they completely ruin them (Yes, Andrew Davies, I’m referring to your screenplay for the recent adaption of Brideshead that sends me into fits of fury.) Anyhow, I love me a good miniseries. I would wager there’s nary a worthwhile miniseries I haven’t seen. So, I am now passing on my expertise (derived from excessive period film watching/laziness) to you, dear reader.
I’ll be accompanied by Eleanor, my bestie, college/post-college housemate, and fellow lover of a good 8 hour BBC miniseries in the guise of Miniseries Mondays. To introduce you to Ellie, I should briefly explain our friendship. It might help to tell you that when Ellie and I were first acquainted, we went to eat Italian food together and by the time we were halfway done with our baked ziti we were singing Fiddler on the Roof songs. In public. Probably loud. Had we been introduced as young children, we would never have adapted to conversing with people who hadn’t memorized all of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Anyhow, Eleanor and I will occasionally drop in with our two cents on our favorite or most loathed miniseries/period films. We won’t stick completely to miniseries, we’ll throw a few literary film adaptions in for good measure. And, we want to hear your thoughts, too! So, chime in in the combox.
For our inaugural post: Jane Eyre: Which Adaption Is Best? Charlotte Bronte’s best-loved work was one of the first classics I read as a little girl. I loved it and read it again and again. There are many, many adaptions of Jane Eyre, but we’d like to offer your our top three Jane picks: Franco Zeffirelli’s feature film starring William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996), Susanna White’s Masterpiece Theatre miniseries starring Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson (2006), and Cary Fukanaga’s feature film starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender (2011)
Now, I dearly love all three, so it’s hard for me to pick a favorite. Let’s start with some categories.
Janes:
Haley: Charlotte Gainsbourg is a great Jane. She’s plain, thin, and serious, but with a little uncomfortable smile that’s so endearing. They don’t do anything hair/makeup-wise to make her look more attractive as the film progresses, but by the end of the movie, I have always fallen in love with her strange little face. That seems just as it should be.
Ellie: Charlotte Gainsbourg is amazing. She is strange. For reals. If I have any probles with her it is that I don’t find her plain, I find her fascinating. She is so lovely in one of those “real women” kind of ways. If you knew her in real life, she would be the woman you wanted to look like when you grew up.
Haley: I think if I have a critique of Ruth Wilson it’s just that she’s so adorable, maybe TOO adorable to be Jane. And her darling cheeks are a little too plump to be as austere as Jane should be. The part is well-acted, I just can’t get over the cuteness.
Ellie: Agreed. I think Ruth Wilson is stunning. She has one of those faces that could be called classicly beautiful, just with a little bit of a duck mouth. Which, again, I think is amazingly humanizing and keeps her from being a terrible, untrustworthy vixen.
Haley: I really think Mia Wasikowska is the perfect Jane. Plain, little, fierce. I love her.
Ellie: Again, agreed. Totally.
Rochesters:
Haley: William Hurt is a decent Rochester, but I don’t find him dark and unsettling enough to really portray ROCHESTER. His face is too kind.
Ellie: I think I agree here as well. I like the age difference between Hurt and Gainsbourg, and I like how very world weary Hurt appears. He has such a wonderfully craggy face. However, he doesn’t seem truly dark, just kind of morose.
Haley: I love Toby Stephens as Rochester, but I’m not sure if it’s because I’m biased because he’s the son of my beloved Dame Maggie Smith. I mean, can you imagine Maggie Smith being your mother?! I really enjoy the banter between Jane and Rochester in this miniseries.
Ellie: I am going to have to be honest, I think both Toby Stephens and Michael Fassbender are much, much too attractive to be Rochester. That said, Stephens’ Rochester is wonderfully clever, sharp, and bitter. This Rochester seem to believe that all his troubles are earned, and he is therefore beyond hope, which he finds darkly funny. It’s an incredibly attractive trait and you can see how Jane would fall in love with him.
Haley: Michael Fassbender, dark and unsettling, he is indeed. However, if I have a criticism, it would be that he’s a little too “smooth” to be Rochester. Slightly too dashing to play this rough, awkward man.
Ellie: Ugh! Fassbender! I love him. I think he is beautiful and therefore am completely conflicted whether to declare him to be completely unfit to be Rochester or the BEST ROCHESTER OF ALL TIME.
Downfalls:
Haley: Although it probably has the best soundtrack of the bunch (beautiful!), the Gainsbourg/Hurt film takes a few liberties. It really condenses the plot between when Jane leaves Thornfield to when she returns. There’s no moor-wandering, only one Rivers sister, and not much development for St. John’s character. It also leaves out the Rochester-as-a-gypsy scene, which is a bummer.
Ellie: Totally agree. I saw this version before I read the book (I know!), and, though I liked it a lot, after reading the book it seems like almost a waste of a film. The story is so good! Why would you butcher it so? Also it seems to be just gloomy and dark (literally), rather than having beautiful swings in tone like to novel.
Haley: The Wilson/Stephens miniseries stays closer to the novel because it has the time to follow the plot. There is one dreadful “special effects” scene when the tree is struck by lightning that is just embarrassing.
