JANE EYRE: THE FIRST FEMINIST?
If novels by the Brontë sisters were the opening salvos of modern feminism, then Jane Eyre (1847) is the finest masterpiece in opening that debate. In the film adaptation, directed by Cary Fukunaga, Jane Eyre not only unmasks how feminism can liberate both sexes from nonsensical stereotypic roles but also depicts the inner contradictions of feudalism in capitalist Britain. Jane (played by Mia Wasikowski), an orphaned member of the upper classes, is cast out by a narcissistic relative and forced to become a humble servant to survive. Much later, she demonstrates such intense reverence for close human relationships that she is willing to bestow an inherited fortune in order to cling to equalitarian-oriented family ties. Edward Fairfax Rochester (played by Michael Fassbender) has been seeking true love in vain, but his estranged and insane wife has taken most of his fortune. When he meets his newly hired governess, the unpretentious, plain speaking Jane, he begins to fall in love as she does with him. But Jane Eyre is a romantic novel, that is, one in which true love is depicted as unattainable because of rigid social conventions—at least until those conventions are swept away by fortuitous circumstances. The story, by Charlotte Brontë, is semiautobiographical but was originally written pseudonymously. The biting social criticism comes from her personal experiences. The production is so well done, with gorgeous period costuming, that filmviewers will want to linger in the cinema to hear the music as credits roll. MH