The baggy breeches are still there – and they do look comfortable, although not entirely flattering. But there he is still, anxiously awaiting Jane’s arrival home… Rochester is perched on a parapet, not waiting at a stile. It’s one of my favorite scenes in the novel. Rochester waiting for Jane’s return from Gateshead after Mrs.
RELATED: Jane Eyre (1996): A Handsome, but Chilly Adaptation of a Brontë Classic Mr. Rochester.” It’s a lovely moment, one of many in this film. He smiles and tells her to call him Edward, and then looks at her, so lovingly, so tenderly, and says, “Mrs. She sees him and refers to him formally and properly as Mr. There is a lovely scene, after the marriage proposal of the evening before, where Jane is elated, but unsure if she just dreamed it all up, if, in the cold light of day, Rochester will change his mind. There is much tenderness to be found there, much vulnerability. Ciarán Hinds’ Rochester has grown on me, very much so. But then, I saw it again and then again, and now my feelings are quite the opposite, to paraphrase Lizzie Bennett.
I did not like, no, I did not like it one bit. That’s the knee-jerk reaction and, admittedly, that was my own first reaction to this film. RELATED: Ten Reasons to Watch the 1983 Jane Eyre Adaptation It’s a bit of an unfortunate ’stache. He’s not mopey and withdrawn, he’s mad and blustering. Gone are the gentle flirtations and playful teasings. He commandeers, sports a bad ’stache, tromps around in baggy breeches and shares one of the most awkward first kisses ever captured on film. This is a brooding, brusque, bitter, bellicose brute of a man, who bellows and barks – that’s a lot of b’s. Vocal loathers of this Jane Eyre adaptation tend to focus on one thing: Ciarán Hinds’ Rochester. There is much to miss, much to hate, much to irritate and, even, much to eventually appreciate and love about this fallible adaptation of Jane Eyre. And relationships that have many hundreds of pages to build up can end up feeling rushed and curt in the visual representation. To condense a masterpiece of the English language into 108 minutes is a redacting feat. Fairfax?!Īt just under two hours, there is much that has been cast off. RELATED: Which Version is Better? Persuasion Film Comparison Gemma Jones (left) as Mrs. John Rivers.Īnd in my head, I make this little connection of how two Captain Wentworths end up in the same film, which is never a bad thing: Ciarán Hinds played Captain Wentworth in Persuasion two years prior in 1995, and Rupert Penry-Jones played the role a decade later in 2007, after he’d gotten a decade-worth of wear on that pretty face of his. A youthful, too-pretty-for-his-breeches Rupert Penry-Jones makes a brief appearance as St. Fairfax and steals every scene she is in. Gemma Jones is a mesmerizing delight as Mrs. Rochester and the young, pre-Oscar nominated Samantha Morton as our beloved Jane. The film stars the very fine Ciarán Hinds as Mr. ITV and A&E’s 1997 made-for-TV film adaptation of Jane Eyre celebrates two decades of dividing viewers this year.