Jane Eyre (1996)

The Zeffirelli version.

I watched this with Judy in April of 2004.

I have come to see that watching this classic tale is a hobby of mine. Judy loves the story. And there are a lot of versions. This one is classic Franco in its set, costumes, attention to detail. The problem as I see it is that you can always boil what is truly a character piece down to its basic plot and run it that way, but the true lover of Bronte is going to feel ripped off. The key to a good Jane Eyre is capturing the character without going over the top of the details.

If the above is true, then Franco did well. Choosing great actors is at the heart of pulling a classic off, and FZ always seems to put the most attention into such with his films. Having Anna Paquin play the young Jane was an excellent choice, but then he seemed a genius in casting Charlotte Gainsbourg as the adult Jane. She did a great job of becoming Jane. I am going to resist trying to line up the various versions of this story according to their “ranking” but this is a particularly good example of what a film about this story should be like.

Recommendation: absolutely necessary for Jane Eyre lovers, but if you only watch one, this might be the one. The BBC one is awesome, but a lot longer.

~ by u2isgr8 on October 29, 2009.