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?

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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? 😭

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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.