Jane Eyre is a 2011 romantic drama film directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. The screenplay is written by Moira Buffini based on Charlotte Brontë s 1847 novel of the same name, a classic of the Gothic, bildungsroman, and romance genres.

The film was released on 11 March 2011 in the United States and 9 September in Great Britain and Ireland. It received positive reviews from critics. The film s costume design, led by Michael O Connor, was nominated for an Academy Award.

Plot

A tearful Jane Eyre runs away from Thornfield Hall, finding herself alone on the moors. She collapses at the doorstep of Moor House, home of St. John Rivers and his sisters Diana and Mary; they take Jane in and nurse her back to health.

The film flashes between Jane s recovery and her grim childhood. An orphan, she is treated cruelly by her cousin John and aunt Mrs. Reed. Jane is sent to the Lowood School for Girls; under the strict Mr. Brocklehurst, the girls are beaten, but Jane befriends fellow pupil Helen Burns, who dies of consumption.

Eight years later, Jane, now 18, leaves Lowood for a position at Thornfield Hall. Welcomed by the kindly housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax, Jane begins a plain and isolated life as governess to Adèle Varens, the young French ward of Thornfield s owner. One day, Jane sees a rider thrown by his horse and comes to his aid. Returning to Thornfield, she learns the man is Edward Rochester, master of the house. He grudgingly praises her instruction of Adèle, and her own openess and unpolluted mind;” the two find themselves curiously attracted to one another.

One night, Jane discovers Rochester s room on fire, which they manage to extinguish; he warns her not to speak of the incident, and they share a chaste but passionate moment. The next day, Rochester leaves suddenly to call on Blanche Ingram, who Mrs. Fairfax tells Jane is Rochester s prospective wife; she and her family return with him a few weeks later on a grand visit to Thornfield.

Rochester confronts Jane, who is hurt by Blanche s presence, but is interrupted by an unexpected guest – Richard Mason from Spanish Town, Jamaica, whose arrival disturbs Rochester. That night, the household is awakened by a scream. Rochester reassures the guests, but brings Jane to tend to Mason, who has been badly injured. Jane notices a hidden door in Rochester s room before Mason is taken away by a doctor. Rochester confides in Jane, cryptically, that he is haunted by a past mistake but has fallen for a new woman in his life; Jane believes he means Blanche.

Jane receives word that her cousin John has committed suicide, leading her aunt to suffer a stroke. Jane returns to her dying aunt, who gives her a letter from Jane s paternal uncle, John Eyre, asking that Jane live with him in Madeira as his heir. The letter is three years old, and Mrs. Reed admits to writing to John to the effect that Jane had died at Lowood. Jane forgives her aunt and returns to Thornfield, beginning a correspondence with John.

Faced with Rochester s impending marriage to Blanche, Jane tells Rochester she will leave Thornfield and confesses her true feelings for him. Rochester declares that Jane is his only love and proposes; she accepts. At their wedding, Mason appears with a lawyer and reveals that Rochester is already married to Mason s sister, Bertha. Rochester admits the truth and takes Jane to meet his violently deranged wife, kept in a hidden room at Thornfield. Rochester explains that he was made to marry Bertha for her money, but she rapidly descended into madness and he locked her away rather than subject her to an asylum; she was responsible for the strange happenings in the house. Jane, wounded at his deception, leaves Thornfield.

After her recovery at Moor House, St. John gives Jane a teaching position and a cottage. One night, she imagines a knock at her door to be Rochester, but instead finds St. John with news that her uncle John has died and left her his fortune of £20,000 (equivalent to £1,900,000 in 2021). Jane offers to share her inheritance with St. John and his sisters, and the four live together at Moor House. St. John asks Jane to marry him and go to India as missionaries, but she rejects him.

Jane returns to Thornfield to find the house a blackened ruin. She learns from Mrs. Fairfax that Bertha set fire to the house; Rochester was able to rescue everyone but his wife. Jane visits Rochester, now blind, and the two are reunited.

