Jane Eyre

Bea says: I saw this without Cecil - although he was there for the opening credits, he could not tolerate the terrible seats we had at the usually very good E St cinema on Sunday afternoon - so close to the screen that we had to recline uncomfortably to see it. It was too much for Cecil, and he went home.

I stayed it out with a friend who had joined us, and after the first 10 minutes found myself swept up enough to mostly forget about the crick in my neck. The story is relatively faithfully kept to (although it has been a while since I've read the Bronte novel), and opens with Jane's flight across the Yorkshire moors following her discovery of the madwoman in the attic at Thornfield Hall. The full tale is then told, beginning with Jane's banishment as an orphaned child to Lurwood School, her placement as a governess to Adele, Mr Rochester's ward, at Thornfield, and whilst there the growing friendship and romance between Jane and Rochester.

The film reaches its crescendo in the attempted marriage of the unwitting Jane, and Mr Rochester, which is stopped and the truth revealed - that Rochester is already married.

Following her flight, Jane lives a relatively quiet life as a country schoolteacher (if inheriting a fortune and being proposed to by a missionary about to leave for India could be described as quiet), until she hears Rochester calling to her across the moors - and returns to find Thornfield burnt to the ground, the mad wife dead, and Rochester blind. Aaah - a happy ending, Bronte-style!

The film is a nicely put together costume drama, although fans of restrained Austen novels made into films might find the Brontes a bit lurid and melodramatic - personally I love all that high drama and dashing about the moors in the rain. The leads turn in good performances, with Judy Dench not quite stealing the show as Mrs Fairfax, the housekeeper. My friend commented that the production had perhaps had the Hollywood treatment (neither of us remembered Rochester suggesting to Jane that they live in sin in the book, but perhaps he does...)

Very much recommended for a dreary Sunday afternoon...
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Cecil says: No way a guy of 6'3" can be expected to stay in a cinema on the front row with the screen virtually touching his nose, and with no chance of leaning back on the seat back to look up to the screen when the seat back goes up to his shoulder blade. Sorry, but this will have to wait for another dreary Sunday afternoon when Bea has better things to do.

Unless I take her for a run across the Yorkshire moors first...