Compared to the literature version of Jane Eyre, the film is horrible. The novel follows the life of an orphan named Jane Eyre. Throughout the novel Jane faces many challenges with love, family, and finding herself.
This video of the proposal scene is one of the most important events in the book but the film combines multiple parts of the book to create this scene. The novel and film have the lines: "Do you think because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, i am soulless and heartless? ...I have as much soul as you and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty,... I should have made is as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you" (294). This is the only line which is very close to the scene. The other lines are a mixture of the novel and new script put together.
In the film, the directors nailed Jane's plain look, but the actor who played Edward Rochester was supposed to be ugly and have dark facial features. Mr. Rochester is to be an intimidating man, but Micheal Fassbender, whom portrayed Mr. Rochester, is neither ugly nor contains dark facial features. The only intimidating thing of the film version of Mr. Rochester is his snappy responses, which are not as viscous as they should be. "His broad and jetty eyebrows , his square forehead, made squarer by the horizontal sweep of his black hair...his decisive nose, more remarkable for character than beauty his grim mouth, chin, and jaw" (135).
Other characters who had poor characterization are: Adele, Miss. Temple, St. John Rivers, Diana and Mary Rivers, Helen Burns, and Bessie. Each of these characters have a significant role in Jane's life. In the film, these characters most important traits are overlooked, as is their relationship with Jane. In the film the audience could make the connection that Jane and Helen Burns are friends, but the life lessons Helen teaches Jane are over looked. An example of Helen's wisdom is her words on holding grudges: " Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs" (62). This is a great lesson and explanation to the audience of the film of how Jane was able to overcome the abuse from her cousins.
Though the film is two hours long, the scenes are choppy and quick throughout the whole film. It is a difficult film to keep up with because of it's quick scenes, and the amount of information needed to follow the film. Granted there is a large amount of information to take in, but because of the rush the audience struggles to keep up with the plot, even more so if they have not read the book or have the abrupt scene changes explained to them.
There are major details in the book that are withheld from the movie. For example Jane finds out she does have family living, this is the Rivers family. Though the movie opens up with Jane at their doorstep the film never explains that Jane is actually related to them. This detail was the most exhilarating part of the whole novel! The orphan girl ran away and ended up on her family's doorstep. I found this event more important than Jane's love with Mr. Rochester, but sadly it was overlooked, just like other relationships Jane had with her family. " My uncle John was your uncle John? You, Diana, and Mary are his sister's children, as I am his brother's child?" (447).
