We are Three Sisters

News release from Northern Broadsides:

We are Three Sisters: a new play by Blake Morrison

Against the backdrop of a dark, remote northern town, three remarkable young women live their lives brightly. Haworth1840’s;  in a gloomy parsonage where there are neither curtains nor comforts, Charlotte, Anne and Emily Brontë light up their world with outspoken wit, aspirations, dreams and ideas. And throughout their confined lives intensely lived…. they write. Anyone who has read a Brontë novel cannot fail to be stirred by their overwhelming humanity, charged emotion and brooding, prescient unease with the status quo. Now come to know the voices behind them. With exquisitely drawn characterizations, a nod to Chekhov and a touch of poetic license, We Are Three Sisters is a pearl of a play which evokes with piercing clarity the life and distinct personalities of these three spirited individuals. (Review is in the post for 15 September) Tour Dates and Venues: 9 – 17 September: The Viaduct Theatre, Dean Clough, Halifax 20 – 24 September: The Lowry, Salford 27 Sept – 1 Oct: The Dukes, Lancaster 4 – 8 Oct: The Tobacco Factory, Bristol 11 – 15 Oct: The Lighthouse, Poole 18 – 22 Oct: Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough 25 – 29 Oct: The Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond 2 – 5 Nov: Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield 8 – 12 Nov: New Vic Theatre, Newcastle under Lyme 15 – 19 Nov: The Rose, Kingston 22 – 26 Nov: York Theatre Royal

Summer fun

News release from the Parsonage:

There’s a packed programme of activities for visitors to the Parsonage this summer holiday. Throughout August the museum will be offering a varied programme of free activities for all - whether an avid Brontë fan, casual visitor, or a family on a day out - there will be something of interest for everyone.

My favourite Object!  The Parsonage contains so many wonderful objects and manuscripts it’s hard to pick a favourite, but that’s what the staff and volunteers have had to do for this series of five minute talks. Every weekday at 2.00pm you can come and listen to one of them telling the stories behind some of the most intriguing items we have in our collection, from the huge brass dog collar to a pair of Brontë stockings!

Talks and Walks  Listen to an informal talk about the fascinating lives of the Bronte family and then join a short guided walk around Haworth and explore what Haworth was really like in their day.  Discover why Patrick fired a pistol from his bedroom window every morning, and how the Reverend William Grimshaw forced reluctant parishioners into church on a Sunday. Every Tuesday in August.

Wild Wednesdays!  Discover a different activity every Wednesday throughout August.

Wednesday August 3^rd Join poet Anne Caldwell in creating a writing trail inside and outside the Parsonage on the theme of ‘Wild’ and ‘Tame’.

Wednesday August 10th Make your own wallet inspired by Branwell’s very own,  out of recycled materials with local artist Rachel Lee.

Wednesday August 17th Storyteller Christine McMahon weave magic in the museum as she tells traditional northern folk tales.

Wednesday August 24^th Come along and sit in a special silhouette chair and have your portrait created by artist Simon Warner; better still, have a go yourself and immortalise your  friends and family!

Wednesday 31^st August  Create some beautiful rubbings from a tree planted by Charlotte, carved with intricate illustrations from the Brontë  childhood Tales of the Islanders’.

All events are free with usual admission charge to the museum. Please check the website for full details of events and admission charges – www.bronte.info

Following the busy summer period, the museum will be hosting its second Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing from 16-18 September. The weekend features talks, readings, workshops and family activities all celebrating and showcasing women’s writing. Speakers include novelist Barbara Trapido and Moira Buffini, screenwriter for the new film version of Jane Eyre, which is released in September. The full programme will be released very shortly, and you can sign up to our mailing list to receive the full programme as soon as it is available: jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk / 01535 640188.

Thanks for the donations

Isobel Stirk writes:

It gave me great pleasure to welcome members of the Brontë Society to St Andrew’s, Kildwick – a church I have been connected with since childhood.

