Awesome Adaptations (30) - Jane Eyre (1973)

Awesome Adaptations is a weekly bookish meme, hosted at Alisa Selene’s books blog, Picturemereading.  Anyone can play along! Each week there is a new category of adaptation to blog about. Any format (television series, film, web series, etc.) is acceptable as long as it is based in some form on a book. If you’re playing along on your own blog, just mention Picturemereading in your post and include the banner above. Let them know which film you’d pick and why it is an awesome adaptation worth watching. Oh, and don’t forget to share the link to your own post in the comments for that week’s challenge so that everyone can read your thoughts!

An Awesome Mini-Series Adaptation

Title: Jane Eyre (1973)

Adapted from: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

So the last time I talked about a Jane Eyre adaptation, it was the 2011 film, which I loved, but this is my favorite version.  Because it is a mini-series it gets to adapt much more of the novel, and it is very faithful to the story and the characters and the spirit of the story.  I first watched this version 8 years ago and it changed many things about how I viewed the original novel and other adaptations.  In regards to the novel, I started hearing the actors voices when I read the book (especially Michael Jayston as Rochester) and the nuance and line readings the actors gave to the script made the novel seem much more realistic when I read it again. The actress who played Blanche Ingram (Stephanie Beacham) comes to mind as I type this.  When Blanche calls the footman, Sam, a blockhead in the novel - it seems a little bit over the top, but Stephanie Beacham sold that one line so well, it now seems like the most normal thing for Blanche to say!

This adaptation is so immersive for me because the acting is just quality.  Set design and directing is much like the set of a play (unfortunately), and although it is nice to see gorgeous cinematography, and to hear a great soundtrack, this adaptation is so powerful to me because the actors make the characters live, and the script is much closer to the novel than any other adaptation.  I mean Charlotte Bronte's words are so beautiful!  And although I do love Sorcha Cusack and Jane, I have to fairly say, that it is Michael Jayston as Rochester that really captured his character the best, and it is this mini-series that made me such a big fan of his work.  I think nuance is the key word for this adaptation - the actors deliver so much more than just their lines, with their body language and that slight, but important emphasis on certain words that makes the emotion behind it so clear.  For an adaptation to take what is on the page, and just realize the heart of what is there without theatrics and unnecessary trappings is refreshing and watching this adaptation is like slipping into the pages of the novel.  It's a completely awesome adaptation.