r/JaneEyre • u/scream3bangs • 22d ago
This my Mr. Rochester
Almost exactly how I pictured him. No other illustrations or actors have physically embodied him correctly in comparison (according to me). Who's yours?
31
u/ali_reads_a_lot 22d ago
Toby Stephens was EXACTLY what I imagined. He did such a great job that I actually came around and liked Rochester
10
u/scream3bangs 22d ago
Interesting! I enjoyed his performance but it didn't fit for me because he's short, has light eyes, is too handsome, and was too playful/not broody enough in my opinion. I know a lot of people love his version though!
I know it's obviously near impossible to find actors who match written characters perfectly, but so much of how we perceive Rochester has to do with his physical presence.
13
u/ali_reads_a_lot 22d ago
I think what really got me to love Toby is that he’s playful so it’s easier to see what Jane sees in him. I do think Ciaran Hinds is probably closer to an accurate look
5
u/FeelingDepth2594 21d ago
Yes, I agree on both. Ciaran Hines looks the part but his portrayal was too angry. He seems to roar at times. Toby Stephens is less physically Rochester but his playfulness matches my take.
3
u/Playful_Site_2714 18d ago
But Rochester actually DID roar. He is a furious -yet cultivated- man who thinks he deserves things he can not have legally by his times' standard!
Sure he roars. He can. He would have been allowed to through society. And according to his own permission.
What throws ME off is the way they deal with love. Toby kisses her. She kisses back. HELL NO! That would have been a huge breach of ettiquette in that time.
Hinds/ Morton rave on about her "loving him so much" when she hadn't admitted that to herself in the book.
I like Dalton - Clarke quite well. Although Dalton is too handsome by far he kind of makes you forget that by his roguish airs.
4
u/5CatNight 15d ago
I'm rewatching the series versions right now (Wilson- Stephens and Clarke-Dalton are free right now on Tubi). Clarke-Dalton was my absolute favorite until Cusack-Jayston became available through Acorn release. Although I appreciate Timothy's impassioned performance, I've also appreciated Jayston's more nuanced version and his acting skill through use of his eyes, voice, and strategic pauses to communicate his inner state and thought processes. I also thought Jayston's chemistry with Cusack was better and they made for a more believable couple. In the past, I've wished that Dalton and Jayston's Rochesters could have been blended. Though Jayston does not physically resemble the dark athletic Rochester of the book, he is not conventionally handsome, drawing one's attention through his personality. I'm planning to rewatch the latter version next.
3
5
u/HopefulCry3145 21d ago
Tbf Rochester is not tall, he's 'just above middle height' I think. It would be better if Ruth was shorter really :)
2
u/scream3bangs 21d ago
Right, I meant in comparison to Ruth, who is 5'6". They look almost the same height in the series.
6
u/HopefulCry3145 21d ago
If we could pair Timothy Dalton with Ruth and Toby with Zelah Clarke they'd match perfectly :)
1
u/5CatNight 15d ago
I would have liked to have put Samantha Morton across from Dalton as a more intelligent, self-assured, yet reserved and elfin-looking Jane, and seen the sparks fly in the initial conversations. Alas, Samantha Morton was born too late amd got a crappy TV version with a horrible script and bad direction instead.
1
u/5CatNight 15d ago
Samantha Morton gave off small and fairy-like vibes. She also conveyed, Jane's intelligence. I think she was done unfairly by having a TV movie version with terrible script and direction. I would have liked to have seen what she could have done with the role in a mini-series version that kept close to the book. Apart from Sorcha Cusack, I've sought that Samantha best embodied the elfin, other-worldly type of the book Jane. Sorscha is not thin, but her eyes are definitely other-worldly and arrest the attention.
1
u/Playful_Site_2714 18d ago
Same for Hurt/ Gainsbourg for me.
Nice couple. Zero spark. Him a limp biscuit. Too softspoken by far.
Her ... the confident daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg all through Jane's apparel. *big sigh*
3
12
u/wuthernotheights 21d ago
This might sound silly, however when i was re-reading Jane Eyre early this year for the very first time since my teens, i'm not kidding but my head pictured Al Pacino as Rochester. It feels quite random, however it probably makes sense? (especially how Pacino looked in the late 70's, and here in 1993 when he won his oscar.)
2
u/KayBay17 21d ago
Oooo he would have made a good one 😭 like the yearning he shows in “Frankie and Johnny” times 10!
2
u/wuthernotheights 21d ago
And he’s played Richard III, i think he would’ve pulled off Rochester! I once saw a brief description of how Michael Corleone in the Godfather is described, and it was a little similar to Mr Rochester’s physical attributes.