I wish to thank, most sincerely, fellow members of the Society for the many very generous donations which were left in the church or have been forwarded on to me later. Each one is very gratefully received and will be put towards the upkeep of this Grade 1 listed building.

If anyone is in the area again please get in touch.

Behind the scenes at the Parsonage

News release:

The Parsonage will be opening its doors for a series of very special ‘behind the scenes’ tours on Wednesday 22 June and Tuesday 26 July, 7.00pm. Each evening will include a guided tour of the museum, a visit to the museum’s Library and a special opportunity to see some of the treasures of the museum’s collection at close quarters and new acquisitions. Wine and canapés will also be served.

The museum is not able to offer guided tours during normal opening hours due to limited space, and its Library, which was part of a Victorian extension added on to the Brontë house in the 1870s, is usually open only by special appointment for research purposes. The Parsonage Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of Brontë manuscripts, letters and artefacts, is able to display only around ten percent of its collections and the special tours will provide an opportunity for people to see some of the rarely seen treasures of the collection. There will also be the chance to find out more about the history of the Museum’s collection and how it is cared for and to see some of the most recent acquisitions.

I’m sure these special evenings will be extremely popular. The guided tour will give people a wonderful insight into life at the Parsonage in the Brontës’ time and the chance to see the Museum’s unique Library and some of the wonderful Brontë treasures it contains. It’s a very special experience indeed. Along with wine and canapés, it will all make for a delightful evening.

Andrew McCarthy

Director, Brontë Parsonage Museum

Bookings will be taken on a first come, first served basis and can be made for Wednesday 22 June or Tuesday 26 July, 7.00pm. Tickets are £16 each. 

To book, please contact Sonia Boocock, Brontë Parsonage Museum, 01535 640192/

sonia.boocock@bronte.org.uk

Return to Haworth II

Helen MacEwan writes: 

There are many delights to sample over the annual Brontë Society weekend in Haworth apart from the hearty Yorkshire fare in its pubs.

There is the opportunity to meet other members. They come from all over the world but the Society’s heart is in Haworth and the Parsonage Museum. Members include local people with a stock of anecdotes from their years in one of Britain’s oldest literary society as well as encyclopaedic knowledge of every place in Yorkshire ever visited by a Brontë or used in one of their novels (over the weekend we had a private viewing of Ponden Hall, supposedly the model for Wuthering Heights, and a visit to Gawthorpe Hall whose owner introduced Charlotte Brontë to Mrs Gaskell). Some of these Yorkshire members even have links to families who were associated with the Brontës. Thus they form a living link stretching right back to the Brontës themselves.

There are the local researchers like Keighley archivist Ian Dewhirst who spoke about the grimness of working-class life in Haworth in the 1840s with wit and passion, conveying to us the immediacy with which the period can be experienced through the mis-spelt letters of farmers and mill workers of the time. Again, a local enthusiast acting as a living link between us and the past.

There is traditional entertainment such as that provided by the Haworth light opera group, which included one of the monologues performed in 1930s music halls by the comedian Stanley Holloway, recited in a broad Lancashire accent challenging for members from outside the British Isles!

There are the traditional, time-honoured rites of the Brontë Society, such as the annual service for its members in the church where Patrick Brontë preached for over 40 years and the cream tea always partaken of outdoors unless it’s raining too hard.

But the Society isn’t just about the past and tradition. The Museum runs an arts programme with talks and exhibitions by contemporary writers and artists. This year we listened to novelist Sally Vickers (Miss Garnet’s Angel) talking about her work and how the Brontës have influenced it. At the prize-giving for the Society’s literary competition, the winners included many young writers. The winner of the poetry section has just published her first book of poems.

And from this year the Society has a new President. The writer Bonnie Greer is from Chicago, although she has lived in Britain for decades. This was her first AGM and she was delighted to be invited to lead the Society, mingled affably with members and gave us a stirring speech about the need to work to preserve literary societies and museums for future generations.

