I miss writing papers in English class

Last night I watched a film adaptation of Jane Eyre from the late 90s starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt (sorry W, I like you but...boo). The description said this movie was a "faithful adaptation", but in an attempt to technically hit major plot points in 156 minutes they seemed to forget two little things: "emotion" and "reason".

The thing I love about Jane Eyre as a book is that, as Jane's personal recollection of events, you see that even though she is very good at keeping quiet she notices everything and has very thoughtful, emotional and deep reactions. Excellent example: Jane sits quietly in the parlor while Mr. Rochester's party goes on about her. No one pays attention to her but she notes and appraises each guest and their speeches. You see and understand how she struggles with the unjust and unkind treatment by her aunt, her school; how she learns to move on and forgive; how she comes to love Mr. Rochester and the pains and joys, large and small, that brings; and on and on.

When you can't read those internal thoughts you either have to externalize them as dialogue or show them physically with the motion/facial expression/setting/lighting/music/framing/etc. Somehow this movie skipped that notion, so it ended up being an extremely reserved film with very little dialog in which I gave not much of a damn about anyone. There was more emotion in the first 15 or so minutes showing Jane's childhood than in the rest of the film. By the time she heads to Thornfield she's just a quiet, dull, expressionless thing. Very resilient to be sure, but not showing any of the intelligent and strong yet well-mannered spark that connects her to Mr. Rochester. Even Bertha Mason, the freakin' MAD WOMAN, is basically an unkempt woman in a nightgown standing quietly by the fireplace. "Oh my GOD, she's BAREFOOT! Look out! She'll rend your flesh from your bones!"

And because you don't have the slightest clue as to Jane's feelings and internal reasoning behind her decisions to come or go or do such and such, many plot points seem abrupt and strangely off-handed. Her ability to love and forgive is reduced to one sentence - saying to her aunt, "I'm not vindictive." Her desolate wandering after discovering Rochester's secret is now an odd, forgettable 4 minute sequence and some abrupt scene changes.

I don't think this movie is a good recommendation of the book at all - it's more akin to picking up the Cliffs Notes and reading the first sentence of every other paragraph. If you're going to do an extremely abbreviated version of a story I'd rather you get the feeling behind it. Jane Eyre has heart, this movie had a checklist. If anyone is still tempted to give the movie a try, DON'T. Instead, read the next few sentences in a quiet English monotone with no change in facial expression other than a slight frown now and then. You'll get the gist of the movie but save yourself about 155 minutes:

"My aunt's mean and school sucks but who cares because I'm at Thornfield all of a sudden and there's a guy here who looked at me once and is almost amusing. My aunt's dying and, oh, I'm rich, that's nice, I'll wander back to Thornfield now, but, Rochester, you're getting married? that's sort of uncool, I guess I love you, so now we're sorta engaged. Crazy wife, huh, maybe I'll get in a carriage and go back to that St. John dude I met once for 15 seconds and be ill for no reason. 1 minute long proposal sequence out of nowhere? Sure, but I sorta think I'll go back to Thornfield now...wait...why did I leave in the first place? Meh. It's burned down and you've got a goofy eye now, but whatevs, I'm apparently not surprised. Looks like I'm happy."