Jane Eyre (Sunday, March 13, 2011) (14)

Do we really need another adaptation of a Bronte/Austin novel? Ugh, I dunno. I guess if it had a new and interesting view of the story or was somehow so wonderfully cinematic, I would be interested in seeing it... maybe. In this new version of Jane Eyre, directed by Cary Fukunaga (who previously made Sin Nombre, which I really liked) and adapted by Moira Buffini, Jane is a bit different from what we've seen her as before. Here she's a head-strong protofeminist who suffers nonstop and seems to deal every day with the enormous sadness of her life. It's not much an inspirational tale, really, and is somewhat painful to sit through.

The story begins as Jane (Mia Wasikowska) is escaping Thornfield and arrives at the door of Marsh End where she meets St. John (Jamie Bell). We then see a flashback to her whole life. We see her being loked in the Red Room (which happens with almost no comment or importance), we see her at school, we see her getting a governess job at Thornfield and meeting Rochester (Michael Fassbender). Through all of this, she's miserable. At some point it seems she falls for Rochester and he does for her. Then they try to get married and it becomes clear that he's already married to Bertha. Then she ends up at Marsh End.

Beginning in the opening credits and continuing through the film, Fukunaga uses candle light as a visual motif. Almost all interiors are dark, except for the flickering of the candles. It seems a bit overdone, honestly, and the chiaroscuro effects on the faces of the characters feels like thin style covering for a thin concept. Is the idea that there are lots of hidden secrets and we can only see a bit of what is happening? Blech. That's annoying.

Another trick that Fukunaga uses - or overuses, really - is that whenever we see the outside world, particularly the moors, the weather relates directly and bluntly to the emotional torment or exaltation of Jane at that moment. If the happiness when you find out you can marry the man you love doesn't mean a lot to you, Jane walks through a beautiful Spring day in the garden to underline it. Just in case you didn't understand that finding out the man you love already has a wife hurts a lot, Jane runs outside and into blowing, icy, gray gale. It's so annoying and feels like paint-by-numbers more than real direction.

But what's more annoying is that Mia Wasikowska has almost no emotion ever and is always scowling and looking like she's in pain. I don't like this really, because it suggests that she knows that there's a better life out there for her. Jane Eyre doesn't know this. She's always lived in a world of relative misery and pain and would have no reason to think that her life could be anything but that.

Suggesting she has some choice in the matter and is upset with her life makes her some sort of contemporary 2nd Wave feminist (not that there's anything wrong with that) who wants to self-determine her path, marry the man she wants to marry and live happily ever after. I just don't know where she would get these ideas. As a woman with no social status in this time and place, she would be the bottom rung of the ladder. There's a reason there aren't great books about maids and servants from this era - they were considered sub-human (well, basically) and nobody cared what they felt. Jane is a governess and wouldn't have the ability to know her life sucked. She certainly wouldn't have the place to speak these thoughts.

Mostly this feels like a bad soap opera - and a very slow one at that. I am very happy with the performances of Fassbender and Bell (I always think are both great), but I was not moved by Wasikowska. She projects her emotions too directly (happy, sad, miserable, scared) and doesn't allow any room for any mystery or nuance. The script and direction are not nuanced in the slightest. Here is where Jane is happy, here is where she is sad, here is where she is angry. It's all a bit too facile and banal.

Stars: 2 of 4