Ellie: If there is a flaw in this version, it is a comparative one. This beautiful production can’t keep up with the others as far as budget and casting. Those poor special effects!
Haley: If I have a critique of the Wasikowka/Fassbender film it’s that there’s too MUCH moor-wandering (I know, I’m so picky). But seriously, there is a lot of moor-wandering.
Ellie: I have no critiques of this film. I love it. I love the hopeless loneliness of the moores. I love the wonderful non-linear story telling, and how well they manage to tell the whole story. Also, when we saw it in the theater, I was TERRIFIED. And I already knew what was going to happen!
The Best Jane Eyre?
Ellie: I think, through this experience, that I have decided that the 2011 adaptation is my favorite, and the most watchable. It is shorter than the 2006 version (though only by an hour), and does such a good job of including almost all of the story. Also, it has such an amazing cast. Judi Dench? Sally Hawkins? Jamie Bell? LOVE IT.
Haley: I have to agree. I love all three, but the 2011 version is my favorite. It’s filmed so beautifully that you almost feel like each frame is a painting, a work of art. Lots of candlelight. It’s just gorgeous.
What’s your favorite Jane Eyre adaption?
I have to disagree. The 2011 version left me with steam coming out of ears! Barely any Bertha, no Grace Poole… And they spent so much time replaying the moor scenes that they could have included more of the important points. I think it was bad editing, I would love to see the director’s cut. I did like Michael Fassbender’s darkness, but Mia W. was just too cute to be Jane. My favorite is 2006! Thanks for this post, JE is my favorite book, I read it every winter!
I agree that there were too many scenes of the moor. And the lack of Grace Poole is a problem as well. I want to watch that 2006 version again, I just loved it! I haven’t read JE in a couple of years so I’m definitely due for a re-read!
I’m so glad you posted this! I JUST finished the book for the first time (I know, I know…blasphemy!) and loved it, and was thinking about watching a filmed version! I also had a question I was going to ask you, though. I’ve noticed in Jane Eyre, as well as Austin’s works, that the books are filled with “We traveled down from —shire” and “On our way to S—“….etc. What is up with those??? Are those originally in the books, or weird edits, or what?
Figured the expert would know 😉
What I understand is that those were choices made by the original editors to make the stories seem more “real”, as though they were protecting identities of real people by omitting the real names of places where events took place.
Good point, Ellie. I’m not positive but I always thought the use of dashes were intended to create an “Anywhere, England” kind of feel to the story. Does anybody know for sure?
This is one of my very favorite novels. I wasn’t that much of a fan of the 1996 version. I couldn’t get over how much of the beautiful story was left out of that film. That left me with the 2006 version which I definitely loved. I only know one thing for certain right now: I NEED to see the 2011 version of this PRONTO.
I hope you love it, Cassidy! It’s just beautiful.
2006. No question. The moment when she returns and he knows it’s her…one of my favorite scenes in all of film.
PS – so looking forward to your Miniseries Mondays!!
That is such a good scene!
The best version of Jane Eyre I have seen was the 1983 miniseries with Zelah Clark and Timothy Dalton in the leads. Dalton is wonderfully dark and brooding and Clark is defiantly wonderful. It also features Judy Cornwall as Mrs Reed. The interiors are typical, but the out door shots are wonderful. Very little is cut from the novel.
Highly recommended!
I think that one might be streaming on Netflix right now, so I need to give it a try! Thanks for the recommendation 🙂
Last year I got to watch the newest Jane Eyre on the plane back from Npl. Felt so lucky to get it as an option on our 12 hr flight!! I think I’ve seen the 1996 waay back, before reading the book, but remembered being pretty haunted by it at the time. Haven’t seen 2006.
love that you are doing miniseries mondays. you are the miniseries queen. are you already watching new Downtons?
Lois! I miss watching miniseries with you. I haven’t seen any of DA season 3. I know it won’t be on PBS until January……ugh! How shall I wait so long!
I adore Jane Eyre, this was in fact the first “classic” that I can remember reading on my own (not for class). It’s still one of my absolute favorites.
I’ve only seen the 2006 and 2011 versions, some of my friends and I have done our own miniseries marathons at various points, part of how I stumbled into the wonder that is Elizabeth Gaskell.
I personally prefer the 2006 version more than 2011, I think it develops the story line better plus Stephens and Wilson are just so adorable together. Admittedly, I am still waiting to see a version that does the gypsy scene well- that is one of my favorite scenes from the book and would love to see a good film adaptation of it.
I love Elizabeth Gaskell! A future miniseries monday topic for sure. I do love Stephens and Wilson together. And yes! Nobody does the gypsy scene right! Why is that?
For some reason I wasn’t as wild about the Masterpiece version for some reason, although I really loved the actors! I did not know that Stephens is Maggie Smith’s son though! That is awesome. And I’m in love with Fassbender and thought that last year’s version was stunning to watch and really made you feel as if you were there.
Agreed. I’m just dying to watch the Fassbender version today. Wish I owned a copy!
Jane Eyre is my favourite Bronte novel. I love It! My favourite adaptation of Jane Eyre is the 2006 adaptation. Love Edward and Jane. ?❤