Jane Eyre (1996)

Director:

Franco Zeffirelli

Writers:

Charlotte Brontë (novel)
Hugh Whitemore (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 April 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The passionate tale of forbidden secrets!

Plot:

Jane Eyre is an orphan cast out as a young girl by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and sent to be raised in a harsh charity school for girls...

Plot Keywords:

Aunt | Teacher | Orphan | Love | Governess

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Anna Paquin	...	Young Jane Eyre
Nic Knight	...	John Reed
Nicola Howard	...	Eliza Reed
Sasha Graff	...	Georgiana Reed
Fiona Shaw	...	Mrs. Reed
John Wood	...	Mr. Brocklehurst
Geraldine Chaplin	...	Miss Scatcherd
Amanda Root	...	Miss Temple
Leanne Rowe	...	Helen Burns
Charlotte Gainsbourg	...	Jane Eyre
Richard Warwick	...	John
Judith Parker	...	Leah
Joan Plowright	...	Mrs. Fairfax
Joséphine Serre	...	Adele (as Josephine Serre)
Billie Whitelaw	...	Grace Poole

Also Known As:

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (USA) (complete title)
Jane Eyre (France)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

France | Italy | UK | USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Australia:PG | Germany:6 (bw) | Spain:T | UK:PG | USA:PG | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Brimham Rocks, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

Cineritino S.r.L.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Mrs. Fairfax puts down the photograph of a young Mr. Rochester in his bedroom, the boom pole is reflected in the photograph.

Quotes:

Mr. Rochester: This is my wife. Your sister, Mason. Look at her. She is mad! So was her mother. So was her grandmother. Three generations of violent lunacy. I wasn't told about that, was I, Mason? All I was told about was that my father had made a suitable match, one that would prop up his dwindling fortune and give your family the Rochester name! I did what I was TOLD! And Bertha was kept away from me, until the wedding was cleverly done. Everyone got what they wanted...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Version of Jane Eyre (2011)

This movie lacked the wonderfully romantic repartee between the two main characters which made the original novel so great.

What made the idea of seeing this movie so attractive was the hope that it would live up to Charlotte Bronte's brilliance of the original classic story. I was deeply disappointed to find that this movie, which seemed to be either written or filmed in great haste, had not the qualities that made the original novel so powerful. Much of the witty back and forth between the main characters, Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, seemed to be either missing from the screenplay or left on the cutting room floor. Also missing was Jane Eyre's charismatic sense of self, which enabled her to suffer through her turmoil and triumph over all. The original Jane Eyre was a hero. The woman in this movie did not seem to have much to triumph over, including one of the greatest parts of the story when Jane runs away from Thornfield and Mr. Rochester. Her struggle to find food and shelter, her shame at having to beg for bread, the threat of freezing to death in the cold, all to get away from a man she loved were, in my opinion, poignant parts of the story that were simply left out of this movie. The title character seemed dry and uninspired. The story was unappealing and for those who did not read the book, I cannot imagine that this story would be the least bit interesting. The screenplay and Direction did little if any credit to the classic story.