Movie Night: Jane Eyre (1983)

As I write this review I am in the middle of watching the movie I review. I speak of Jane Eyre. Not that horrid 2011 version that started in the middle of nowhere and ended much the same. No. I speak of the 1983 version starring Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke. For some reason I know hardly anyone who has seen this film. Long has it tortured me, having Jane Eyre on VHS, for we having no VCR player. But then my cousin, Emily, got the movie for her birthday and I was in ecstasies. (Okay, so I partially was the cause of her getting the movie--I recommended it to my aunt. :D)
Where to start? Where to start? I suppose with a plot synopsis. This will be a difficult movie to review without peppering this post with spoilers, but I will do my best.

Jane Eyre follows the life of the girl by the same name--from her dark, cold childhood at Gateshead Hall and Lowood School, to her coming to Thornfield Hall as a governess, Jane shows considerable pluck, passion, and courage. Thornfield is  a strange house indeed, as Jane soon learns. From the mad sewing-woman: Grace Poole, to Mr. Rochester himself (Master of Thornfield Hall) there are secrets abounding--secrets that threaten to upset Jane's hopes of ever being loved and accepted.Will Jane find happiness in the end, through all the difficulties that are thrown in her way?

There. That is the best I can do at a synopsis, as there are some major events that would be plot-spoilers if I mentioned them. :P

This movie was made in 1983 so I will warn you--the costumes are horrid and the filming horrider. At times it looks like a stage rather than a movie. But the singular thing about Jane Eyre (and the thing that has endeared this version to me more than any other I've seen) is the passionate, riveting acting. Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke are such amazing actors that they could have been standing on a sidewalk and given just as good of a performance. Costumes and setting didn't matter. All you see is them.

--Her--

Zelah Clarke as Jane Eyre is astonishing. (in a good way.) She owns the character in a way that makes you think she really is Jane. There cannot be another Jane. All other attempts have been impostors and that is all. Zelah Clarke gives Jane a certain sweetness that I felt drastically missing in the other version and bits I've seen. Yes, she has had a difficult, stern childhood. Yes,she is wronged. (again and again) But she has not been embittered. Zelah's portrayal of Jane is winsome, grave, and ineffably sweet to counter the necessary strength and passion of her character. She is perfection. (And she has adorable dimples.) But beyond all this, perhaps the best part of this Jane is that she so stinkin' tiny. I'm guessing she is no taller than four and a half feet. So that when we come to Mr. Rochester...

"Are you dumb?...stubborn?...ahh....you are annoyed."

--Him--

I have heard that Timothy Dalton is best known for being James Bond. Excuse me while I die of painful laughter. I know him as Mr. Edward Rochester and only as Mr. Rochester. *Tosses laptop to the side to watch proposal scene and will be back later* Oh my goodness. My heart is melting. Entirely. Gah!
Ahem. Back to business. Timothy Dalton played Mr. Rochester's rugged, passionate, not-entirely-tame personality very well. He has an unearthly look about him anyway that lends itself to his Rochesterian-ess.
Physically, there is this pushmepullyou business going on in my mind that only increases the ideal of Timothy Dalton as Rochester. He is plain and ugly and he is tearingly handsome. He is intimidating and he is gentle. He is kind one moment and practically bites Jane's head off the next. It is this pendulum effect that makes him so fascinating. But one of the curious things about Jane Eyre is that Mr. Rochester is not exactly heroic. At least, not till the end. But we don't speak of that. All you need to know is that Jane--her  virtue and heroism and loyalty--makes for the real "hero" of this story.

--Them--

The emotion, passion, wit, and drama between Jane and Mr. Rochester (especially between this version of the famous couple) never ceases to delight me. And in this version, Jane is so tiny and Mr. Rochester is so strong and tall that it plays up ever more the big heart and virtue that is Jane's. I mean girls--one of Mr. Rochester's hands is nearly enough to cover Jane's entire head. He messes up her hair every time he crushes her in one of his huge, rough hugs. It is hilarious and touching and perfect. You know how there can be...well..(for lack of a better term) chemistry between two actors? It's here. It's here big time. In fact, given that they had 5 and a half hours to play it out, I think that they became Jane and Mr. Rochester.

Cons:

Without giving too much away, there are a couple things I should mention as cautions. One, the little girl Jane comes to Thornfield to educate is never explained. Is she Mr. Rochester's illegitimate daughter? Truth is, he himself doesn't really know. That's thing one.

Thing two is that there is a "fortune-telling" scene. Of course the gypsy turns out to be one of the familiar characters in the movie and a sham-performance, but there is the suggestion that some of the characters would have believed  a "real" fortune-teller.

Thing three is the definite, indisputable fact that this movie is eerie in places. I can't explain why. It's all part of the Unmentionable Secret, but it has to do with a singular, blood-chilling laugh and very mysterious happenings in the house. (It is all natural causes--no ghosts, haints, or chillin' things. ;)

Pros:

You are in tears by the end of a Certain Scene where Jane must make a heart-wrenching decision between purity and virtue and the only love she has ever known. She makes the right choice, and you are reeling by the end. Seriously, it's the most intense scene you will ever watch in a movie. It really makes you think whether you would have the fortitude. I promise you'll be weeping if you have any heart.

Again, I cannot spill the beans all over the carpet, but everything ends just as it ought. If Charlotte Bronte had lived in the world of today's modern story-lines, Jane Eyre would probably have turned out to be just another compromise. But with a turn of Bronte's pen, she put everything right.

The ending is not entirely, perfectly, un-markedly happy, but it ends as it ought. It ends right, and that is all one can wish for. :)

Quotables:

*ahhhh* this movie is so full of brilliant quotes and you know what? I could only find one (an entirely random one, at that) online. Rats in a poke. I suppose you will have to watch it yourself to experience just the best of the best dialog in movie history! (Pssst! The proposal scene is the best *ever*. If you want to watch the film entirely out of order, you can watch the scene here.)