(This report also appears on the Brussels Brontë Blog)

Below, Gawthorpe Hall:

Return to Haworth I

Renate Hurtmanns writes:
After the outstanding AGM of 2010 (a first for me), I felt happily excited when the bus dropped me off in Haworth in the afternoon of 3 June.

Less focused on lectures this time, we had nevertheless a highly enjoyable weekend full of variety again and also extremely amusing in different ways: a great evening of light entertainment provided by Haworth’s Gilbert and Sullivan group (among others a funny and very special version of “Cinderella”), but above anything else the Brontë spoof Withering Looks by Britain’s most famous literary lunatics Maggie Fox and Sue Riding – extremely inventive and utterly hilarious!

We also had lots of fun around the usual dinner at the Old White Lion on Sunday evening - pitting our Brontë brains against everyone else while trying to find the correct answers to Judith Bland’s 60 questions out of the Brontë books and lives.

But the real highlight for me was our walk on Sunday morning to Ponden Hall, often cited as the model for the Lintons’ home Thrushcross Grange– although none of the sisters left evidence of making such a link themselves. In part this opinion is due to its location, on the way up to the moors, in part to the fact that there were so few larger houses in this area.

Actually, Ponden Hall corresponds in some measure to the description of Wuthering Heights given by Emily and seems thus far more identifiable with Heathcliff’s home - being less grand and more humble than Thrushcross Grange as described in the novel. The date plaque above the main entrance, by the way, identifies the rebuilt house as dating from 1801 - the date that begins the story in Wuthering Heights.

Emily Brontë’s association with the Heaton family at Ponden is well documented: one of the Heatons served as a churchwarden to Patrick and it is known that she used the library which was reputedly the finest in West Yorkshire. Branwell Brontë was also a frequent visitor to Ponden where he attended pre-hunting gatherings.

As soon as I entered the large hall - realising that this was Wuthering Heights as I had imagined it – I had a kind of vision, i.e. Heathcliff standing by the fireplace when Mr Lockwood came in and asked for shelter from the snow-storm outside … And a second one in the master bedroom overlooking the valley beyond, where a tiny single-paned window in the east gable - underneath which a box bed, as in Wuthering Heights, was once standing but has sadly disappeared - is said to be the one where Cathy’s ghost knocked at the glass. I closed my eyes one second and could nearly hear her voice pleading: “Let me in, let me in”….

I didn’t take photos – unfortunately for those who read these lines, but not for me because for me the best souvenirs are those that you keep in your heart. And this I will – forever !

Now that I am back home again I feel like Emily when she was away from Haworth – nostalgic and missing the Moors already, their stillness, their grandeur and beauty and I can’t wait to go back to them!

(This report also appears on the Brussels Brontë Blog)


Below, Ponden Hall: 

A memorable excursion

Chris Went writes:

Our annual excursion this year focused on places associated with two very different periods in Charlotte’s life.  In the morning we travelled to Lothersdale where, in the summer of 1839, Charlotte was a governess with the Sidgwick family of Stonegappe.  The house is not accessible and almost impossible to see from the road (the photograph below was taken from a public footpath), but we were able to appreciate its exceptionally beautiful setting which is probably little changed since the nineteenth century.  Christ Church,  Lothersdale, built in an attempt to counteract the influence of Methodism,  was consecrated late in 1838.  Although it was funded by the Sidgwicks, they attended Kildwick Church, and Charlotte would have accompanied them there.

In the church at Kildwick, we were welcomed by Isobel Stirk and the ladies of the parish who provided tea, coffee and biscuits. Isobel gave a short talk which dealt comprehensively with the history of the church, which was known as 'Lang Kirk', and she was followed by Angela Crow and Richard Wilcocks.  Angela read extracts from the letters Charlotte wrote during her employment with the Sidgwicks, alternating with a monologue written by Richard and performed by him in role as John Benson Sidgwick.  Drawing on original sources and research into the attitudes of the time, this was a cleverly constructed ‘recollection’ of a rather unsatisfactory governess.  We had plenty of time to explore the church and its surroundings, and were treated to a most sumptuous and memorable buffet lunch by the parish ladies. While we were eating, Michael Murphy, former organist at Kildwick, played music associated with the Brontës which included pieces by the Irish composer John Field, the originator of the piano nocturne.

