Comparison: it’s a great tool to use when shopping for breakfast cereal or weighing up mobile phone plans, but is it really valid when it comes to film?
Gauging one movie against another is an imperfect science; judging two hours of on-screen action against a full-length novel is even more fraught ? and particularly so when the inspiration is one of history?s greatest literary works.
With that in mind, the ideal way to approach the latest incarnation of Jane Eyre is with as few preconceptions as possible.
Devotees of Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece will no doubt have their own vision of the key characters and settings, but those who can manage to separate the two very different mediums might be surprised by just how entertaining, challenging and thought-provoking a cinema experience this is in its own right.
That the book and the film share a famous name is perhaps unfortunate for the latter in many ways.
Were it instead dubbed Jane Elliott (as the lead character is at one point), the temptation to compare the two would undoubtedly be lower and movie-goers would be free to form an opinion without necessarily measuring it against Brontë’s words.
In fact, since the first big-screen adaptation was released in 1915, at least 16 cinema derivatives have appeared, including a 1943 zombie horror flick based loosely on Brontë’s story, versions from Hong Kong, Mexico and India and, as recently as in 1996, a Franco Zeffirelli film starring William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of French musician Serge) and Elle Macpherson (as the male lead’s would-be fiancée, Blanche.
This current release is a worthy film with a strong storyline, clever sequencing, handsome (rather than merely decorative) cinematography and excellent acting from a relatively under-rated cast.
Dark and brooding, it has a blue-grey wash across many of the scenes ? entirely in keeping with the melancholy mood of its main characters and the general restraint of the Victorian era.
The story opens with a hysterically sobbing Jane (Australian Mia Wasikowska, best-known for Alice in Wonderland) wandering helplessly across a desolate, windswept grassland, lightning spiking on the horizon and clouds boiling overhead.
As the storm erupts, the heroine is taken in by a young minister and his sisters, introducing herself simply as ‘Jane Elliot’.
What follows is a series of flashbacks that together explain Jane’s dire circumstances: alone on the moor, apparently destitute and reluctant to reveal her identity to her new hosts, clergyman St John Rivers (Jamie Bell) and his sisters.
It emerges that, left parentless as a very young child (played with impressive depth of emotion by Amelia Clarkson), Jane is placed briefly with a cruel and resentful widowed aunt (Sally Hawkins) who soon sends her off to an orphanage.
Raised in the dreary, loveless confines of an institution, she gains a thorough formal schooling but little experience in interacting with adults ? in particular, men.
From there she is turned out as a young woman to support herself.
Her solid education enables Jane to find employment as the governess of Edward Rochester’s (Michael Fassbender) sweet little French ward, Adèle (Romy Settbon Moore); on her arrival, she also bonds with the manor’s housekeeper, Mrs Fairfax (Dame Judi Dench, who shines as always in this relatively minor supporting role).
Part romance, part period drama, this film is at once satisfying and personally confronting as it delves into issues of loyalty, fidelity, honesty, forgiveness and social class.
Technically, the 2011 production is an outstanding film on many levels.
Tight direction by Cary Fukunaga ensures the storyline holds together seamlessly despite the frequent timeshifts, the costumes enhance rather than overwhelm the cast, Moira Buffini?s script is cleverly constructed with due respect to Brontë’s original concept, and the landscapes of Derbyshire and Sheffield (where location filming took place) are appropriately bleak.
The elfin Wasikowska is almost Blanchett-esque in her ability to be breathtakingly beautiful one moment yet utterly ordinary the next, bringing the true ‘plain’ Jane Eyre to life in a way that justifies Rochester’s unconventional attachment to her.
That any film is still showing five weeks after its initial Australian cinema release is in itself testament to its widespread appeal.
To experience Jane Eyre at its most dramatic, make a date to see it while this extended season lasts, it thoroughly deserves a star rating of four whalebone corsets out of five.
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