PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Jane Eyre (2011) (Blu-ray)

Jane Eyre (2011) (Blu-ray)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD
Released 8-Dec-2011
Cover Art

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Deleted Scenes Featurette-Making Of-3 Audio Commentary
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	120:09
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Cary Fukunaga
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Mia Wasikowska Jamie Bell Su Elliot Holliday Grainger Tamzin Merchant Amelia Clarkson Craig Roberts
Case	Standard Blu-ray	Starring
RPI	?	Music	Dario Marianelli

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Spanish dts 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English (Burned In) English Spanish French	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

Jane Eyre is a piece of source material that has been made into movies and television series more than 20 times over the years including an Orson Welles & Joan Fontaine version, a BBC adaptation starring Timothy Dalton, a 1996 film starring William Hurt, bizarrely a version starring George C Scott as Rochester and most recently a 2006 mini-series starring Toby Stephens. So, what then does this new version have to offer? Quite a lot actually. It is a marvellous film, passionate, well acted and with beautiful music and magnificent bleak cinematography.

The story, for those who haven't read the novel by Charlotte Bronte or seen one of the previous adaptations is set in 1800s England and is a romantic drama. A young girl, Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska once the character hits her mid teens) becomes an orphan early in life and is taken in by her aunt, Mrs Reed (Sally Hawkins). Due to her willfulness she is sent to a tough religious school to reform her, run by the nasty Mr Brocklehurst. Once she is old enough she leaves the school and takes a position as a governess to a young ward of Mr Rochester (Michael Fassbender). His house is remote and despite Jane being happy living there, he regularly travels and often for long periods, leaving her alone with the young girl and the kindly housekeeper, Mrs Fairfax (Judi Dench). Rochester and Jane start to develop feelings for each other, however, not all is as it seems in Rochester's home. Later in the story, Jane leaves Rochester's house and lives with three siblings, St John and Rivers (Jamie Bell) and his two sisters. To explain, how and why this occurs would spoil the story for those who haven't read the novel or seen one of the other adaptations.

As I mentioned above this is a wonderful adaptation (although it does leave out one important scene from the novel which is in the extras) with beautiful cinematography, passionate and high quality acting from the leads who are very believable as a couple, emotional and plaintive music from Oscar Winner Dario Marianelli and assured direction from young American director, Cary Joji Fukunaga. The landscapes are beautifully bleak and form an important part of the story. The story is told in a non-linear way which is easy to understand but helps to make for an interesting film.

One thing which really annoyed me about this disc is that it automatically downloads ads one of which is for a new new TV show on US television, which is irrelevant to local audiences. Can't they put some local ads for the local release if ads have to be included?

This is a marvellous film which will be enjoyed by fans of this genre and would also have wider appeal. Personally, I found it one of the most enjoyable costume dramas I have seen.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

The video quality is very good but not without challenges.

The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 1080p encoded using AVC.

The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout, although some scenes were affected by some smokey graininess such as at 87:00.The shadow detail was nothing special for Blu-ray, however this is at least partially driven by the naturalistic lighting choices.

The colour was excellent despite the grey based colour scheme of the windswept moors.

There is some minor aliasing and shimmer to be seen such as on a hat at 17:00 and a veil at 85:00.

There are subtitles burnt-in for French dialogue and there are subtitle streams in English, Spanish & French. The English subtitles are clear and easy to read.

There are no obvious layer changes during playback.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The audio quality is very good bordering on excellent.

This disc contains an English soundtrack in DTS-HD MA 5.1 and a Spanish soundtrack in DTS 5.1.

Dialogue was occasionally a little difficult to make out and is really my only criticism of the soundtrack. I think this would be a source rather than transfer issue.

The music by Dario Marianelli is wonderfully emotive as I mentioned above. It sounds marvellous on this soundtrack, filling the room.

The surround speakers were incredibly well used considering the style of this film. There was excellent surround design at work, with many effects such as thunder, creaking, wind, some dialogue and footsteps coming from the surrounds. This provided a full and enveloping sound field for the film.

The subwoofer was used to support the music and add bass to thunder storms.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

A decent selection of extras are included.

PocketBlu

This disc is PocketBlu enabled so you can control your network Blu-ray player from your handheld and download content to watch on the go.

uHear

This is a Universal feature I have not noted in the past but it is quite useful allowing you to jump back a small way in the film and replay with the subtitles turned on just in case you missed a line. You just press the yellow button on your remote.

Deleted Scenes (16:52)

A number of scenes some of which should have been kept in the film especially the tearing of the veil, which my wife tells me is a big scene in the book. All of them are worth watching..

A Look inside Jane Eyre (3:41)

An extended trailer/promo featurette.

To score Jane Eyre (2:14)

Very short featurette on developing the score.

The mysterious light of Jane Eyre (1:52)

Extremely short featurette about the cinematography and lighting approach.

Commentary - Director Cary Joji Fukunaga

Cary is a good talker who speaks with passion. He focuses the commentary on technical details because he feels they were the commentaries of most interest to him as a young filmmaker. May be too technical at times for a casual audience but still worth a listen. He also covers locations and his approach to translating the book.

What's New

Access to BD-Live for trailers.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The Blu-ray version of this film in Region A is the same.

Summary

An impressive new adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte novel.

The video quality is very good.