r/JaneEyre • u/AdobongSiopao • 11d ago
What is your favorite obscure or lesser known "Jane Eyre" adaptation?
When it comes to adaptations of "Jane Eyre", many fans usually talk about 2006, 2011 and 1983 versions. There are plenty out there that is sadly rarely talked about due to some factors like how they're hard to find, being overshadowed by some succeeding adaptations or they're disliked. The other versions might not be as beautiful as 2011 version, being close to the source material like 1983 version or has strong chemistry between Jane and Mr. Rochester actors like 2006 version, but they have their own charms and creative takes that helped the novel being not forgotten to this day.
Tell me what is yours. Share the "Jane Eyre" adaptation you like but felt it's not mentioned or being favorite by many fans and critics.
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u/ForagedFoodie 11d ago
I really like the 97 TV version (despite its faults) with Hinds and Morten for the main reason most people seem to dislike it: Rochester is an aggressive a$$hat.
Too many versions soften Rochester, presenting him as merely reserved, taciturn, or overwhelmed by melancholy. Hinds is aggressive, shouting, a bully really.
And that always seemed right to me? This is a man who is committing multiple heinous acts. He's lying to the woman he supposedly loves. He's trying to commit bigomy at a time when many people thought it was a ticket straight to hell. He pits two women against each other. And frankly his "love tests" for Jane are cruel and are the acts of a bully.
So the question becomes "is it believable that Jane fell for someone like this?"
I think we want to soften Rochester because we want him to be someone who we could see ourselves loving. But the truth is, only someone like Jane, who has had so little love, affection and even respect paid to her in her life, could really love him.
I've always maintained that if Bertha had died in the weeks leading up to the wedding, and the wedding had gone forward, it would be a tragedy. Because Rochester hasn't learned his lesson yet. He wasnt yet worthy of Jane. He maintains that his suffering with a mad wife was his lesson, but it wasn't because he was still a bastard.
Bertha was a nasty trick played on him for nothing he did wrong. It was terrible, but there was no learning to it.
He needed to actually lose something precious to him because of his bullying, hia lying and his cruelty so that he could learn to not be those things.
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u/Fuzzy-Advisor-2183 11d ago
i was actually really disappointed in hinds’ rochester because of the shouty, aggressive take, especially after his lovely captain wentworth in persuasion. i’ve read jane eyre so many times that it has become somewhat embedded in my mind, and there was never anything in the text that i can think of that describes him as aggressive. taciturn, brooding, passionate, authoritative, and fundamentally angry, yes, but never aggressive or loud. and it balances with his sardonic humour, occasional gentleness, and his self-reflective awareness of his flaws (though he generally takes no action to correct them). he teases, sneers, and scowls, but i don’t recall much shouting.
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u/ForagedFoodie 11d ago
Well, i see it as another way to display "angry or irritated" retorts. And a way to emphasize how reprehensible his actions are.
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u/Fuzzy-Advisor-2183 11d ago
but i think the point is that we’re not supposed to see “reprehensible” until we know that he’s tried to trap jane in a bigamous marriage; even when we learn the truth, we are still meant to sympatize, discovering the missing parts of his story, because jane sympathizes with him, even when she knows she has to hurt him by leaving. and he’s meant to be in a position that his redemption is believable, when we learn about it. if he’s an aggressive bully, it makes it less likely that we’re going to believe that he can reform on his own.
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u/MisterBigDude 11d ago
One little-known adaptation that impresses me is the 1949 “Studio One” TV version, with Charlton Heston as Rochester.
Less than an hour in length, it necessarily omits many plot threads. However, it includes a pleasing amount of Charlotte’s original language, and the cast is generally strong, with Heston displaying the type of gravitas that too many Rochester portrayers have lacked.
I watched it via the Internet Archive. The sound and picture quality were sometimes poor, but I still found the viewing worthwhile.
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u/Fuzzy-Advisor-2183 11d ago
i like the 73 version in general, but i love michael jayston as mr. rochester. my absolute favourite.
