Plain Jane

And all the better for it

By JEFFREY GANTZ | March 16, 2011

4.0 Stars

Then again, this is a two-hour adaptation of a 450-page novel, and if Jane's experiences with Aunt Reed and at Lowood get short shrift (as they do in every non-mini-series version), Fukunaga does more than most to flesh out her days with Rivers and his sisters. He keeps Brontë's theme of religious repression ever present, and he still finds time to watch Jane quietly as she cuts flowers and thinks. It's a big-screen first: a 19th-century Jane Eyre.

JANE EYRE
DIRECTED BY CARY FUKUNAGA | WRITTEN BY MOIRA BUFFINI, BASED ON THE NOVEL BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË | WITH MIA WASIKOWSKA, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, JAMIE BELL, JUDI DENCH, ROMY SETTBON MOORE, IMOGEN POOTS, AND SALLY HAWKINS | BBC FILMS/FOCUS FEATURES | 120 MINUTES
BOSTON COMMON + KENDALL SQUARE + SUBURBS

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