Cast

• Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre
• Michael Fassbender as Edward Fairfax Rochester
• Jamie Bell as St. John Rivers
• Judi Dench as Mrs Fairfax
• Sally Hawkins as Mrs Reed
• Holliday Grainger as Diana Rivers
• Tamzin Merchant as Mary Rivers
• Simon McBurney as Mr Brocklehurst
• Imogen Poots as Blanche Ingram
• Sophie Ward as Lady Ingram
• Su Elliot as Hannah
• Jayne Wisener as Bessie Lee
• Amelia Clarkson as young Jane
• Romy Settbon Moore as Adèle Varens
• Freya Parks as Helen Burns
• Harry Lloyd as Richard Mason
• Valentina Cervi as Bertha Antoinetta Mason
• Craig Roberts as John Reed
• Ben Roberts as Briggs

Production

The film was produced by Alison Owen s company Ruby Films, with financial support from BBC Films, Focus Features and Lipsynch Productions. The script by Moira Buffini appeared on the 2008 Brit List, a film-industry-compiled list of the best unproduced screenplays in British film. The story is largely presented by way of flashbacks. In October 2009, it was announced that Cary Fukunaga would direct the adaptation. Fukunaga had been in England promoting a film when he met with the BBC and learned about their plans for a new adaptation. The filmmakers decided to play up the Gothic elements of the classic novel. Fukunaga stated, I ve spent a lot of time rereading the book and trying to feel out what Charlotte Brontë was feeling when she was writing it. That sort of spookiness that plagues the entire story… there s been something like 24 adaptations and it s very rare that you see those sorts of darker sides. They treat it like it s just a period romance and I think it s much more than that.

Casting

Mia Wasikowska starred as the title character and Michael Fassbender as Edward Rochester. Fukunaga and the producers wanted an actress close to Jane Eyre s age in the novel, in contrast to many previous versions. Fukunaga liked Wasikowska s sense of observation in her eyes and that could communicate in a way that didn t feel theatrical . He felt her looks could be played down as required for the role. On casting Rochester, the director stated that while there were actors closer in appearance, he felt Fassbender had the spirit of the character. Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins, Simon McBurney, Imogen Poots, Holliday Grainger and Tamzin Merchant also joined the cast.

Filming

Principal photography began on 22 March 2010 and concluded in mid-May. Filming locations included London and various locations in Derbyshire and the Derbyshire Dales, including Chatsworth House, Haddon Hall, the village of Froggatt and the Fox House pub in Sheffield, as well as Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire and Wrothan Park in Hertfordshire. The score is composed by Academy Award winner Dario Marianelli. Another Academy Award winner, Michael O Connor, designed the costumes. Although they estimated the setting was the late 1830s, they settled on four to five years later in 1843. Fukunaga commented that the clothing style of the 30s was just awful. Every woman looked like a wedding cake. However, they decided to allow a few characters in older fashions to reflect that some would not have updated their style. He looked at some 60 residences for one to represent Thornfield Hall but settled on Haddon Hall as it had not undergone much redecorating; the same location was also used in the 2006 BBC version of Jane Eyre. The conditions were very cold and Fukunaga admitted that Wasikowska nearly got hypothermia on the second day while shooting the rain sequence; however, he could not imagine filming anywhere else, saying Northern England – Yorkshire and Derbyshire, the moors and dales – they look like they re something straight out of a Tim Burton horror film. The trees are all twisted by the wind; the bracken and the heather on the moors have this amazing hue. And the weather is so extreme and it changes all the time. The house even, Haddon Hall, is just so steeped in history, the spaces, the galleries, they sort of just breathe and you feel the presence of the history. Key scenes were filmed in Broughton Castle.

Release

Box office

The film had a limited release on four screens in the United States on 11 March 2011. It grossed $182,885, for a per cinema average of $45,721 – the best speciality debut of 2011. As of 14 July 2011, its North American total stood at $11,242,660. After the United States, it was released in a number of countries during the spring and summer of 2011, but not until 9 September was it released in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In its opening week, Jane Eyre moved to third place in the UK box office, behind The Inbetweeners Movie and Friends with Benefits.

Critical reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval score of 84% based on 167 critical reviews, with an average rating of 7.33/10. The site s consensus reads, Cary Fukunaga directs a fiery and elegant adaptation, while Mia Wasikowska delivers possibly the best portrayal of the title character ever. It also has a score of 76 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 35 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews .

