Jane Eyre (1983)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There are only 2 things in this version I did not care for and that is the 30 minute length of the episodes and the outdated screen format (I know that couldn't be helped). Everything else I absolutely loved. I felt that Zelah Clark and Timothy Dalton were Jane and Mr. Rochester. Although plain Jane is not ugly and Zelah is the perfect match-up. I will say that to fully realize how well the actors played these character's reading the novel is a must. Thank you for such a wonderful adaptation.

Let me begin with the Gift from God known as Timothy Dalton. His vocal instrument and physique are breathtaking, absolutely mesmerizing. I could listen to him read the phone book. He brings Bronte's script to life as no one else has before or since. The miraculous irony is that although to most modern eyes, the man is almost blindingly handsome, in those days he would have been considered more of a "vulcan", and not so good looking - just as Bronte intended!I've seen the various versions of Jane Eyre- some are better than others but this is the one that will stand up in a hundred years. Zelah Clarke as Jane is also excellent and very believable. My sole quibble is that I wished there had been a wee bit more intimacy at the end, after all we've gone through to bring our leads back together again! Nevertheless, this version wins hands down for several reasons. It is the only one in which we get to see : 1) Mr. Rochester play the gypsy woman as he did in the book; 2) the serious damage done to Mr. Rochester's left hand and eyes after the fire, not just that he's blind; 3) the toll taken on Mr. Rochester from having to live with his "locked secret" for the past 10 years. 4) Jane forced to beg after she leaves Thornfield - which graphically reveals how truly alone and destitute she is at that point. 5) Did I mention Timothy Dalton?

If a more masterful adaptation than this one even existed, you need not look for it; you will find all and more in this near-perfect presentation of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece.Rarely have I seen a film that would urge me to read the novel on which it was based, but I admit to that here. Although I have not read Jane Eyre, I am convinced that I have missed very little in the way of dialogue and plot or of intensity and emotion. I only wish to explore the novel due to the immense curiosity and emotion that this masterpiece has stirred within me.I need not divulge anything in the way of plot here. Let me just say this: if you are perhaps unsure as to whether you should watch or read the beautiful story that is Jane Eyre, I implore you to doubt no more! Every atom of might and magic that has reared Jane Eyre as a popular classic of English literature has successfully been captured in this film.What Brontë did not bring herself, Clarke and Dalton managed to translate in the limelight with stupendous intensity. The movie's success is, no doubt, due in no small part to their acting prowess.Love Jane Eyre or hate her, but appreciate the richness, the vitality, the truth of the story; love the characters; love the actors; all just as you would love what is great in cinema.

Oh my goodness. I'm happy to see how much people loved this production. I also was transported. Won't bother to see the versions I have missed. Have only seen the William Hurt one, which I hated.Will not talk about T.D.'s fabulousness. Agree wholeheartedly. EXCEPT as one or two people noted, in the crying scene. Poor Timothy, I cringed during that scene. That was not crying. He tried. How hard it must be to do that. I wonder, are there any male actors who can actually burst into tears? I can't think of ANY man in any movie who has done it. But after seeing Emma Thompson nearly explode in Sense and Sensibility, now I know what is possible in a crying scene. I wonder if any man could pull that off. BUT he WAS fabulous overall, there is no doubt about that. Not ugly, of course, but he made himself very severe looking, which worked, and also, as others have noted, he brings Rochester's complex character, in all its variety, to life. But I cannot concur with the majority who praise Ms. Clarke unreservedly. Although I liked her very much for most parts of the series, in the love scenes she fell short, for me. In fact I felt quite sad and disappointed that the full, glorious potential of those scenes was dashed at the last moment. They could have been absolute perfection. Mr. Dalton was so fully, breathtakingly living those scenes -- but it seemed that Ms. Clarke, at certain moments, was passive and uninvolved. It did not seem to be a matter of reserve. I wondered if she was afraid to really respond to Dalton. I don't know what the problem was. My specific complaints are these: 1. In the scene where Rochester finally reveals his love and proposes to Jane, I did not see any changes in her expression to show the moment she came to believe that he was not mocking her. Yes, Jane in general has to carefully control her behavior, has to be reserved, but in this scene, where is the joy? Where is the wonder? Where is the light in her eyes as she realizes, yes, he actually loves me? 2. In the scene after the wedding, when Rochester has waited for her outside her door, she did not, I believe, convey the depths of the conflict the REAL Jane Eyre, out there in imaginary-person land, must have been struggling with. It must have been tearing her into pieces. It must have been strong enough to propel her out the door onto the moors with no food or money. I saw that she felt faint and out of breath and overcome with something, but it did not seem like love. It did not seem like an all-consuming communion that sprung from the depths of her soul, that was so strong that she simply could not overcome it as long as he was near. She had to remove herself from his presence to make them both safe (she believed), and her own physical safety meant nothing to her in light of this struggle. I did not see that love and I did not see that torment. Not in her. In Rochester, in Dalton, it was overwhelming. I wished she would give him back as good as he gave.3. When she returns to Rochester, after he is blind, and she touches his face, and kisses him, and says, "does this feel like a mockery? does this feel like a dream?" -- I just did not see the deep passion, relief, exultation, that, for the Love of God, SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE! IF ONLY I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO HAVE DONE IT PROPERLY! Ahem.Yes, she has schooled herself to reserve, but in these moments, would her emotions not have run away with her? Would she not have had to burst out of the walls she so carefully constructed around her? Would she not have come to life? Yes, I say! In all her other scenes, she was just right -- but in these scenes -- her acting, her mien, her behavior was -- yes -- WOODEN!SIX WEEKS LATER:I wrote these comments in the middle of a major Timothy Dalton phase. It's over now. I'm tempted to delete this comment because it's really embarrassing. But I'll keep it for nostalgic value for now. And by the way, sometimes TD stands in one place and his arm hangs awkwardly at his side and he just talks and that is not good acting. Plus he doesn't talk like a real person. He's deCLAIMING all the time. But who notices when you're under the spell. Very strange.