Jane Eyre: The Last Best Adaptations (2006 & 2011) and a Plea for the Future

For the purposes of this article, I won’t be diving into the early film or TV adaptations. (Yes, this omits the much-beloved 1943 classic starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine. Haters gonna hate.) There have been dozens of filmed adaptations made over the last 100 or so years, but the focus of this post is to demonstrate how we haven’t seen a quality feature-length film in 13 years or a first-rate TV movie/miniseries in at least 18 years. Case in point:

Most recent feature-length film adaptations of “Jane Eyre’: 

• 1996: Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt
• 2011: Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender

Most recent miniseries or TV movie adaptations of “Jane Eyre”:

• 1983: Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton (miniseries)
• 1997: Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds (movie)
• 2006: Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens (miniseries)

Most recent stage adaptation of “Jane Eyre”:

• 2015: National Theatre Live (UK); Madeleine Worrall and Felix Hayes

The last best feature-length, widely distributed film adaptation and made-for-TV miniseries, in my humble and honest opinion, are: 

Jane Eyre
2011
PG-13
2 hours
Focus Features
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga
Starring: Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender

Jane Eyre
2006
PG
3 hours and 50 minutes
BBC
Directed by Susanna White
Starring: Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens

 

A young governess falls in love with her brooding and complex master. However, his dark past may destroy their relationship forever. [IMDB]

Of the recent adaptations of Charlotte Bronte’s groundbreaking novel, “Jane Eyre,” I’m partial to the 2011 feature-length film and the 2006 miniseries. Both versions take some liberty with the source material, but this is forgivable given the translation from book-to-screen and there is nothing too flagrant in disregard for Bronte’s vision to be worked up over. So, if you haven’t seen these versions, you can relax and enjoy. Production-wise, each of these adaptations looks perfect–from location choices, set dressing, costume, hair and makeup–it all works. The actors in the lead roles are well cast and extremely adept at portraying these extremely complex characters. 

Of the two versions, the on-screen chemistry between Jane and Rochester is best portrayed by Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens. Theirs is a deeply romantic and tactile representation of our ill-fated couple. I remember watching this miniseries and balking at the overt level of intimacy, finding it (at first) a bit over-the-top. It had been some time since I’d re-read “Jane Eyre,” so I pulled out my Bantam Classics edition and, much to my delight, found an awful lot of kissing for a couple of repressed Georgians. What I enjoy about Wilson’s and Stephens’ chemistry is that we get to see at length how much fire there is between this man and woman–a palpable desire and attraction that breathes some life into their very bleak collective existence. (It is, of course, short-lived. It wouldn’t be a Bronte novel if there wasn’t tremendous suffering to be endured.) The only time we really get that level of physical intimacy between Wasikowska and Fassbender is their all-to-brief tryst after getting caught in the rain immediately following the unexpected proposal. It’s one of few scenes where we get to enjoy their representation of Jane and Rochester as a couple before everything goes tits up, for want of a better phrase. 

Each of the Janes are well cast and handle their responsibility to portray this much-beloved icon of early feminism with aplomb–which is no small feat. Both deliver with the precise amounts of certitude, forthrightness, gumption, self-respect, personal duty, and misery beheld by our cherished heroine. Of the two performances, I admit to preferring Wilson’s just a shade more. Wilson is consistently good in any role and she delivers Jane’s best lines with a passionate yet staid decorum. 

As for the Rochesters, well…honestly, we do have ourselves an embarrassment of riches here. Both Stephens and Fassbender are intense actors who aren’t afraid to take on dark, morally gray characters and play them with the requisite rawness they require. Stephens’ portrayal is a bit softer and more dramatic than Fassbender; his is a Rochester we’re not terribly used to seeing–one who's more comfortable with revealing his emotions. Fassbender’s portrayal leans toward the more intense, aloof, deeply traumatized, and rage-filled Rochester we recognize from the original work. His delivery of “I could bend you with my finger and my thumb. A mere reed you feel in my hands. But whatever I do with this cage, I cannot get at you, and it is your soul that I want” will leave you equal parts disturbed and broken-hearted.

