SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL: Even with her copper-coloured hair drawn back severely, wearing little or no make-up and shot in an unflattering, colour-desaturated light, Mia Wasikowska could not be described as plain.
Therein lies one of the problems inherent in the latest film iteration of Jane Eyre. As the much-abused heroine of Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel, Wasikowska’s performance is convincing but her natural beauty defies her character’s description of herself as 'poor, obscure, plain and little."
Likewise, while Michael Fassbender has an imposing presence as her tormented employer and putative lover Edward Fairfax Rochester, he’s more handsome and sexier than the way Jane describes the character.
So when Rochester tells Jane in his typically arch manner, 'You are not pretty any more than I am handsome," audiences may well think he’s wrong on both counts.
To be fair, filmmakers have often cast attractive actresses as the heroine. Joan Fontaine, who starred in Robert Stevenson’s 1943 movie, was no plain Jane; nor were Charlotte Gainsbourg, Susannah York and Samantha Morton.
Rochester traditionally has been played by chaps who aren’t conventionally handsome, most notably Orson Welles in 1943, William Hurt, George C. Scott and Ciarán Hinds.
The last remake, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, was released in 1996 so one can understand the intention of the producers and director Cary Joji Fukunaga to introduce the classic story to today’s audiences as well as appealing to Brontë’s fans.
Judging by the film’s modest $US11 million box office in the US, my guess is it will appeal primarily to the latter group but may not win over many non-converts.
The decision by screenwriter Moira Buffini, on much surer ground than her last, laughable effort Tamara Drewe, to depart from the novel’s chronological narrative works well.
The film opens with a distressed Jane fleeing from a house across a stormy, barren landscape (Derbyshire substituting for Yorkshire), shedding the first of many tears.
She’s taken in and nursed back to health by a pious young clergyman, St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell) and his two sisters. Via flashbacks we learn she’s an orphan who endured a painful childhood (played as 10-year-old by Amelia Clarkson), cruelly treated by her loathsome aunt (Sally Hawkins) and cousin, and the sadistic teachers at the Lowood boarding school, where her only friend dies in her arms.
Aged 18, she’s hired as the governess of a French girl (Romy Settbon Moore), the ward of the wealthy Rochester, who lives in the isolated manor Thornfield Hall. She’s taken under the wing of the garrulous housekeeper Mrs Fairfax (Judi Dench, who dominates every scene), to whom she confides, '"I've never seen a city. I've never spoken with men."
Her prospects seem brighter when Rochester shows an interest in her as he sparks to her intelligence, quick wit and willingness to speak her mind. But he’s also intimidating, patronising and subject to severe mood swings due to a dark secret which has blighted his life and threatens their chances of happiness.
Amid the gloom, pain and suffering, there’s a sprinkling of humour in the witty exchanges between Jane and Rochester, and in Mrs Fairfax’s wry observations and reactions.
Wasikowska perfectly registers her character’s underlying courage, stoicism and fortitude and shows an increasing self-confidence and assertiveness. It’s an impressive addition to Mia’s body of work following Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right and Defiance, which has just earned the 21-year-old membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
There’s a palpable chemistry between the pair and it’s another intense performance from the German-born Irish actor Fassbender whose speciality is playing troubled characters as in Inglourious Basterds, Hunger and Fish Tank.
In his second directing effort following Sin Nombre, Fukunaga fully exploits the story’s emotional potential and romantic angst, aided by cinematographer Adriano Goldman and Dario Marianelli’s evocative score, although he’s overly fond of lingering close-ups of Jane moping, frowning or looking melancholy.
But at the risk of being howled down by devotees of the novel (which I’ve not read), I didn’t find the film to be particularly compelling, or plausible.
