A breath of fresh "Eyre" or cinema in decline

Jane Eyre PG 121 minutes 2011

A breath of fresh Eyre or cinema in crisis?

The 18th remake of Charlotte Bronte's great novel says much about cinema today. So too does Sherlock, Tinker Tailor, Planet of the Apes and the incessant flow of rom coms starring Jennifer Anniston. Where oh where are budding authors of tomorrow? Where oh where the new stories? Where oh where is the talent?

It's not that the new remake is bad. In fact it's actually rather good, our eponymous heroine (19 year-old Mia Wasikowska), as compelling a Jane as the definitive Joan Fontaine and beautifully capturing the paradox that is Jane. Externally plain, her clothes without frills, her hair without curls and her features without make-up, she burns brightly within, confident of mind and determined of spirit. Her self-possession in the face of her duplicitous aunt (Sally Hawkins) and vindictive headmaster (Simon McBurney) are as extraordinary as her verbal sparring with Rochester (Michael Fassbender) himself. When he condescendingly seeks out her personal tale of woe - "for all governesses must have one ", - she crushes him without mercy like an ant underfoot.

Fassbender rises to her challenge oozing charisma and exuding masculinity. Undaunted by refusal and undeterred by his tragic past, he slowly starts to court her, simmering and smouldering but unorthodox of approach. She, for her part, rejects him, not trusting her emotions and more comfortable in self restraint. "I have simply no wish to talk nonsense" she snaps when he begins his advances.

While Jamie Bell as her gallant protector, Mr St John Rivers, tries to steal her affection in an assertive, mature and highly polished performance, it is Rochester whom she loves and Rochester whom she shall have and the scene where Rochester begs Jane to stay after their ill-fated wedding is as emotionally charged as any before it.

Director Cary Fukunaga - who made his name with Sin Nombre about Central American immigrants making their way to the US - directs with a maturity beyond his years overseeing an excellent script (Moirai "Tamara Drewe" Buffini) and an equally competent score (Dario Marianelli). But it is the photography that impresses from the desolation of the moors to the isolation of the houses with the unrelenting North Yorkshire weather, their constant companion.

So fresh Eyre or another remake? It's for you to decide. As for me, enough is enough. Enough of the sequels and enough of the remakes. Rather a poor original than an excellent copy. 2/10.

Richard Smith-Morgan
September 2011