Product Details

• Actors: William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anna Paquin, Nic Knight, Nicola Howard
• Directors: Franco Zeffirelli
• Writers: Franco Zeffirelli, Charlotte Brontë, Hugh Whitemore
• Producers: Bob Weinstein, Dyson Lovell, Giovannella Zannoni, Guy East
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Miramax
• DVD Release Date: February 4, 2003
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (165 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007K02F
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,619 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #18 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > European Cinema > France > Drama
  #23 in	Movies & TV > Drama > Love & Romance > Star-Crossed Lovers
  #32 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > European Cinema > Italy

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet) and screenwriter Hugh Whitemore strip away a bit of the familiar romanticism of Charlotte Brontë's novel and come up with a more plain but somehow quite interesting film adaptation. Charlotte Gainsbourg (The Cement Garden) makes for an oddly appealing but deliberately unlovely version of Jane (previous actresses have included Susannah York and Joan Fontaine), and William Hurt is excellent as an equally revised Rochester, brusque and self-involved but not the totem of torment and charisma we've seen before. The story clings to the usual chapters in the book, but with Zeffirelli shaping the principal characters to reflect their cautious perceptions of one another--rather than to a Hollywood notion of grand passion--the film has a wonderful accessibility. Great support from Joan Plowright, Billie Whitelaw, Anna Paquin, and the rest of the cast. --Tom Keogh

Product Description
Academy Award(R)-winner William Hurt (1985 Best Actor -- KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN; SMOKE) leads an all-star cast in this story of passion and intrigue! Jane Eyre (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is a young woman whose will to overcome a life of hardship leads her into a passionate romance with a handsome -- and mysterious -- gentleman (Hurt). Swept up in the possibility of a happy new life, Jane is shattered when terrible, untold secrets from his past are revealed, threatening to tear her and her lover apart forever! Also featuring the talents of Anna Paquin (THE PIANO), Joan Plowright (ENCHANTED APRIL), and sexy Elle MacPherson (SIRENS), this enduring tale has captivated moviegoers everywhere, just as Charlotte Bronte's classic best-seller has entertained for generations!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Well Done, October 20, 2001

By	K. Dickson (New England, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Jane Eyre (1996) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The sets and costumes are really really great, but the highlight of this film is the truly wonderful acting on the part of William Hurt. He plays the elusive, eccentric country noble Mr. Rochester exactly the way he should be played. He's quietly passionate, sexy, and smoldering, while still exhibiting signs of being a real stuffy gentleman. Inwardly tormented, Rochester is perfect.

Charlotte Gainsbourg takes on the challenging role of the title character, petit and plain Jane Eyre. Gainsbourg's unearthly prettiness adds immeasurably to her character, but she represses some of Jane Eyre's passion that we find in the book. The chemistry between Gainsbourg and Hurt is tense and shaky - exactly how it should be.

Zeffirelli has created the best screen version of this book that I have ever seen!

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Moody, Evocative JANE EYRE, October 29, 2006

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Oddly enough the Charlotte Brontë's classic novel 'Jane Eyre' has had more cinematic transitions than almost any of the old novels. The story is powerful but with the frequency of film adaptations, even the story grows tired, unless someone breathes new life into the interpretation. In this case that breath comes from director Franco Zeffirelli who has engaged Hugh Whitemore to open the story as a screenplay. The results give a different emphasis to the story and one that for this viewer works well.

In this particular incarnation the rags to riches heroine Jane Eyre is played with subtlety by the beautiful Charlotte Gainsbourg (with Anna Paquin as the younger version) and Rochester the master of the manor is a William Hurt, playing his character more for life and flesh than the usual darkly sinister keeper of secrets. What results from the combination of cast and crew is a film that is far more a romance than a vapid mystery: the fire between Jane and Rochester is palpable and is given more space and time than the other versions which elect to dwell on the mad 'wife' upstairs finally destroyed in the fire that brings Rochester down to Jane's initial stance on the social scale.

The cinematography by David Watkin captures the period beautifully as does the musical score by Claudio Capponi and Alessio Vlad. As with all period pieces the cast of supporting characters paint the various aspects of the novel and here such luminous actors as Joan Plowright, Geraldine Chaplin, Joséphine Serre, Maria Schneider, Elle Macpherson, and John Wood among many others offer fully realized portraits of the class distinctions that ruled the era. This is a fine film version of the Brontë novel and one well worth watching repeatedly. Grady Harp, October 06

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Remember, The Shadows Are As Important As The Light", February 12, 2006

By	Brian E. Erland "Rainbow Sphinx" (Brea, CA - USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

A somewhat slow but overall rewarding version of the Bronte classic , 'Jane Eyre.' Beautifully filmed as all Franco Zeffirelli films are, we are taken on a journey of contrasts as Zeffirelli explores the darker nature of human suffering, regret and memory as played out against the lush, natural beauty of the English countryside.

William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg deliver wonderful, though rather subdued performances as the two star-crossed lovers and Anna Paquin is absolutely marvelous in her all too brief role as the young Jane Eyre.