Jane Eyre 1983 (ep 8-11 end)

Throughout this adaptation I have noticed Timothy Dalton's speech more than anything. He rolls his r's in this very regal and commanding way and today I actually laughed out loud when I saw episode 8 and he said:
"You would thrrrrrrrrust on me a wife?"

One thing I can't get over however is how Dalton and Clarke do not have any chemistry together. Actually, I think Clarke has more chemistry with Andrew Bicknell (St. John Rivers) than with Dalton. And as she came to the Moor House in episode 9 and meets him and his sisters, I almost forgot who she was in the story and wanted her to run off with St. John.

first arrival at the Moor House

As for Andrew Bicknell I find him a much better St. John than the one in the 2006 version. He is far more believable in his acting; stern and direct, hard (lol), the way he's supposed to be. And in episode 10 he says himself that he is a cold, hard ambitious man, and yet again I feel like this version is more true to the original.

Andrew Bicknell as St. John Rivers

The only actress I haven't really liked so far is Zelah Clarke, BUT in episode 9 we meet Miss Oliver (the love/desire interest of St John) in one scene, and I didn't like her either! I think she seemed..fake. Yes, totally fake. Her rythm of speech reaaaaallly bothered me. Or should I say rrrrrreally bothered me ^_^

Miss Oliver in a rrrrediculous dress!

One thing I can't understand is that they added a wierd part that's not in the book where after Jane leaves we see Mr. Rochester talking to Mr. Briggs about hiring someone to find Jane. It mainly felt like "the females like Dalton, let's give Dalton some more screen time to satisfy the ladies and keep our ratings up"-kind of moment.

Diana and Mary

In the scene where Jane Eyre comes back to Mr. Rochester at one point he shouts at her, telling her to leave him, but I can't remember him doing that in the book. So it seemed a strange moment to me, Dalton should have played it tender and just been glad she's back, as Fassbender and Stephens did.
On the other hand there is an expression that when I hear it now I ONLY think of Mr. Rochester; "What the deuce" And Dalton actually said this in the last episode!!! I was so happy, because reading the book I just loved it when he said "what the deuce" and it became synonymous with Rochester for me!

Poor Mr. Rochester! Noooo not his handsome face!

And I really liked to see Dalton jealous. When Jane is talking about St John and R. becomes more and more jealous and when he says (the most sensitive part for him) "his appearance...a raw curate half strangled in a white neck cloth, hm?" Trying to find out if his rival is handsome. It's so cute when men are jealous^^

Finally I don't really know how I felt about the ending. When he asks her if she really wants to marry him, it is the most passionless response I have ever seen! Though most things were done good and proper, with the last scene of them in the garden and she says "I have been married now for 10 years and I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth." Even as she says the lines I wished were in the 2011 movie, and it has the ending the 2011 movie should have had, I am completely underwhelmed.

So this version goes to show that even if a TV/movie adaptation is a near perfect rendering of a book, it doesn't necessarily make it perfect for film/TV. Besides, what is film good for if not to move us, stir our emotions? Though the 2011 movie had it's bad ending, it moved me. This whole very detailed adaptation, sadly did not.