The second half of the day’s programme consisted of a tour of Gawthorpe Hall near Burnley, the former home of Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth.  Sir James, something of a self-made man, collected celebrities.  Although Charlotte disliked him, and was quite scathing about his wife, Lady Janet, she was manoeuvred into visiting Gawthorpe Hall in the spring of 1850, and again in January, 1855 with her husband.  The house was subjected to major renovations by Sir James but, with a few exceptions, it is much as Charlotte knew it.  We were conducted around the house in three parties, and were also able to have a glimpse of the impressive textile exhibition mounted by Bolton Progressive Threads.

The weather was kinder to us than we might have expected, the day finishing in sunshine.  Charlotte may have disliked her time at Lothersdale, and may have found her visits to Gawthorpe Hall a trial, but we enjoyed ourselves very much and were greatly appreciative of all the people who went to so much trouble to make our day memorable. 

Below, Stonegappe:

   

A feast of music

Isobel Stirk writes about the concert in St Michael and All Angels Church, Haworth on 5 June:

Outside, a rather cold wind and black clouds - in a darkened sky way out towards Top Withins - did not encourage anyone to linger as they made their way to the church. Inside all was bright and cheerful as the audience perused their programmes and looked forward to a veritable feast of music.  

This included the first public performance of a setting by composer Robin Terry, whose music has been performed in many countries, of Ian Emberson’s Brontë-related poems - Mourning Ring. Michael Templeton, a baritone soloist with Steeton Male Voice Choir, accompanied by Robin, sang four songs very movingly. The theme of Jane Eyre was very much to the fore: one song featured the time when Jane realised she could not marry Edward Rochester, another when she wandered lost and alone over the moors, in another there was a reference to the shipwreck in Villette.

Someone who has delighted many a Brontë audience - Society member Alan Graham - showed, once again, what a talented pianist he is. He transported us back to the Warsaw of the early 1800s with the music of Maria Szymanowska. We heard pieces by Clara Schumann who had a galaxy of experience within her long life. Champion of her husband’s work, she outlived many of her children and, although carer of grandchildren and her dying husband, achieved so much. Alan played, with feeling, a Song for the Pianoforte by Fanny Mendelssohn, talented sister of Felix. A contemporary of the Brontës, Fanny shared her sibling’s passion for music. Like the sisters, she died at a young age in 1847.

Having managed to master only Greensleeves on the recorder, and not very well,  I had looked forward with anticipation to hearing solo pieces played on that instrument by Laura Justice and I was certainly not disappointed. It was a bonus to have Robin Walker, the composer of the first piece, explain a little about A Rune for St Mary’s. He asked us to think of a rune as something indescribable, a letter from an unknown alphabet.  Listening to the haunting sounds which Laura produced, it was easy to imagine being on the moors high above Todmorden , the setting for the piece, and it seemed as if the wind which always blows around the lonely place could actually be heard. 

I had been in the church earlier when a group of enthusiastic Japanese tourists were looking around. What a pity their visit was not a couple of hours later, because they may very well have been familiar with Ryohei Hirose, the composer of the modern Japanese piece. The sounds Laura produced in her interpretation were incredible. Closing my eyes at one point it almost seemed as if I was listening to a violin.

This wonderful concert had been meticulously planned by Ian and had, I am sure, been enjoyed by everyone present. It ended with a setting, by John Ireland, of Masefield’s great poem Sea-Fever. This was sung with great gusto by Michael Templeton.

