JANE EYRE current film

Robert Stevenson 

USA 1943

Despite a mixed critical reception, there are some great moments in this film. I feel that the second part glosses too quickly over Jane’s stay at Thornfield. However, Orson Welles gives a fine performance of a brooding Mr. Rochester, while Joan Fontaine effuses a quiet beauty in the role of Jane. Note Elizabeth Taylor’s cinema debut as the ill-fated Helen at Lowood. For a more recent rendering of Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece, I would recommend Franco Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre with Charlotte Gainsbourg well cast as the author’s heroine.

Language level:

Most of the men shout rather than speak, which makes comprehension arduous. Serious students who really want to appreciate the film need to consult the screenplay.

Key words and expressions:

I thought school would be a place

where people would love me.

I want people to love me and believe

in me and be kind to me.

I’d let my arm be broken if it would

make anyone love me.

Or let a horse kick me,

or be tossed by a bull.

Don’t say such things.

But I would! I would!

Eat your bread, Jane.