Stunning trailer, and I have a feeling that this will be the long-awaited definitive version of Jane Eyre. It's directed by Cary Fukunaga, his second feature after the critically acclaimed debut "Sin Nombre" (which just entered my Netflix queue). Observations after the jump...
1:52: I love that wide-shot angle of Jane being restrained. In-tense. 1:44 A hint of the supernatural! Love it. The novel continually references ghosts and goblins, elves and corpses, so I'm glad they included it in the film's tone. 1:40 Sally Hawkins is too gentle-looking for Mrs. Reed but I'm sure she will kick ass. She is ubiquitous nowadays, btw. 1:18 Mr. Rochester!!!! 1:11 His manner is very brusque. Excellent. I never liked Toby Stephen's oily delivery in the 2006 miniseries. :56 Sexual tension, um, yes. Pause to fan myself. :49 Blanche Ingram admittedly does not look like a statuesque goddess. She looks like a brunette Taylor Momsen. :38 Jane gets all feisty at Mr. Rochester. I hope it will be a continuous theme throughout the movie instead of that one obligatory explosion as all past adaptations have seen it. Don't forget her sauciness! :31 Michael Fassbender has a nicer ass than I do and I resent him for it. :21 Jamie Bell!!! :20 More kissing, yay. The novel has always been absolutely sexy despite its demureness. :19 Love, love Mia's gaze flickering upwards. It would have been criminal to under-use those expansive eyes. Also at :19 Bertha, ouch. :16 That shot of the fire is very dream-like... :11 What is with his eyes??
The first moments of the trailer featuring Jane's childhood is really quite intense and creepy-psychological isn't it? It could have been made into a separate movie about children at a mental institution.
The trailer is a bit jarring because it jumps awkwardly between the scary-action scenes ("I know what I saw!" "It must have been half-dream, half-reality") to romantic premise ("Miss Ingram is a great favorite of his!"). Nevertheless, I'm so happy that the desires I expressed in my other Jane Eyre blog post for the adaptation came true. The trailer made it clear that this is first and foremost a portrait of Jane, NOT Mr. Rochester, and promises to amp up the gothic tone/intensity of the novel as well. While reading other blogs' take on the trailer, I saw titles like Bright Star and the 2006 Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice being mentioned, and I'm sure both were influential. Each individual shot is a stunner and will definitely service the story in its own way. The shot of the beetle crawling over the book page was particularly creepy. Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender seem perfect together and she is almost exactly how I pictured Jane.
SO excited.
Stare at the screencaps of these lovely shots over at My New Plaid Pants.
woah, clearly I read this book when I was 15 and still caught up in the romance of it all because this trailer leads me to believe I read something different. It looks like some horror movie, which is actually appropriately Gothic but still shocking to me. I do agree with you that the trailer is rather sensational, I can barely tell there's any romance in it! However Rochester looks broodingly handsome. Rawr haha
ReplyDeletewhoa indeed :) i read it when i was pretty young, but it's grown on me over time. i re-read it about 9 times this summer. and the general concept of jane eyre IS that it's just a love story and the love story is certainly the main premise, but remember that there's also quite a bit of violence, not to mention arson, a stabbing, and suicide.
ReplyDeleteAnd they probably over-emphasized the darker scenes to capitalize on its gothic scenes in the hopes of drawing in bigger crowds. marketing, ah well.