Hatchet reporter Kelsey Grashoff shares her latest flick.

Jane Eyre (2011)

After months of waiting, fans of the Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” are excited about the release of the latest film adaptation of the story. Directed by Cary Fukunaga, the film promised to give audiences a lush, period film, something along the lines of Joe Wright’s “Pride and Prejudice” (2005). The story of a poor English governess who falls in love with her often cruel and brooding employer is one that is well-known, but each endeavor to adapt it to the big screen plays up a different aspect of the story. This incarnation focuses on the dark and Gothic elements of the book.

The two hour long film doesn’t fail to disappoint with costumes, landscapes, or sountrack, with Dario Marianelli composing a beautiful instrumental score. Fukunaga’s latest film endeavor certainly does leaves things to be desired. The action has an anachronistic style, having most of the main action of the film being a flashback. This causes a bit of confusion for the audience, especially for those who haven’t read the novel. Key scenes are cut for the sake of time, but it robs the viewer of an emotional attachment to any of the characters and also forces some key dialogue and humor from the novel to be cut.

Fassbender is a fantastic Edward Rochester, ever the Byronic hero. He portrays both the dark and kind sides of his character, and the raw emotion is effortlessly shown.

Wasikowska, however, seems to be struggling to muster up any emotion at all. Her acting is almost wooden at times. During the famous “Do you think I am an automaton?” speech, I was thinking to myself, yes, I do. Overall, however, her portrayal of the famous Jane was fairly believable, and Wasikowska and Fassbender often had fantastic on-screen chemistry.

Overall, the film was decent, but if you haven’t read the book or don’t know the basic story, it might be difficult to understand what’s going on based on the flashback aspect of the action. Die-hard fans of the book might be irritated at the cutting of certain key scenes, but the landscape, costumes, and music might just make up for some of that. I would recommend fans of period films to give this one a shot. (PG-13)

Genre: Romantic Drama, Period Film
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Holiday Grainger
Release Date: March 11, 2011