I just watched the BBC drama version of Jane Eyre, aired in 2006 (at least in the UK. In other countries, it was shown early this year). It was infinitely better and more gratifying than the 1996 production that we were unfortunate enough to watch in school. Lles said, on seeing Mr. Rochester’s picture, that the Mr. Rochester of the 2006 adaptation was nearly as he had imagined him to be.

I enjoyed this more than the other version because Ruth Wilson was able to project Jane’s strength in character and image. She didn’t seem to cower like the Jane of the 1996 film. Toby Stephens was an excellent Mr. Rochester - gruff, selfish, commanding, finding amusement in the discomfort of others. And Adele was lovely and amusing, talking with her French accent and singing a song not appropriate for her age or for polite company. xD Ha! However, Adele - Cosima Littlewood - did not have much feeling in a few scenes but despite the fact that she wasn’t an excellent child actress, she was a good one. =) I was also impressed at the similarity of the child-Jane to the woman-Jane. I’m glad they found two people who had a similarity to the other that you can easily believe that the child-Jane grew up to look like the woman-Jane (hope that wasn’t confusing, LOL).

One of the many differences from the book in this film is that Mr. Rochester did not end up losing a hand and an eye in the end. Which left him looking more pleasant than what he was supposed to end up looking. It also disappointed me that they didn’t have the scene where the child-Jane shouted at Mrs. Reed. There was a part where she answered back, yes, but I’d like to see Mrs. Reed looking livid. An advantage of this film is that it lasted nearly four hours - and with that length of time, it covered most of the important parts of the books. I was also glad to see Jane’s paintings. It didn’t get a very long screen time but it was still interesting and an important part of the novel. =)

It’s obvious that there’s more passion between Mr. Rochester and Jane here. xD Heh, I would’ve told them to, “Get a room,” in that last scene. It wasn’t hard to know where that was going.

I also found an interesting, well-written fan fiction: Atherton Hall: A Sequel to Jane Eyre. It’s faithful to the characters and probably better than most of the fan fics out there that it deserves more reviews than the mere thirty-two. D:

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