Leaving the church the leaves on the trees lining Church Street were still showing their backs, the wind was still whistling among the gravestones and the black clouds were getting ominously nearer- but it did not matter. We had, for a short time, been taken to an almost magical place- for isn’t that where Ian’s poems and artwork always lead? However don’t take my word for that- go to his website and read his E book The Zig Zag Path. You have a treat in store.

Encyclopedic and entertaining

Richard Wilcocks writes:
The encyclopedic and extraordinarily entertaining Ian Dewhirst MBE gave the Saturday morning talk. He is far from being a romantic, and keen on facts, most of them the product of his own extensive research at a local level. Equipped with a well-thumbed collection of notes and extracts, he put the Brontës in the context of a Haworth which was often malodorous, where many were poverty-stricken in a way which is often nowadays linked to 'the developing world' and where people usually died long before before their three score years and ten arrived. Children were lucky to reach the age of five. The doctor (and what did he know anyway?) was called as a last resort, if at all, so perhaps Emily's refusal to see one as the consumption took a final hold of her on the couch was not that unusual or remarkable.


He covered well-trodden ground to some extent, but introduced a series of interesting anecdotes and snippets which made this talk more than a sociological excursion through dry statistics and cold statements. For example, in his search for original sources he has browsed through the record books and crumbling ledgers of old mills, the ones that remain that is, because many of them were pulped during the Second World War as part of a government plan to produce more paper, and found all those small things which connect us to real, 'ordinary' people.


He read from letters which were often full of misspellings and without any punctuation, and also from poems: apparently Haworth was packed with people writing in their spare time, and the Brontës must have read at least some of their efforts, the quality of which ranged from the extraordinary to the awful. He found one poem by a local man which was no less than three hundred pages long, but not up to Brontë standards: he got as far as page two.

Mingling on Friday

The first evening of the Annual Weekend. Warm and sunny.

After the talk by novelist Sally Vickers, members mingled. "Haven't see you for a while," was the commonest opening line, of course.  Bonnie Greer mingled too: "It's such a great honour to be President of the Brontë Society, something I could never have imagined when I was a child. I hope I can continue to be a part of the great work."

"It's fantastic to have Bonnie," said Society Chair Sally McDonald. "In fact it's quite extraordinary."

"I'm looking forward to presenting the prizes with Bonnie for the Brontë Society Literary Competion. We had over a hundred entries, and the quality was very good," said Sarah Fermi.

"I love just being here in Haworth. I arrived yesterday and was soon walking on the moors. All the tensions in my life disappear when I do that," said Judith Watkins from Toronto.

"I enjoyed the talk by Sally Vickers about her new novel, and now I'm enjoying meeting people with different opinions on the same theme," said Nigel Nicholl from Pontefract.

"Haworth is so beautiful. This is my first visit to the village and to the Parsonage. All the people are very nice," said Jorge de Britto from Brussels.

"I am looking forward to the poetry - my contribution - of course. The company is always good here!" said Ian Emberson.

Annual Weekend - soon

News release from the Parsonage:

With new President, Bonnie Greer, in attendance, the Brontë Society has a packed  weekend of events lined up for its annual gathering in Haworth, 3 -5 June.

Bestselling novelist Salley Vickers will launch the weekend on the afternoon of Friday 3 June. Her novels include the word of mouth bestseller Miss Garnet’s Angel. She will be will be reading from this and discussing her work at the West Lane Baptist Centre at 3.30pm. Tickets cost £6.00 and will be available on the door.

On Saturday 4 June literary lunatics Lip Service perform their cult classic, Withering Looks at 8pm. The show gives an intimate look at the lives of the Brontë sisters – well two of them anyway, Anne’s just popped out for a cup of sugar. But they do have maniacal laughter from the attic, consumptive coughing and some tormented souls to compensate! Tickets cost £20.00 and should be booked in advance from jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk / 01535 640188. Tickets include admission to the museum on the day of the performance.