A. O. Scott made the film an NYT Critics Pick , saying This Jane Eyre, energetically directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) from a smart, trim script by Moira Buffini (Tamara Drewe), is a splendid example of how to tackle the daunting duty of turning a beloved work of classic literature into a movie. Neither a radical updating nor a stiff exercise in middlebrow cultural respectability, Mr. Fukunaga s film tells its venerable tale with lively vigor and an astute sense of emotional detail.

Richard Corliss of Time named Mia Wasikowska s performance one of the Top 10 Movie Performances of 2011.

Accolades

Year of ceremony	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
2011	National Board of Review Awards	Spotlight Award	Michael Fassbender (Also for Shame, A Dangerous Method, and X-Men: First Class)	Won
	Satellite Awards	Best Costume Design	Michael O Connor	Nominated
	British Independent Film Awards	Best Actress	Mia Wasikowska	Nominated
	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actor	Michael Fassbender (Also for Shame, A Dangerous Method, and X-Men: First Class)	Won
2012	Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards	Actor of the Year	Michael Fassbender (Also for Shame, A Dangerous Method, and X-Men: First Class)	Nominated
	Goya Awards	Best European Film		Nominated
	Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award	Best Actress – International	Mia Wasikowska	Nominated
	Evening Standard British Film Awards	Best Actor	Michael Fassbender (Also for Shame)	Won
		London Film Museum Award for Technical Achievement	Michael O Connor	Nominated
	BAFTA Awards	Costume Design	Michael O Connor	Nominated
	Academy Awards	Best Costume Design	Michael O Connor	Nominated
	Sant Jordi Award	Best Foreign Actor	Michael Fassbender (Also for A Dangerous Method and X-Men: First Class)	Won