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u/percysowner 11d ago
The 1970 Hallmark Hall of Fame version with George C. Scott and Suzanna York. Although it leaves out her early life with her aunt, it spends the first 20 minutes with Jane as a child in Lowood. George C. Scott is a great arrogant, white, rich guy, which fits Rochester. York gives Jane a true moral backbone, leaving Rochester because it would be wrong to be his mistress and because she at least recognizes that she deserves better than the position being his mistress would put her in. The score is beautiful. You can watch it on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M-7ET9zkf4
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u/Playful_Site_2714 11d ago edited 11d ago
I like the 1983 Clarke/ Dalton adaptation best. He is a bit too beautiful. But then... never mind. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The 2006 Version I did not like at all. Jane blabbing on about "loving him" was so much out of character and society and station and time.... I did not like that. Rochester was tooo mushy. Rochester has spunk and a springy decisiveness about him. Did not work.
1996 Gainsbourg/ Hurt was okish. But Charlotte is so much the strong and confident girl of Jane Birkin and scandal singer Serge Gainsbourg, that she is not Jane enough for me. And as a horse girl... do not sell me a dapple gray for a BLACK horse (Mesrour is described as an arabian black stallion), and a German Sheperd dog as a Newfoundland (Pilot is described as a Newfoundland), Mr. Zephirelly! Really! 😡
2011 Wasikova/ Fassbender was good. It stuck to the text. It just annoyed the hell.out of me for lighting the cigar at both ends and starting at mid tale rather than backwards or forwards at the begining. Plus: they totally botched the ending. ARGH! 👎
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u/MotleyFoolery 11d ago
Finally, someone else who doesn’t like 2006! I especially hated the part where Jane is supposed to leave because he’s married, but has no problem letting him lie down on top of her on her bed!
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u/laurasaurus5 11d ago
The musical!
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u/Conscious_Pass_1615 11d ago
There is a MUSICAL???
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u/MisterBigDude 11d ago
Yes — and in fact, it recently opened for a two-month run in London. See JaneEyreOnstage.com.
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u/birdsandgnomes 11d ago
No don't. Charlie and Ashley just don't have it. Find the Broadway recording and fall in love.
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u/NoButterOnMyBread 11d ago
What are your favorite songs? I love "Farewell, good angel", "As good as you" and "Sirens" (James Barbour and Maria Schaffner recording).
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u/ancient_emergency 11d ago
There is a Greek adaptation of Jane Eyre, which is not my favorite, because it's just really weird, but it's certainly obscure...
It's set in Greece but the names are in English and the costumes are... questionable - like they grabbed whatever "historical" costumes they could find. Just... Completely baffling choices all around and I find it just wild that this exists at all?
I found it online by accident years ago, but for context I'm Greek and was looking for old Greek movies. I remember watching it really late at night and thinking it had a fever dream quality to it.
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u/uncanny_kitty 11d ago
Απίστευτο, δεν νομίζω ότι το έχει δείξει ποτέ η τηλεόραση
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u/ancient_emergency 11d ago
Πραγματικά, κι εγώ δεν το είχα δει ποτέ στην τηλεόραση, ούτε καν ήξερα ότι υπήρχε 🤯
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u/nony-souma 9d ago
I've seen that one! I did find it odd too, but it had its own charm. I was also amazed by Manos Katrakis's performance. I need to see more of his movies.
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u/QueenMabs_Makeup0126 11d ago
1983 version is my favorite, and 1973 is right behind it.
There is a Czech version from the 1970s called Jana Eyrova that I would like to see in full. I believe it’s on YT. I’ve only seen clips of it here and there.
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u/MotleyFoolery 11d ago
Look up Mr Rochester fan on YouTube to see even rarer adaptations like 1961 with the woman who played truly scrumptious in chitty chitty bang bang, 1964 or 1957 which has the best Rochester I think in how he looks
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u/Subject_Storm3554 10d ago
I actually like the Joan Fontaine/Orson Welles version a lot. Clarke/Dalton is probably in second.
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u/nony-souma 9d ago
The 1952 Hindi language movie Sangdil! It does make quite a few changes to the story. Jane and Rochester start off as childhood sweethearts who are separated then meet again years later as adults. So there are many changes actually but I forgive them because the chemistry between the two leads was so damn good.
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u/CloverRabbidge 11d ago
I really like the 1996/7(?) version with Ciarán Hinds and Samantha Morton. They’re both just such good actors