"Jane Eyre" Movie Preview

"Jane Eyre", the upcoming movie based upon the novel by Charlotte Bronte, has received widespread attention. Based upon solely the trailer for the film, it is difficult to tell whether it looks like riveting, dramatic oscar-bait or like an overly serious attempt at drama. After watching the electronic press kit for the film (courtesy of Focus Features), it seems most like the latter option.

While watching a few short scenes from a movie cannot accurately tell whether of not the entire film will be good, Focus Features' selected scenes from Jane Eyre are nothing special. The dialogue is crafted very intellectually in the 1800s time period fashion, yet it is done so in a way that causes the scenes to lose their emotion. The character Jane Eyre, played by actress Mia Wasikowska, acts well for the period, but she is not able to bring forth enough feeling from the dialogue. Everything she says seems like an attempt at heart-wrenching drama instead of naturally having any sort of intensity. From what Focus Features has shown us, the entire film is just a giant string of dialogue from Mia, all crafted in this disappointing fashion. Films based on the era that Jane Eyre has been set in often have the problem of being too strict and serious with their characters and they try too hard to be dramatic. Jane Eyre appears to be no exception.

Jane Eyre based off the press kit deserves a 3/5. It seems just like just an average movie trying to fit into the shoes of an oscar-worthy epic.