Jane Eyre is a 2011 romantic and gothic drama film directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and written by Moira Buffini. It is based on Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name and stars Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender.
The film was released on March 11, 2011, in the United States and on September 9, 2011, in Great Britain and Ireland. It received good reviews from critics. The film's costume design, which was led by Michael O'Connor, was nominated for an Academy Award.
Plot
Jane Eyre runs away from Thornfield Hall and finds herself alone on the moors. She collapses at the doorstep of Moor House, the home of St. John Rivers and his sisters, Diana and Mary. They take her in and care for her until she is well.
The story shows Jane’s recovery and her difficult childhood. As an orphan, Jane is treated badly by her cousin John and her aunt, Mrs. Reed. She is sent to Lowood School for Girls, where the strict Mr. Brocklehurst makes the students suffer. Jane becomes friends with Helen Burns, who later dies from a disease.
Eight years later, now 18, Jane leaves Lowood and takes a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall. Mrs. Fairfax, the kind housekeeper, helps Jane care for Adèle Varens, the young French girl living at Thornfield. One day, Jane helps a man who falls off his horse. She later learns the man is Edward Rochester, the owner of Thornfield. He praises Jane’s work with Adèle and notices her honesty and kindness. The two feel a strong connection.
One night, Jane finds Rochester’s room on fire and helps put it out. He tells her not to speak of the event, and they share a quiet but emotional moment. Soon after, Rochester visits Blanche Ingram, a woman Mrs. Fairfax says is his future wife. Blanche and her family arrive at Thornfield for a visit.
Rochester talks to Jane about Blanche, but their conversation is interrupted by Richard Mason, a guest from Jamaica. That night, Mason is hurt and needs help. Jane sees a hidden door in Rochester’s room before Mason is taken away by a doctor. Rochester tells Jane he is troubled by a past mistake but has fallen for someone new. Jane thinks he means Blanche.
Jane learns that her cousin John has died, causing her aunt, Mrs. Reed, to have a stroke. Jane returns to her dying aunt, who gives her a letter from her uncle, John Eyre, asking Jane to live with him in Madeira as his heir. The letter is three years old, and Mrs. Reed admits she once told her brother Jane had died at Lowood. Jane forgives her aunt and returns to Thornfield, writing to her uncle.
When Jane learns Rochester is about to marry Blanche, she tells him she will leave Thornfield and confesses her love for him. Rochester says Jane is his only true love and proposes. She accepts. At their wedding, Mason arrives with a lawyer and reveals Rochester is already married to his sister, Bertha. Rochester admits the truth and shows Jane Bertha, who is locked in a hidden room at Thornfield. Rochester explains he married Bertha for her money, but she became mentally ill and was kept away from an asylum. Bertha caused the strange events at the house. Rochester asks Jane to stay, but she leaves, hurt by his lies.
After recovering at Moor House, St. John gives Jane a teaching job and a small home. One night, Jane thinks someone is knocking at her door, but it is St. John, who tells her her uncle has died and left her £20,000 (equal to £1,200,000 in 2011). Jane offers to share her money with St. John and his sisters, and they live together at Moor House. St. John asks Jane to marry him and go to India as missionaries, but she refuses.
Jane returns to Thornfield and finds the house destroyed by fire. Mrs. Fairfax tells her Bertha started the fire, and Rochester saved everyone but his wife. Jane visits Rochester, who is now blind, and they are reunited.
Production
The film was made by Alison Owen’s company, Ruby Films, with financial help from BBC Films, Focus Features, and Lipsynch Productions. The screenplay by Moira Buffini was listed on the 2008 Brit List, a list created by the film industry to highlight the best unproduced screenplays in British cinema. The story is mostly told through flashbacks. In October 2009, it was announced that Cary Fukunaga would direct the film. Fukunaga was in England promoting another movie when he met with the BBC and learned about their plans for a new version of the story. The filmmakers chose to focus on the spooky and mysterious parts of the classic novel. Fukunaga said, "I have spent a lot of time reading the book again and trying to understand how Charlotte Brontë felt when she wrote it. The spooky atmosphere that runs through the story… there have been about 24 adaptations, but it is rare to see the darker parts of the story. Many versions treat it as just a romantic story set in the past, but I think it is much more than that."
Mia Wasikowska played the main character, Jane Eyre, and Michael Fassbender played Edward Rochester. Fukunaga and the producers wanted an actress close to Jane Eyre’s age in the book, unlike many earlier versions. Fukunaga liked Wasikowska’s "ability to show what she was thinking through her eyes" and her skill at expressing Jane’s inner struggles without seeming over-the-top. He believed her appearance could be adjusted as needed for the role. When choosing Rochester, the director said that while some actors looked more like the character, Fassbender best captured the spirit of the role. Other actors in the film included Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins, Simon McBurney, Imogen Poots, Holliday Grainger, and Tamzin Merchant.
Main filming began on March 22, 2010, and ended in mid-May. Locations included London and areas in Derbyshire and the Derbyshire Dales, such as Chatsworth House, Haddon Hall, the village of Froggatt, and the Fox House pub in Sheffield. Other locations were Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire and Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire. The music was composed by Dario Marianelli, an Academy Award winner. Michael O'Connor, another Academy Award winner, designed the costumes. Although the team originally thought the story was set in the late 1830s, they chose a time about four to five years later, in 1843. Fukunaga said, "The fashion of the 1830s looked too much like wedding cakes." However, they allowed a few characters to wear older styles to show that not everyone updated their clothing.
Fukunaga looked at about 60 homes to find one that could represent Thornfield Hall and chose Haddon Hall because it had not been heavily changed. This same location was also used in the 2006 version of Jane Eyre. The weather was very cold, and Fukunaga admitted that Wasikowska almost got hypothermia during a rain scene on the second day of filming. However, he said he could not imagine filming anywhere else, explaining, "Northern England—Yorkshire and Derbyshire, the moors and dales—look like they came straight out of a Tim Burton horror film. The trees are twisted by the wind, and the moors have a special color. The weather changes constantly, and the house, Haddon Hall, is full of history. The spaces and galleries seem to breathe, and you can feel the history around you." Key scenes were filmed at Broughton Castle.
Release
The film was shown on four screens in the United States on March 11, 2011. It earned $182,885, with an average of $45,721 per theater—the best debut for a specialty film in 2011. By July 14, 2011, its total earnings in North America reached $11,242,660. After the United States, it was released in several countries during the spring and summer of 2011. It was not shown in the United Kingdom and Ireland until September 9, 2011. In its first week in the UK, Jane Eyre reached third place in box office earnings, following The Inbetweeners Movie and Friends with Benefits.
Review website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval score of 85%, based on 170 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 7.3 out of 10. The site’s summary states, "Cary Fukunaga directs a passionate and stylish version of the story, while Mia Wasikowska gives what may be the best performance as the main character." It also received a score of 76 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 35 critics, which means the reviews were mostly positive.
A. O. Scott of The New York Times called the film an "NYT Critics' Pick," writing, "This Jane Eyre, directed with energy by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) from a sharp, concise script by Moira Buffini (Tamara Drewe), is an excellent example of how to adapt a classic literary work into a film. It is neither a modernized version nor a dull attempt to honor classic literature. Mr. Fukunaga’s film tells the old story with lively energy and careful attention to emotional details."
Richard Corliss of Time recognized Mia Wasikowska’s performance as one of the Top 10 Movie Performances of 2011.