MovieChat Forums > Jane Eyre (1997) Discussion > Guess I'm not a purist

Guess I'm not a purist

posted 15 years ago by scarlettbees
2 replies | jump to latest

Although it frustrates me to no end the huge chunks of the novel they leave out of this version, not to mention the watering down of the language, I do believe the movie stands on its own as a very passionate, romantic film, and the best one to date. It is not the definitive version, unfortunately. I believe that one has yet to be made.

But so far, by God, and believe me I've looked, I've been unable to find a version that has moved me as much as this one, even the ones most faithful to the book, such as the '83 Timothy Dalton version, which was not bad at all. The rest of the versions (haven't yet seen the George C. Scott version) bore me to tears, partly because of how Jane's played -- stiff and dull -- but mostly because of the lack of PASSION! I swear I wanna scream at the TV, sometimes, "C'mon! Quit pretending this is a healthy, proper, English relationship! It's an intense, obsessive, May-December, deep, dark, unstable, disturbing but incredibly passionate one!"

Samantha Morton was the PERFECT Jane in age, look, and manner. If she could have only delivered Bronte's beautiful language...but oh, well. Okay, Ciaran Hinds yells too much, but...he really wore that aching love on his sleeve, didn't he? C'mon, admit it!

Say what you will, but this version contains a lot of passion and intensity (although that kiss shoulda been A LOT better). You really do feel the tension (both romantic and sexual) between these two. I'm just gonna come right out and say it: If you can picture the two leads having the best sex in the world, then it's a success. The '96 version of Pride and Prejudice is a case in point.

Am I wrong?

-Jodi

[–] i_luv_neville 9 years ago

You are absolutely correct! This version of Jane Eyre is what lead me to read the book. The reason was the obvious tension and passion this story evokes.

[–] Kallithrix 9 years ago

I liked the passion, and I liked the two leads - they were probably the closest to my idea of Jane and Rochester both physically and characterisation wise. But I did not like the way the screenplay massacred the story and the language at all. Perhaps if I hadn't read Jane Eyre so much (it's one of my favourite books) I could just enjoy this for what it is, but I felt the loss of what was lacking too much, and mourned for how good this could have been given another hour of runtime and a more faithful, intelligent script.

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."