Jane Eyre: Press reviews

'Spot on'.

'the best Jane Eyre on film, for Wasikowska manages to be both a specific character and completely archetypal, just as Jane is in the novel - that deranged, overwhelming and, it now seems, inexhaustible creation.'

'it respects the book lavishly without following it blindly.'

'This latest version brings no dramatic new angle or ideological emphasis to the story, just precision of design, nuance of mood, excellent casting... [and] a fantastically atmospheric setting.'

'Fukunaga falls foul of pacing in a lumpen, overtly moralistic coda, but only because what came before felt so rhythmically assured, intellectually substantial and smoulderingly romantic.'

'Vivid, compelling and at times properly scary, Jane Eyre is actually not rubbish at all.'

'There's no question it's stunningly mounted, and Wasikowska makes a much stronger Jane than Alice, but the romance is overripe and the climax underdone.'

'Brontë's themes and moods — the modulations of terror and wit, the matter-of-fact recitation of events giving way to feverish breathlessness — are carefully preserved, though her narrative has been somewhat scrambled'

'At times, the lovers seem to be fighting not only against a malignant fate but against the dying of the light. Yet this austere production has fire enough; it captures the elemental Brontë passions yet again'

'balanced, crafted, beautifully acted, though for me without the thunderclap and lightning-bolt of passion.'

'more powerful than most period romances, for all their wet shirts and festive weddings. But it could probably have done with just a flicker more fire.'

'This Jane Eyre is a good-looking film, serious, thought through and well acted.'

'A bold choice of director, striking visuals and a Rochester to rival Orson Welles' ensures this doesn't feel like just one more highbrow period piece or stodgy great-book adap.'

'This visually arresting but emotionally low-key effort will impress on TV, but on the big screen it needed to be more gripping, passionate and cinematic.'