Year	2011
ReleaseDate	2011-04-22
RuntimeMins	120
RuntimeStr	2h
Plot	A mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer soon discovers that he’s hiding a terrible secret.
Awards	Nominated for 1 Oscar, 10 wins & 16 nominations total
Directors	Cary Joji Fukunaga
Writers	Moira Buffini, Charlotte Brontë
Stars	Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell
Produced by	Mairi Bett,Hannah Farrell,Peter Hampden,Sasha Harris,Christine Langan,Alison Owen,Paul Trijbits,Faye Ward
Music by	Dario Marianelli
Cinematography by	Adriano Goldman
Film Editing by	Melanie Oliver
Casting By	Nina Gold
Production Design by	Will Hughes-Jones
Art Direction by	Karl Probert
Set Decoration by	Tina Jones,Greer Whitewick
Costume Design by	Michael O’Connor
Makeup Department	Bee Archer,Theresa Atkinson,Carolyn Cousins,Françoise Cresson,Julie Dartnell,Janita Doyle,Sarah Grispo,Lilly Hodson,Jane Logan,Ameneh Mahloudji,Veronica McAleer,Belinda Parish,Daniel Phillips,Tapio Salmi,Loulia Sheppard,Rupert Simon,Barbara Taylor,Xanthia White,Eve Wignall,Kristyan Mallett
Production Management	Rob Campbell-Bell,Jane Nerlinger Evans,Sasha Harris,Michael Solinger,Ben Urquhart
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Lee Grumett,Jude Harrison,Ursula Haworth,Alexander Holt,Tamara King,Carley Lane,Arif Macaco,Barrie McCulloch,Jo Tew
Art Department	Dion Banner,Lynne Benelick,Barry Brown,Mat Campbell,Graham Caulfield,Ian Cooper,Cathy Cosgrove,David Creed,Charlotte Crosbie,Josh Field,Jordan Forbes,David Gray,Peter Hallam,Dean Hawley,Mark Keene,Lizzie Kilham,Tim Lanning,Dave Midson,Jonathan Millward,Nick Milner,Garry Moore,Daniel Nussbaumer,Steve Payne,Wesley Peppiatt,Clare Porritt,Mickey Pugh,Graeme Purdy,Tabitha Quitman,Chris Rosser,Tony Sankey,Bob Sherwood,Ian Summers,Katharine Tidy,Jenny Tobin,Kate Venner,James Wakefield,Rohan Harris,Tabitha Quitman,Doreen Watkinson
Sound Department	Dan Bentham,Steve Browell,Sandy Buchanan,Peter Burgis,Simon Chase,Matthew Collinge,Ed Colyer,Paul Cotterell,Jennie Evans,Robert Farr,Catherine Hodgson,Peter Lindsay,Michael Maroussas,Aileen McIntosh,Kate Morath,Ben Norrington,Theotime Pardon,Keith Partridge,Gavin Rose,Barnaby Smyth,Ben Tat,Yanti Windrich,Sebastian Dale,Rob Prynne,James Shannon
Special Effects by	Tony Auger,Jonathan Bullock,Danny Hills,Stuart Prior,Mark Roberts
Visual Effects by	Oana Anghel,Jean Arousi,Marie-Ève Authier,Marie-Pier Avoine,Angela Barson,Dan Bentham,Lizzie Bentley,Mathieu Bertrand,Patrick Bissonnette,Jonathan Boisvert,Guy Boudreau,Marc Bourbonnais,Linden Brownbill,Alberto Buron,Luke Butler,Naomi Butler,Alexandre Canniccioni,Guillaume Champagne,Sébastien Chartier,Nicolas Cloutier,Valérie Clément,Tom Collier,Tobie Cote,Jacinthe Côté,Peter Dickinson,Stefan Drury,Marilyn Emond,Sean Farrow,Jean-François Ferland,Matt Foster,Dominic Gaudreau,Julia Hall,Sandro Henriques,Paddy Kelly,Markus Kuha,Louis Laflamme-Fillion,Martin Larrivée,Luka Leskovsek,Sylvain Lorgeou,Aileen McIntosh,Maxime Murray,Dylan Owen,Mathieu Phaneuf,John Purdie,Florian Schuck,David Sjodin,Angela Stanley,Jon Stanley,Stéphane Stradella,Lucy Tanner,Guillaume Thimus,Georges Tornero,Samantha Tracey,Valentin Trasnea,Howard Watkins,Simon Weaner,Yanick Wilisky,Odile-Emmanuelle Auger,Chris Bentley,Renaud Bousquet,Warwick Campbell,Jimmy Caron,Jonathan Carré,Andrea Espinal,Jean-Sébastien Fortin,Rob Geddes,Yanni Goudetsidis,Mauricio Guwzynski,Varun Hadkar,Pascal Laflamme,Florent Lebrun,Samuel Loriault-Goulet,Stephane Picard,Gareth Repton,Lucy Seaborne,Armando Velazquez
Stunts	Tom Cox,Richard Hansen,Mark Henson,Holly Lumsden,Helen Steinway Bailey,Camilla Naprous
