Movie Review

'Eye' intelligent reworking of Bronte's classic

Grade:B+

By Nicole Campos
Staff Writer

There is much to be relished in director Franco Zeffirelli's latest literary adaptation, Charlotte Bront‘'s classic romance "Jane Eyre." Lush photography and a wonderful supporting cast boost the film's momentum, despite a lackluster script and Zeffirelli's typical, controversial casting of the leads.
Known primarily for his adaptations of Shakespeare, which he initiated in the late 1960s with The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet, Zeffirelli has his dalliances with the bard's works at just the right time, as Jane Austen leads the pack of late-19th century lady writers experiencing a renaissance of their own on the big screen.
Nevertheless, the darker, moodier atmospheres of the Bront‘ sisters' work is unlike the gentler realm of Austen's sociable heroines. So too, is Jane Eyre a most unusual character; thankfully, Zeffirelli makes the most of her winsome singularity and the remarkable talent of French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg in the role.
The first 40 minutes of the film recount the hardships encountered by young Jane, played to steel-willed perfection by 12-year-old Academy Award winner Anna Paquin. Condemned as "evil" by her icy, priggish aunt (the magnificent Fiona Shaw), the orphaned Jane is sent to eke out a living at the nightmarishly grim Lowood charity school.
Paquin has eased into adolescence since her turn as Holly Hunter's precocious daughter in "The Piano," yet she still possesses the mature vibrancy so evident in that film. It's a joy to watch her command the screen, as Jane suffers and is made stronger by humiliation from her elders and the death of her best friend. Indeed, Paquin ends up stealing the spotlight from such accomplished thespians as Shaw, John Wood, Geraldine Chaplin and "Persuasion"'s Amanda Root, who portrays the kind-hearted school mistress who becomes Jane's confidant and mentor.
Once Jane reaches adulthood and sets to acquiring a "situation" as a teacher, Zeffirelli sets all his gears running, carrying Jane on a visually haunting journey to the sprawling estate of Edward Rochester (William Hurt). As the new governess to Rochester's ward, Adele (Josephine Serre), Jane is hastily welcomed by the Rochester's housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax, played warmly and gracefully by Joan Plowright, perhaps the best cast in the film.
Unfortunately, the casting of Hurt as Rochester is far from perfect, and it is in the relationship between Jane and her employer that Zeffirelli's interpretation begins to falter. Hurt's Rochester is something of a gruff, middle-aged curmudgeon, a questionable romantic who offers only slight indication of his mysterious past and deep-rooted inner torment. Only if one is unfamiliar with Bronte's original novel might it not make a difference.
Hurt never convinces the audience that he has more than one hand on the reins of Rochester's anguish--or his English accent, for that matter. The performance is adequate if not satisfying, but it is also surely destined for the sort of never-ending debate that followed Zeffirelli's casting of Mel Gibson in his 1990 version of Hamlet.
Slowly and uncomfortably introduced to each other's eccentricities, Rochester becomes fascinated with Jane's seriousness, confidence and calm. He seemingly does his best to shake her up, revealing that Adele may be his illegitimate daughter and questioning Jane's feelings for him. All to no avail, of course--Jane is far too contained and concentrated to admit that she is falling in love with him.
Though she too struggles with her accent, Gainsbourg has more than a firm grasp on the sweet, awkward innocent that still lingers inside the wise, worldly young woman. She is physically ideal--plainly pretty, sometimes close to homely, but never unattractive--and channels her delicate voice and frame into, as Rochester declares, the "strange, unearthly thing" that is Jane Eyre.
Grandiose sets and elegant costuming in "Jane Eyre" are of a more straightforward, less eye-boggling quality than Zeffirelli's lavish earlier works, but perhaps with due focus on the tone of the material. Cinematographer David Watkin makes more use of contrast than of vibrant color in the film, a fitting compliment to Jane's sketching instructions to Adele: "Remember, the shadows are as important as the light."
The unnervingly creepy Billie Whitelaw portrays Mrs. Poole, the haggard, oft-drunken maid whose activities Jane begins to suspect early in her stay. Also in support, as Rochester's romantic interest Blanche Ingram, is Elle MacPherson, who sadly lacks the excuse here that she had in 1994's "Sirens"--that her character was a model. The subplots involving these two women send Jane and Rochester spiraling toward the story's devastating climax, which Zeffirelli captures with unrelenting power.
Though the first half of Bronte's novel is logically condensed, Hugh Whitemore and Zeffirelli's script wanes as the ending draws near, in both action and dialogue. Much of the conversation in "Jane Eyre" seems intent on motivating plot rather than emotion, so it is left to the actors to make what they will of it; as with the performances themselves, the results are a mixed bag.
Nevertheless, as a herald of the timelessness of Charlotte Bronte's creation, Zeffirelli's "Jane Eyre" is both faithful to the spirit of its heroine and relevant to the struggle of women to discover themselves and their individuality, today as well as in any age.