On Sunday 5 June, pianist Maya Irgalina from the Royal Northern College of Music will again be performing on the Brontës’ cabinet piano. Visitors to the museum can look around the Parsonage as the music, chosen from the Brontës’ music books and including Beethoven and Handel, drifts through the house. The piano was restored in 2010 and this is only the second time that it has been played in over 150 years. This event is open to all on payment of normal museum admission.

Visitors to the museum over the Brontë weekend will have a chance to see the museum’s current special exhibitions. Patrick Bronte In his Own Right  focuses on the remarkable life of the Brontës’ father, Patrick. To be forever known is a haunting sound installation for the Dining Room by artist Catherine Bertola, responding to the Brontës’ letters.  

In addition there are also a range of other events for Brontë Society members including the Society’s annual lecture, afternoon tea, a church service to commemorate the Brontës at St Michael & All Angels Church, social events and walks. For further information about the Brontë Society and forthcoming events contact peter.morrison@bronte.org.uk

* There will be plenty of reports, reviews and photographs on this blog.

Blake Morrison's talk

D. Court writes:

Having attended school in Skipton at the same time as Blake Morrison I had looked forward with anticipation to the evening at Haworth when he was talking about his life and work.

It was very evident from the start that, although now based in London, his roots are very much in the North and this is reflected in much of his work. He talked about his poetry - The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripper and Pendle Witches which had been illustrated with drawings by Paula Rego - a name familiar to Parsonage visitors - who had had an exhibition there of lithographs based on Jane Eyre. He described how, after much encouragement from Barrie Rutter of Northern Broadsides, he had written a play, which will tour in the autumn, portraying Chekhov’s Three Sisters as the Brontës. It was interesting to hear about the many parallels in the story- three sisters, an unpredictable, temperamental brother, sorrow and tragedy - but also the many differences- with Chekhov the father is dead, Patrick is the sole survivor of his large family.

Morrison talked about And when did you last see your father?  his memoir of his relationship with his father – which was later to be made into a film of the same name. He amused the audience greatly by reading how his father, a local doctor, embarrassed the family after getting increasingly impatient in a long traffic jam on the way to a motor race. Driving an Alvis convertible car,  Dr Morrison hangs his stethoscope on the mirror and sails past all the cars. Turning into the first gate he sees - of course it is not the correct one for his ticket - he somehow persuades the steward that he has been sent the wrong ticket, has paid for the correct one and is allowed in. Morrison  talked briefly about the complications of finding out that someone he called ‘ aunt’ was actually the lover of his father. 

He talked movingly about the death of his father and how he had insisted in the film that in this scene after his father had died, and he and his mother are at each side of the bed - just as it had happened on that day - the sheet was not pulled over his father’s body. His mother had wanted to look at the face she loved for as long as it was possible.

After writing this memoir of his father he went on to write Things my Mother never told me. He had never known that his mother Agnes O’Shea- also a doctor who had been born in Ireland - was one of twenty children.  He described finding letters his parents had written to one another suggesting various names for her instead of Agnes and she was always known as Kim. 

He ended a very enjoyable evening by reading from his book The Last Weekend - a story of rivalry between friends- one a leading barrister and the other a schoolteacher. He read about Ian’s struggle as a teacher and he left us wanted to know how things worked out for him as, after dealing with a particularly difficult pupil by leading him to the head teacher by his ear, he has to face disciplinary action, maybe termination of his employment, when the boy’s family make a complaint. Perhaps at the school in Skipton, when we were there, this thing was probably part of the school day.

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and, although maybe a little different now in colour, it was good to see that Blake Morrison still has a good head of hair, which I remember him for, and still has great affection for Skipton and the local area!  

A good deal

Geoff writes:

Hello,  as an avid reader of this blog I thought readers may be interested in the availability of the 1973 Yorkshire TV production of The Brontes At Haworth.

The set is available for about £9 and the DVDs are playable on any DVD player in any country. Just go here: http://www.ioffer.com/search/items/brontes%20at%20haworth

This is far cheaper than the rather expensive £30 asked by Amazon.  Transfers are clear and sound very good, acting top class, highly recommended!