Camera and Electrical Department	Mark Alvarez,Rob Armstrong,John Arnold,Paul Barker,Jacob Barrie,Bill Beenham,Alex Bender,Robert Binnall,Julian Bucknall,Tony Burns,David Cadwallader,Wailoon Chung,Jason Dully,Tobias Eedy,Ian Franklin,John Gamble,Dave Gray,Brian Greenway,Eugene Grobler,Mark Hanlon,Paul Harford,Daniel Hegarty,Stuart Howell,Chris Hughes,Tony Hughes,Lewis Hume,Gabriel Hyman,Karl Jones,Russell Kennedy,Jeff Khan,Sam Kite,Richard Law,Adam Lee,Andy Long,David Maund,Vince McGahon,Danny McGee,Simon Muir,Andy Munday,Gary Parnham,George Powell,Jon Saunders,Luke Selway,Laurie Sparham,Iain Struthers,Andy Thomson,William Tracey,Robert Walisko,David Weller,Dave Wells,Dan West,Grant Wiesinger,Robbie Bryant
Casting Department	Kharmel Cochrane,Robert Sterne,Brendan Donnison,Emily Tilelli
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Marcia Bethell,Jane Bogunovic,Louisa Cassels,Ruth Green,Georgina Gunner,Gordon Harmer,Carin Hoff,Vandra Howard,Anna Kot,Melissa Layton,Catherine Lovett,Elaine Mansouri,Calandra Meredith,Jacqueline Mulligan,Kathryn Mysko Von Schultze,Luan Placks,Gemma Rasmussen,Lisa Robinson,Sunita Singh,Louise Sorrentino,Sara Tosetti,Sarah Touaibi,John Usher,Emma Walker,Allison Wyldeck,Paul Yeowell,Dominic Young,Catherine Lovett,Cecile Van Dijk
Editorial Department	Chris Bentley,James Clarke,Stuart Fyvie,Scott Goulding,Chris McGloin,Mathieu Reid,Danny Salas,Daniel Tomlinson,Diana Vasquez,Rick White,Michael Alexander Winter,Rob Ackerman,Scott Macbeth,Salim Rahman
Location Management	Finlay Bradbury,Rupert Bray,Giles Edleston,Alex Gladstone,Mark Grimwade,Steve Keane,Gary Longden,Nick Oliver
Music Department	John Alley,Mat Bartram,James Bellamy,Fiona Cruickshank,Grace Davidson,Olga FitzRoy,Andrew Glen,Micaela Haslam,Jack Liebeck,Roger Linley,Dario Marianelli,Andrew McKenna,Melanie Pappenheim,Maggie Rodford,Hilary Skewes,Jill Streater,Helen Vollam,Benjamin Wallfisch,Nick Wollage,Andrew Townend
Script and Continuity Department	Sylvia Parker,Lucy Ward
Transportation Department	Alexander Aben,Trevor Atkin,Piotr Chrzanowski,Hendrik De Jonker,Renai Dwyer,Jon Harvey,Rob Hempenstall,Paul Howitt,Neal Hurst,Tony Jayes,Tim Jefferis,Mark Jones,Brian Kelly,Graeme Main,Jamie Newton,Clive Noy,Brett Owens,Steve Paxman,Jake Spencer,Piotr Walczak,Andy Wilson
Additional Crew	Mark Abraham,John Alfred,Chris Barnett,Charlie Barrett,Isabel Begg,Helen Bingham,Kim Bird,Peter Boothby,Charlie Borradaile,Andy Brunskill,James Buckler,Daniel Budd,Julie Burnham,Clare Collingridge,Christopher Cox,Jake Cox,Matt Crook,Chris Cullum,Andy Davies,Christian De-vos,Nazmeen Dhansey,Jay Doshi,Danny Edwards,Stuart Ewen,Jo Farrugia,Nicole Finnan,Edward Fisher,Chris Foggin,Hollie Foster,Adam Francis,Simon Gillis,Mia Gray,Louise Green,Simone Griffiths,Robin Guise,Julia Hall,Ruth Halliday,Ella Harris,Jane Hawley,Christopher Haworth,Elaine Henderson-Boyle,Billy Hinshelwood,Dean Hoskings,Mick Hurrell,Polly Jefferies,Christina Jules,Charlotte Keating,Karl King,Anna Koch,Glen Lean,Michael Mann,Andy McCloud,Jill McCullough,Charlotte Melhuish,Norman Merry,Rob Meyer,Charlotte Amelia Miles,John Miles,Lynsey Miller,Richard Moore,Camilla Naprous,Daniel Naprous,Gerard Naprous,Tiziano Niero,Clive Noakes,Dan O’Toole,Beth Pattinson,Steve Pickering,Mike Pike,Mark Pir,Gill Raddings,Jane Ralley,Peter Raven,Raymond Reader,Jeremy Richardson,Alex Ross,Zoe Ross,Mark Rowan,Penny Ryder,Lara Sargent,Mark Shelley,Charlie Simpson,Sam Smith,Andy Soane,Vaughn Stein,Richard Thompson,Ian Thomson,Jane Thurlow,John William Turner,Jenny Uglow,Sophie Vickers,Howard Watkins,Darren White,Kirstie White,Kiri Bloom,Charlotte Keating,Lizanne Tulip,Ben Urquhart,Jamie H. Zelermyer
Thanks	Jack Arbuthnott,Victoria Belfrage,Kath Brinson,Elizabeth Bull,David Campbell,Paul Cantelon,Judith Chan,Steve Clark-Hall,St John Donald,Jerome Duboz,Gretchen Grufman,Sam Hodges,Craig Kestel,Lisa Mayo,Conor McCaughan,Rob Meyer,Nigel Palmer,Tanya Phegan,James Rogan,Timothy Struthers,Melissa Tavakoli,Ameer Youssef
Genres	Drama, Romance
Companies	Focus Features, BBC Films, Ruby Films
Countries	UK, USA
Languages	English, French
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	7.3
ImDbRatingVotes	88045
MetacriticRating	76
Keywords	character name as title,yorkshire england,timeframe 1840s,timeframe 19th century,costume drama