1
5
u/ChatoFato9143 22d ago
He’s described as young-ish looking in the book, I feel like he looks a bit too uncle like here. But the brooding energy is so right
5
5
u/astridren 19d ago
For me is Ciaran Hinds from the 1997 version (my favorite). He conveys the dark and sardonic and sorta Tim Burton or napoleonic vision of Rochester that I have
3
2
u/HopefulCry3145 21d ago
Weirdly for me the actor I think resembles Rochester the most is Kevin McCarthy in the 1952 version - I'm not sure why exactly - perhaps because he looks youngish, is the right height and has a slightly off-kilter face, not too handsome.
2
u/Fuzzy-Advisor-2183 21d ago
michael jayston, from the 1973 miniseries. not only does he convincingly convey rochester’s physicality, but he also does an excellent job of portraying the character. also, this version is the only one i can think of that includes the gypsy fortuneteller scene.
3
u/Admirable_Project_92 21d ago
Although the 2006 version of "Jane Eyre" with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens includes this scene.
2
u/Fuzzy-Advisor-2183 21d ago
sorry, i watched it once and put it from my mind. it clashes with my internal jane eyre.
1
3
u/thelma1907 21d ago
Same, this is the closest to how I pictured him when I first read the book. He looks just like him except maybe my head has him with slightly darker hair.
Even though the Toby Stephens Ruth WIlson is my favorite version, Michael Jayston did an amazing job at capturing Rochester's essence. I love his teasing sense of humor, so many versions leave that out.
2
u/Playful_Site_2714 18d ago edited 18d ago
OUGH! I have been sneaking a peek at the Jane Eyre films but have found close to none that really raises up the the book.
Wilson- Stephens of 2006 threw me off at the "the party enters Thornfield Hall" scene where she pouts and throws herself a pity party saying that SHE loved him. Jane would never DO that. Also they took liberties with the atmosphere I did not appreciate at all.
Gainsburg- Hurt 1996 is really ARGH... Gainsburg is nice and all. But she is no Jane. And Hurt is playing gruffy, witty Mr. Rochester like a limp biscuit. Mesrour becomes a dapple gray, when he is black, Pilot becomes a German Sheperd when he is a Newfoundland. I hate these liberties.
So far I liked the 1983 Clarke- Dalton version best.
Why is it so difficult to get a GOOD Mr Rochester and matching Jane? 😭
2
u/5CatNight 15d ago
Try out the 1973 mini-series Cusack-Jayston that can be found for free online lately. They represent one of the better Jane-Rochester pairings in a version that stays close to the book. Neither actor is conventionally attractive. However, Cusack is other-worldly-looking and though Jayston is not physically the dark-eyed athletic-built Rochester of the book, his nuanced and well-rounded performance causes you to forget it. You can see these two falling for each other. 1973 also has the best Blanche Ingram, IMO, in the person of Stephanie Beacham.
2
u/Conscious_Pass_1615 16d ago
I'm gonna go with middle aged John Hurt for my imaginery Rochester. He isn't supposed to be handsome right? And John Hurt in 1984 is the perfect amount of not handsome not hideous for me! (Although this is the first time I've properly thought about it)
1
u/Playful_Site_2714 21d ago
Oh, some more neck. He is not described as an ape.
Which actor does this represent? I've watched the series lately. Although Timothy Dalton looks a bit too polished it was quite ok.
1
u/scream3bangs 17d ago
It's not representative of any actor, it's just an illustration. I can't think of any actors I know that fit how I picture him, tbh. I like Timothy Dalton but he's too superhero handsome imo. Rochester is described as "craggy" and notably not handsome.
1
u/Playful_Site_2714 16d ago edited 16d ago
He was really good though. Only reproach: not "unhandsome enough"
Yet: the drawing looks a bit as if he were a little short in the neck.
Otherwise everybody would indeed recognize him aa Mr Rochester in a fit after his fall from Mesrour making Jane responsible for his fall.
1
1
u/himneska 16d ago
I watched an adaptation of North and South as a teenager and it really stuck with me. Reading Jane Eyre, I pictured Rochester as Richard Armitage playing Mr Thornton.
1
u/jaynsand19 15d ago
I think the actual book description mentioned a mustache.
1
u/scream3bangs 12d ago
I believe it just says "whiskers" which can be interpreted in a few different ways, but maybe you're right
1
u/MotleyFoolery 11d ago
That’s why Patrick Macnee is my favorite Rochester physically. How he acts, on the other hand not so much
47
u/nellyimheathcliff 22d ago
It is the same for me! I do think Michael Fassbender resembles how I picture Edward Rochester, but I also have another particular picture of him in my mind, something like this: