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| Genre: | Drama |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Rating: | PG |
| Length: | 1 Hour 56 Minutes |
| Cast: | Fiona Shaw, Anna Paquin, John Wood, Geraldine Chaplin, Amanda Root , Charlotte Gainsbourg & William Hurt |
| Credits: | Directed by: Franco Zeffirelli |
Director Franco Zeffirelli, who brought a new stylistic sensibility to Shakespeare with his "Romeo and Juliet" nearly thirty years ago has now gone gothic. He and co-writer Hugh Whitemore adapted the Brone novel for the screen.
The role of young Jane - who is miserable at being raised in the household of a cold, selfish aunt (Fiona Shaw) - is played by Anna Paquin, the extraordinarily self-possessed child actress and Oscar-winner of Jane Campion's "The Piano." Jane escapes her aunt's household, but finds no relief. Consigned to a charity school called Lowood, whe endures the self-righteous tyranny of the institution's headmaster (John Wood) and his assistant (Geraldine Chaplin). Despite the attentions of one kindly teacher ("Persuasion's" Amanda Root), the girl sees her best friend die and can only steel herself for years of privation.
The Bronte novel is famous for the romance that emerges in its third section, when the grown Jane (now played by Charlotte Gainsbourg) takes employment as a governess at the estate of the mysterious Rochester (William Hurt). Gainsbourg, the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French musician Serge Gainsbourg, is one of those underdiscovered-actress choices for which Zeffirelli is known (remember Olivia Hussey in "Romeo and Juliet"?) VARIETY calls Gainsbourg's performance "exemplary. Physically and vocally just right, the actress easily suggests the gawky, awkward duckling teetering on the edge of charm and self-confidence. It is her finely shaded delineation of Jane's doubts and vacillations that gives the film its most involving passages."
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