Both of these adaptations are wonderfully and lovingly appointed. I think it’s clear from watching them that the directors felt the weight of their responsibility to produce films of quality, and with great respect for the author’s work. Naturally, much of that credit goes to the screenwriters (Sandy Welch for the 2006 miniseries and Moira Buffini for the 2011 feature-length movie), whose jobs were no small task. No pressure at all to craft a well-organized adaptation of one of the best-known books in English literature and have the resulting iteration be compared against dozens of adaptations that came before without being labeled derivative. Luckily for them, they more than very much pass muster. 

All of this said and done, it’s been over a decade since we’ve seen an adaptation of “Jane Eyre” on the big or small screen. I wholeheartedly and passionately believe it’s time to revisit Bronte country and let a new crop of filmmakers and actors try their luck.

If I had my shot at dream casting, it would look like this: 

Jane Eyre: Emma Watson

Mr. Rochester: Ben Barnes

Mrs. Fairfax: Julie Walters

St. John Rivers: Max Irons

Blanche Ingram: Lily Cole

Bertha Rochester nee Mason: Eva Green

 

Who would you like to see in the next big screen adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”? Tell us in the comments section. 

 

LEND YOUR VOICE: Consider lending your signature to this online petition to cast Ben Barnes in two Brontë classics. 

Petition: Cast Ben Barnes in these Brontë Classics Now!

It’s been a while since we’ve had new adaptations of “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë and “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë. 

I speak for many when I say there is no better actor to portray the male lead in each of these neo-Gothic classics than Ben Barnes (Shadow & Bone, The Punisher, Westworld, The Picture of Dorian Gray, etc.)

One of Barnes’ most recent roles in the Netflix adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow & Bone fantasy series showcases his innate ability to tackle complicated, morally gray characters in a period setting. 

Imagine Barnes delivering memorable and moving lines such as:

“I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you. And if you were to leave I'm afraid that cord of communion would snap. And I have a notion that I'd take to bleeding inwardly. As for you, you'd forget me.” (Mr. Rochester, “Jane Eyre”)

"Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you--haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe--I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” (Heathcliff, “Wuthering Heights”) 

On behalf of the millions of devotees of the Brontë sisters’ works, English literature, cinema, and Barnes’ acting prowess, I appeal to filmmakers to give moviegoers the adaptations they want and deserve to see. 

To sign the petition, please visit: Cast Ben Barnes in these Brontë Classics Now!

Wuthering Heights: The Last Best Adaptation (1992) and a Plea for the Future

For the purposes of this article, and I know I’ll catch some heat on the subject, I won’t be delving into the early film or TV adaptations. (Yes, this omits the famous 1939 Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon classic). There have been dozens of filmed adaptations over the last century, but the crux of this piece is to demonstrate how we haven’t seen a feature-length film in over 30 years or a first-rate TV movie/miniseries in at least 15 years. Case in point: 

The latest feature-length film adaptations are all indies with mostly unknown actors: 

2022 Interwoven Studios

2018 Blue Mill Studios, et al. 

2011 Film4 

The latest TV adaptations (series or movie) are: 

2020: Bookstreamz (streamer miniseries)

2009: Starring Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley (miniseries)

The last best feature-length, widely distributed film adaptation, in my humble and honest opinion, is: 

Wuthering Heights
1992
Rated PG
1 hour 45 minutes.
Paramount Pictures
Starting Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes, Janet McTeer
Directed by Peter Kosminsky

A man becomes obsessed with vengeance when his soul mate marries another man. [IMDB]

This moody, haunting, gritty adaptation gets way more right than it does wrong. For so many reasons, it rises to the top of a very long list for me. (For an amusing personal anecdote, scroll to the postscript.)

Let’s begin with casting. Juliette Binoche as Catherine Linton nee Earnshaw not only looks as one imagines Bronte’s Cathy, but she is a powerhouse of raw emotion and narcissistic disregard. Her pivotal scene (“I am Heathcliff”) opposite Janet McTeer’s Nelly will leave you shaken and weeping. 

Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff Earnshaw is absolutely transcendent. He possesses both the brutality of Heathcliff and the brutalized boy who lives within. He is every bit believable as all Heathcliffs (the misunderstood and abused young man, the forsaken lover, the revengeful if successful businessman, and the haunted old man who can only know happiness in death). 

Have a full box of tissues within arm’s reach for Cathy’s sickbed scene and when Heathcliff visits her coffin (a scene not penned by Brontë but I believe wholeheartedly she would have approved). It’s been over 30 years and I still haven’t recovered from the deep scars those scenes left on my heart. 

This film was shot, rightfully so, in Brontë country: Yorkshire, England (specifically, these locations). Other adaptations have filmed on location here as well, but many of them weren’t able to capture the haunting and desolate bleakness of Emily Brontë’s landscape. This adaptation perfectly represents all the glorious Gothic overtones through its lighting choices, color palette, and shooting angles. Its derelict staging and dilapidated settings; gnarled, leafless, wind-wrecked trees; and rocky, heather-splashed outcroppings make the perfect playground for Cathy and Heathcliff’s woe-begotten tale of dysfunctional love and devotion. 

With all of this said and done, it must be emphasized that it has been 32 very long years since a faithful, artful, and capable adaptation has been produced. I, for one, would love to see a worthy, well-funded version of this classic be stewarded through the green lighting process with careful attention to every facet of production and a strict loyalty to source material.

If I had my shot at dream casting, it would look like this: 

Heathcliff: Ben Barnes

Catherine: Claire Foy 

Nelly: Helen Mirren 

Edgar: Theo James

 

Who would you like to see in the next big screen adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights? Tell us in the comments section. 

LEND YOUR VOICE: Consider lending your signature to this online petition to cast Ben Barnes in two Brontë classics. 

***

P.S. I first read Wuthering Heights on a plane returning from an overseas study program in London at the start of my sophomore year of college. Coincidentally, this happened to be in 1992 (God, I'm old), the very same year the Binoche/Fiennes remake premiered. I remember navigating London streets and the underground, where on almost every occasion I encountered the stunning movie poster. I'm certain that's why I picked up a Wordsworth Classics edition of Emily Bronte's celebrated novel to read on the flight home. (Incidentally, it was the last flight I enjoyed.) I still own that copy, 32 years later, and cherish its well-worn, dog-eared pages scribbled with my study notes from a Gothic Fiction class I took way back when. It's no wonder my partiality to the 1992 film adaptation runs so deep. 

Belle ~ 2013

Caught between two worlds: Examining one woman's unique story.

Belle

2013

PG

104 minutes

Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Tom Felton, Sam Reid

Directed by Amma Assante

An illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral is raised by her aristocratic great-uncle. (IMDb)

Everything about Belle, Amma Assante's romantic and political period piece, is mesmerizing. It must be stated, however, that a tremendous amount of artistic license was taken with respect to the script. It is not historically accurate, except on the vaguest of levels. Nonetheless, this film doesn't lack merit because it alters events to tell a compelling story. 

Belle (Mbatha-Raw) is caught between two very different worlds, as a mixed race woman who is placed under the guardianship of her great uncle, England's Lord Chief Justice/Lord Mansfield (Wilkinson). Belle floats between the strata of the Mansfield household...too noble to mix with the service staff, yet not noble enough to be considered on equal footing with the family whose blood runs through her veins. And, this is Belle's central struggle: Where does she fit in? And, to whom can she possibly relate her unique struggle?

Her father's last will and testament bequeathed Belle the independence of a modest fortune. Despite the looming threat of opportunists, Belle looks obligation and societal tradition in the face to make a brave decision concerning her fate and her heart. Duty, loyalty and love lead her to effect change at a time when England's position regarding slavery was changing. Her partnership with John Davinier (Reid), a fledgling barrister, leads to uncover the truth behind a watershed legal case that will eventually lay the groundwork to abolish slavery. And, in John Davinier she finds her equal...in every sense of the word. 

