Jane Eyre (2011)

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins, Romy Settbon Moore, Harry Lloyd

Directed by: Cary Fukunaga

Rating:

At first glance, a retelling of Charlotte Brontë's classic 19th century romance Jane Eyre would appear to have little in common with Cary Fukunaga's previous work, the sizzling, brutal Brazilian gang saga Sin Nombre. And yet the two films share common themes: of love in impossible circumstances, a meeting of souls from different worlds, each out of kilter with their environs.

Set in a bleak, windswept Yorkshire more readily associated with Emily Brontë than Charlotte, this Jane Eyre is firmly rooted in the gothic rural North, all lashing rain, louring skies, rolling thunder and endless cups of tea: a volatile environment that simmers with underlying mystery and violence, just as our heroine simmers with repressed passion, hidden beneath a calm façade painstakingly constructed through a dismal childhood.

And ready to unleash her emotions is her employer, Michael Fassbender's moody, Byronic Mr Rochester, devastatingly dark and handsome, mad, bad and deliciously dangerous to know. And yet, while the stage is set for a bodice ripping (veil ripping) gothic melodrama, the most melodramatic moment of all (okay, I'll not include a spoiler, there may still be someone on the planet who doesn't know the story) is passed over remarkably swiftly, leaving me feeling a wee bit denied.

But only a wee bit, for this is nonetheless a glorious version of the well-told tale that for me, watching for the first time as an adult (last time I read the book I was about twenty), breathes new and fascinating life into the story. For example, I've never noticed before how Brontë subverts the stereotypical gender roles: Rochester is capricious, flirty, demanding; Jane forthright, restrained, determined. Finally I understand why the two can only come together once Rochester has learnt what it feels like to lose his independence, and Jane has at last won hers.

The cast of the film are pitch perfect. Thankfully, Mia Wasikowska appears to have learnt to act since Alice in Wonderland, and is just right as the plain little governess with her common tale of woe (although of course she's far from plain, despite sporting the requisite dowdy, looped back Jane Eyre hair) and Jamie Bell (plus fluffy sideburns) holds his own well in the somewhat thankless role of Jane's rescuer, St John Rivers. And then there's Michael Fassbender: he'll do...

Alongside the ever-marvellous Judi Dench as motherly housekeeper Mrs Fairfax we have Sally Hawkins, ditching her usual sweetness to be mean as cat's meat as Jane's selfish Aunt Reed. And then we have the final star of the movie, the brooding pile that is Mr Rochester's home, Thornfield Hall, all desolate battlements, echoing flagstones, wood panelling and weirdly moving tapestries, which, like Jane and Rochester, must suffer before we get our bittersweet happy ending.

Enthralling, moving and at times unexpectedly funny, this is a truly classy movie that really gets to the heart of Charlotte Brontë's gorgeous, steely, romantic, proto-feminist, much-loved book.