New treasures at the Parsonage

News release from the Parsonage:

Charlotte Brontë’s mahogany writing desk, a pen-holder and some sugar tongs are amongst the latest acquisitions to join the important collection of material owned by the Parsonage.  

These rare Brontë items once formed part of a large and important collection of Bronteana amassed by William Law who sought out people that knew the Brontë family in order to enrich his own collection. After his death in 1901, these passed to his nephew, Sir Alfred Law, who sold some of the drawings and manuscripts at auction. Some of the personal Brontë items, including the selection given to the museum, were previously given as gifts to his nurse.

Sir Alfred Law died in 1939 and the present whereabouts of the remainder of this unique collection, which is known to have included manuscripts and books of great rarity and value, remains a mystery.

Along with these Brontë treasures donated to the Parsonage were a wooden trunk, a display case, a black morocco stationery case, a pocket cigar case and copies of Brontë books- all previously owned by William Law himself.

It’s always exciting when new Brontë items come to light and when we’re able to add to the museum’s wonderful collection. But a donation on this scale, with an item as significant as the writing desk used by Charlotte Brontë, is very rare. We’re delighted that these items are now where they belong, here in Haworth; where they can be enjoyed by generations of visitors to the museum. We’re extremely grateful for such a generous donation.  (Andrew McCarthy, Director, Brontë Parsonage Museum)

The anonymous donor purchased these items from an auction at Sotheby’s in London on 17th December 2009 but decided that the appropriate place for them to be housed permanently would be the Parsonage museum.

The items will be on display from Tuesday 31 May.

Further information from: Ann Dinsdale (Collections Manager) 01535 640198 – a.dinsdale@bronte.org.uk or Sarah Laycock (Collections & Library Officer) 01535 640199 - sarah.laycock@bronte.org.uk

Jane Eyre showing in the States

Chrissy Breen Keffer writes:
Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre is marked by departures. The movie starts with Jane wresting open a door and fleeing Thornfield Hall. But the movie is marked by other departures as well. 

Mr. Fukunaga's main characters are far from the caricatures of past depictions. As Jane is about to be sent to the Lowood Institution, she confronts her Aunt Reed, and condemns the lie her aunt told Mr. Brocklehurst: "Deceit is not my fault." To which her aunt replies, "But you are passionate." Mia Wasikowska's Jane (played with an artless maturity that eludes actors twice her age) is no meek church mouse; she is a fiery red-head who doesn't cower before anyone. Similarly, Michael Fassbender (pictured below) brings subtlety and depth to the role of Rochester. In this movie, we see Rochester as Brontë intends him to be: purposeful, yet with a sense of humor and a soft vulnerability. 

Constrained by cinematic time limitations, Mr. Fukunaga necessarily weeds out scenes from the novel. Much of Jane's story - her years at Lowood, interactions with Rochester (farewell mysterious gypsy!), her stay with the Riverses - is whittled down to a bare minimum. Some of the complexity of the original story is lost - this is especially true of Saint John Rivers; he is no foil to Rochester - yet Mr. Fukunaga is still able to capture the essence of Jane Eyre.

Mr. Fukunaga takes directorial liberties, but to good effect. He restructures the book, weaving the story of her childhood into the story of her adulthood. The serene yet beautiful English countryside becomes a window to Jane's state of mind (expansive and blooming with Rochester, wind-whipped and snow-covered with Saint John). He also employs some tricks of the trade - thumps, creaks, startling noises, and whispers carried on the wind - to give the movie its gothic feel.   
This movie is marked by departures: from previous projects for the director (Sin Nombre) and cast (Wasikowska's Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are Alright and Fassenberg's Inglorious Basterds), from previous portrayals, and even from the arc of the novel. But these departures, ironically and counter-intuitively, bring it closer to the original than any previous version. 

** Fukunaga visit to the Parsonage - see http://bit.ly/Azlmqh

Below- Cary Fukunaga:

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