Jane Eyre 1996

Okay so this has totally turned into a Jane Eyre blog by now... :P

Jane Eyre poster

They totally removed William Hurt’s awesome sideburns and made him at least 15 years younger on the poster! (Probably to attract a younger superficial female audience)

As you can probably deduce from the title I've watched the Jane Eyre movie from 1996 with William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg when I had aboslutely nothing better to do yesterday. 

As always there is some positive and negative points (though in this version, mostly negative).

Let's start with the positive:

+ It was beautifully scored

+ I looooove William Hurt's voice

+ I was super impressed with Anna Paquin's British accent! She was a good child actress^^

Anna Paquin as young Jane Eyre

Then there is the negative, and I can't stress the first point well enough:

- It was grossly shortened, especially the part where Jane runs away and is taken care of at the Moor House. And they totally erased one of St John’s sisters. Plus we didn’t see her suffer famine and heartbreak wich I think gives feeling to a movie. I don't know it just felt like she left Thornfield and she wasn't heartbroken, starved and at the point of death at all. She was totally fine, wich she should not be. 

- Hurt was a much less playful and much more severe Rochester. (And it is Rochester's charm and playfulness that I feel in the book that keeps me interested and draws me in.)

- Gainsbourg didn’t seem in love with him and was a little too serious.

- No gypsy scene wich could have added to Mr. R’s playfulness and we could see his true character; his desire to know what she feels about him.

Joan Plowright as Mrs. Fairfax

It was a shame, because there was a whole cast full of brilliant actors (such as Joan Plowright) but they couldn't even show their full potential because the film was so extremely shortened. 

It was a little less boring than the 1983 version, but without Dalton's charm and accuracy of dialouge and events.