Masterpiece Theatre: Jane Eyre
by Susanna White
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Amy Steel, Anne Reid, Jacqueline Pilton, Ruth Wilson, Toby StephensDirector: Susanna White
Brand: Wgbh Wholesale
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 228 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: WG41619
Studio: PBS
Product features:
- After a wretched childhood, orphaned Jane Eyre yearns for new experiences. She accepts a governess position at Thornfield Hall, where she tutors a lively French girl named Adele. She soon finds herself falling in love with the brooding master of the house - the passionate Mr. Rochester. Jane gradually wins his heart, but they must overcome the dark secrets of the past before they can find happines
Movie Reviews of Masterpiece Theatre: Jane Eyre
Movie Review: The ULTIMATE Alpha-Male Performance!
Summary: 5 Stars
Here in the United States, we have the NFL, Peyton Manning and his brother Eli as definitions of the alpha male species. However, our cousins across the pond in England get to have Edward Rochester and Toby Stephens. Stephens gives the perfect alpha-male performance of Rochester in this movie by the BBC to the point that you cannot imagine EVER anyone else performing this role. And, major newspaper reviewers said the same thing. After my husband saw it, he couldn't ever imagine George C. Scott in the role either (he said, "Ewww, no way!") - that's how much Stephens makes this role his own. It's a difficult thing to usurp performances of the same role by two MAJOR Hollywood actors but Stephens definitely does that in this movie with great ease. Trying to imagine someone else perform the role after Stephens would be like enduring an American Idol contestant trying to perform "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees or Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock." Some performances stand alone throughout time, and Stephens' portrayal of Rochester in this film is definitely one of those performances.
Here's something you probably wouldn't imagine from a movie like this. We live in a very golf and equestrian-oriented community and when Rochester rides in on that gorgeous black horse, dressed in black himself, well, a bunch of nine-year-old boys here just thought he was the consummate picture of cool! If you're now shuddering at the thought of me allowing such young boys to watch this entire movie, well, that's what the fast forward button on the remote is for! Besides, they didn't like any scene unless Rochester was in it and well, they OF COURSE think it's cool to watch Bertha burn the house down and jump off the roof. Gotta be a boy, I guess! But again, that's because of Stephens' ability to captivate an audience and pull them into the production. Experienced theatre actors stand way above our Hollywood actors - these boys just couldn't turn away from this movie once they started watching it. Can you believe this? They want to read the book! Now to me, if I was an actor and could merit that kind of attention for a classi novel from such a young audience, I could retire with great happiness! Can't wait until they have to read this book in high school and get to ruin the ending for the rest of the class!
Keep this in mind too - this movie is now five years old and Amazon still runs out of stock on it, and people are still writing reviews for it! I stumbled upon this movie one night on public television while Christmas shopping AND during a commercial (and it's a RARE thing that I even turn the television on). Being thus distracted and with my back to the television, I hadn't realized the movie had come back on. Before this movie, I had never seen Toby Stephens before in anything, but what made me turn around and watch was his voice. So much for Christmas shopping! Since they delayed showing the second half to "well, the next time Masterpiece Theatre is on, we'll show the rest," I went ahead and ordered it on Amazon since that is where I was anyway! I have since watched the thing so many times to try to get all the little innuendoes that are present. If you watch it only once, you'll miss the whole thing - how Rochester not only falls for Jane, but teaches her what love truly is. He pulls her along through this journey, and she as well, pulls him through his agonizing life to eventually find freedom in God. The stuff that you can easily miss are things like Rochester rolling his eyes when the subject of governesses comes up, knowing that Jane is hearing every word. He goes after her to see her response and then, finding her crying, sets out to get even. He does it again when Lady Ingram demoralizes Jane to scum of the earth practically, and hires the gypsy to tell them things that are not so perfect about themselves (and to see if he's "getting through" to her).
In addition, things like how heavy Rochester walks after he and Jane spend the night trying to save Bertha's brother after she tries to kill him, shoulders down, scuffing his feet along the pavement (something Rochester NEVER does - he walks tall and with strength), he looks as if the world is on his back. Not necessarily true to the book in EVERY aspect, this screenplay aptly portrays Rochester and Jane in a very human manner, but never misses a beat in describing how deeply they are rooted into each other.
For example, another reviewer indicated that there is a love scene in this movie. Again, you HAVE to pay attention to what is going on or you'll miss one of the most important parts of the movie in these so-called "love scenes." They are "intimate scenes," you have to listen to what Rochester is saying to Jane to get the meaning of what is going on. He even says, "...... (I won't repeat what he says there!) you'll haunt me like an iron fist!" Loosely interpreted, Jane isn't one of those gals in Europe, she's Jane. He loves her, and won't take advantage of her or it will haunt him forever. And, he definitely doesn't need anything else to make his life more miserable than it is at the moment. Thus, he learns to honor God and her in the situation, and voila! At the end they get to be married! Amazing how that honoring God thing works out! AND, if you read the end of the book, Rochester tells Jane it's a good thing she wasn't there because he was afraid that he would have taken advantage of her: "He (God) sees not as man sees, but far clearer: judges not as man does but far more wisely. I did wrong: I would have sullied my innocent flower - breathed guilt on its purity: the Omnipotent (God) snatched it from me." This film just shows how Rochester actually felt and actually stopped himself from doing that very thing.