There are some moments in this film that will stay with you, namely the carriage scene in which Davinier makes an impassioned declaration of love for Belle in the presence of her great uncle; and, the mirror scene when Belle comes to grips with the fact that her sheltered family life didn't prepare her for the cruelty of so-called genteel society. Mbatha-Raw's performance is remarkable. And, Reid is a positively swoon-worthy hero who deserves more roles. 

This movie will easily become one of those classic period pieces ranked right up there with the very best. Putting aside the fact that Belle's real story differs in many ways, it is still a very enjoyable period film.

Poldark ~ Season One ~ 2015

Poldark
Season One
2015
Television: ITV/PBS 
Starring Aidan Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson  

Ross Poldark returns home after American Revolutionary War and rebuilds his life with a new business venture, making new enemies and finding a new love where he least expects it. [IMDb]

It's been 40 years (yes, 40 years) since the last episodic adaptation of Poldark, which would make it high time for a retelling. This sweeping drama, set in the wild coastal region of Cornwall, England, centers on the often unjustly maligned Ross Poldark (played by Aidan Turner, The Hobbit). Poldark returns from the Revolutionary War, scarred but very much alive -- much to the surprise of his rather unfeeling relations. From the series onset, it's clear Ross hasn't returned to a life much worth living. His nearly bankrupt father has died, leaving him the family's decrepit estate (what's left of it anyway). Even if he had the financial prowess to run his father's copper mine, he doesn't have the experience or know-how to pull it off -- and his uncle is too worried Ross will serve as competition to aid him in any meaningful way. And, to add insult to injury, his sweetheart, believing him to be dead, engaged herself to his cousin. Some homecoming.

That's just the first episode of eight, in which we follow the trials (literally) and tribulations (literally) of Ross Poldark. Throughout the series, Ross has more downs than ups -- but surely one of those ups is his most unlikely (and mildly scandalous) pairing with a young local woman whom he rescues from familial abuse and obscurity to become servant in his household. Ross' heart is still very much broken by his first love Elizabeth -- and there are times when he precariously tiptoes on the edge of indiscretion by seeking out her love although she's become his cousin Francis' wife. Even when he becomes involved with Demelza, his servant, there are moments when he can't quite commit to his slapdash marriage out of the memory of what might have been with Elizabeth. That changes, however, much to the relief of Poldark viewers.

Demelza (played by Eleanor Tomlinson) is the definition of goodness -- albeit rough around the edges due to her unfortunate upbringing. With the help of Ross' cousin Verite, Demelza learns the proper etiquette of the age, while still maintaining her unique spark. (And, in turn, Demelza returns the favor by making it possible for Verite to loose the shackles of familial servitude to find true love.) Over time, Ross sees how devoted and genuinely good is the wife he didn't mean to marry, he realizes the luck in his impetuous decision, and is grateful for it. Together, they welcome a daughter -- and all seems as it should be.

But, of course, that is far from the case. With every attempt at making good, some form of mischief or misfortune ensues to make the Poldarks miserable. Be it Ross' failed character testimonial during the trial for poor Jim, who is thrown in prison for poaching. Or, being undermined by his cousin and the instigating moneylenders Warleggan who collaborate to ensure that Ross' family mine Wheal Leisure fails at profiting. And, let's not forget the worst of it all: the payback for Demelza's valiantly nursing her cousins-in-law back to health -- only to become inflicted with their sickness, which leads to the loss of her daughter's life. The season ends with Ross being hauled away by the Queen's Rangers for the charge of pillaging the cargo of the wrecked Warleggan's ship, which washed up on his coastline. It seems the Poldarks will never know peace or happiness.

On the whole, though utterly gut-wrenching, Poldark is a fine period drama that ticks all the boxes. Characters well portrayed by its cast, engrossing plots and subplots, wonderful scenery, excellent set direction, and beautiful costume design. At its finest, Poldark is high-quality drama -- tension-filled scenes, unpredictable outcomes, and lovely romance. At its worst, it can be accused of being mildly soapy -- but that's quickly overcome by its production value on all aforementioned points.

Season Two of Poldark is currently filming and set for a 2016 release.