Jane Eyre is a 1996 American, British, French and Italian romantic epic and a dramatic feature film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre. This Hollywood version, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, is similar to the original novel, although it compresses and eliminates most of the plot in the last quarter of the book to condense it into a 2-hour movie.
Plot
is a plain, impoverished young woman hired by Mr. Rochester through Mrs. Fairfax to work as a governess for Adèle. Despite her mild unprepossessing nun-like manner, Jane has strong hidden passions and shows her strong character by expressing her opinions and showing resolve in times of trouble. Rochester is a Byronic anti-hero, tortured and tormented by family troubles, past injustices and secrets. Rochester and Jane develop a mutual affinity. They fall in love and the marriage date is set. What Jane does not realize is that she must share the estate and, ultimately, Mr. Rochester with his wife, Bertha, who is mentally ill and is confined in an upstairs attic with a nurse, Grace Poole. The marriage is stopped by Bertha's brother Richard Mason and lawyer Briggs. Jane flees her world in ruins. She recovers in the parsonage, her aunt's original home, and discovers she is now wealthy through inheriting her long-lost uncle's fortune in Madeira. She receives a proposal of marriage from Parson St. John Rivers but her heart and soul is with Rochester. Jane goes back to find Rochester's house, Thornfield Hall, burnt down and Rochester crippled and blinded by a fire set by Bertha, who perished. However, Jane's love for Rochester is undiminished; she nurses him back to health, he recovers his eyesight and they marry.
Cast
Production
The location for Thornfield Hall is Haddon Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire, UK Since Zeffirelli's use of Haddon Hall, subsequent versions of Jane Eyre have used it and it is now apparently synonymous with Thornfield Hall. Prior to Zeffirelli's location use, Haddon Hall had been once used as the castle for The Princess Bride.
Reception
The film holds a positive rating of 74% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 27 reviews. The New York Times called Hurt "embarrassingly miscast as a Rochester more nearly a mild eccentric than a brooding, Byronic type", but conceded that the film "has its moments".