To my fellow purists out there, "adapting" a classic such as Jane Eyre is about as much fun as performing the Schirmer edition of Handel's Messiah instead of the one that Handel actually did himself, but don't pass by this movie. As a writer, sometimes it is pretty nice to see someone take something you've written and provide their own interpretation. Gives you something to think about yourself the next time you pick up a pen. There are quite a few liberties taken in this version, however, I quite like them because they do portray the leads as human whereas, (purists, sorry!) in the portion of the book where Jane has to leave after finding out Rochester is already married, he's quite violent. So much so that he actually threatens her. The screenplay writer, Sandy Welch, turned that scene into the polar opposite - she made it an "intimate scene" which, for someone of Rochester's intelligence, upbringing and general overall social status, is more likely, although NOT the morals of that day. Besides, at this point in the story, Jane has worn him down quite a bit so that he's not quite so surly, especially to her. You'll never hear him put Jane down in this movie - particularly in the beginning when Rochester falls off his horse, Mesrour. In the book, he accuses her of it (when actually, the horse slipped on the ice) in front of Mrs. Fairfax and Adele. He reminds her only when Adele is on her way up the stairs to bed that his foot "hurts like the blazes" in the movie. You won't hear Rochester call her an imp or a fairy like in the book, - just accuses her of being a witch a scant amount of times.
In addition, Ms. Welch did change Mr. Eshton's character quite a bit, and interplayed it with the major theme of the story - how alike Rochester and Jane are and have become. Instead of a politician, she made him a scientist which was very interesting. He was studying twins and when Jane came back from seeing Aunt Reed, he looks at both Jane and Rochester and "gets it" - points out that they shouldn't be quite so doubtful of two people who can read each other's minds, even though they may be separated, miles in between. This screenplay further develops the twin theme that wasn't quite so "there" in the book or in your face. It really has Rochester appearing out of nowhere whenever Jane arrives into a room. I think that this enhancement was quite needed and portrayed excellently in the film.
However, I did have a quibble with what Rochester says to Jane at the end of the movie when he's wanting a wife. It had a tendency to be a bit disrespectful and needed to be encased with more verbage from the book to make it fly. There's just TOO many neat thngs going on at the end of the book to leave it out. Although Rochester doesn't come out and actually ask Jane to marry him again in the movie (he does in the book), the part where he prays and asks God to help him lead a purer life would have definitely added to the end of this movie. Also, the screenwriter has Rochester saying "dark" too much. In light of his situation, "bleak" would have been a better description. Other than that, this screenplay writer -has done the impossible, or so I think, by taking something a century-and-a-half old and coloring the characters so that we can see them and relate to them today. Great writer and an outstanding job!
Again, honestly, if you buy this video for nothing more than to hear Toby Stephens relay Rochester's escapades in France with Celine, you've done exceptionally well. Never in the course of movie watching have I heard such an exceptional story teller! It's kinda funnny really, when they pan back to Ruth Wilson's face - she's just as enthralled with his story-telling as the rest of us! Sorry, my husband is a vocal music professor and I'm in the music biz so we're aurally oriented in this house - can't help noting talent when we see it! Stephens is an easy choice for the role because it's one of the many characteristics of Rochester that Jane needs to get to the place where she gains her strength.
Finally, I sincerely hope that if someone is going to make a miniseries out of Edmund Morris' books on Theodore Roosevelt that Stephens gets the role. Boy, is that an easy casting!
Sorry for the long review but this movie is quite deep. Be SURE you don't miss this one. Don't pass it by thinking it's a stuffy movie that you cannot understand either. When our cousins at the BBC pull together some of England's finest theatre actors, it's DEFINITELY NOT something to be missed. I'm a bit aggravated though at the marketing of this video - the cover states, "Just the right amount of heaving bodices." Really? Why on earth does EVERYTHING have to be cheapened? Especially if what is actually there you'll miss if you sneeze! Masterpiece Theatre needs a new marketing staff. Other than that, grab this DVD and treat yourself to Stephens' rich baritone voice resonating throughout Thornfield Hall. Great, great stuff - wish it was even longer. Highly, highly, recommend!
Summary of Masterpiece Theatre: Jane Eyre
After a wretched childhood, orphaned Jane Eyre yearns for new experiences. She accepts a governess position at Thornfield Hall, where she tutors a lively French girl named Adele. She soon finds herself falling in love with the brooding master of the house - the passionate Mr. Rochester. Jane gradually wins his heart, but they must overcome the dark secrets of the past before they can find happiness. When Jane saves Rochester from an eerie fire, she begins to suspect that there are many mysteries behind the walls of Thornfield Hall. Her fears are confirmed when Rochester's secret past is revealed, destroying her chance for happiness, and forcing Jane to flee Thornfield. Penniless and hungry, she finds shelter and friendship in the shape of a kind clergyman and his family. But she is soon shocked to uncover the deeply hidden truth of her own past. This lavish and sensual new version of Charlotte Bronte?s classic novel is modern and moody, timeless and romantic. Starring Toby Stephens as Mr. Rochester, Ruth Wilson as Jane, and Francesca Annis as Lady Ingram.Similar DVD Movies
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