My Name Is Bonnie and I'm a Jane Eyre Addict

 More love for Jane Eyre. Thanks to the great advice of RhubarbsMom, I was able to download the kindle movie tie-in version of Jane Eyre without actually buying a kindle. I didn't reread the book, but rather skipped right to the screenplay that I had been longing for. What was GREAT about this screenplay was that it included lines and scenes that didn't make it into the final movie. I understand why they didn't because if they HAD been included the movie would have been somewhere around three hours (not that I personally would mind).

My analysis of the screenplay:

I would highly recommend any other Jane Eyre fanatics to download (FREE) the Kindle software and purchase the Kindle movie tie-in version of the novel, just for the benefit of reading the screenplay. It was absolutely amazing. The movie itself was not so scary (though I jumped here and there) but the screenplay definitely portrays it as a gothic movie. There was one idea in particular that I actually liked that didn't make it into the film. Moira Buffini wrote the script so that we get more acquainted with Helen Burns through her ghost. Her ghost often appears in places and points of dispair for Jane, as if comforting her. Mind you, the ghost doesn't talk because that would be too creepy, but I thought it was a nice little idea.

Blanche Ingram was also originally given a much greater part in the movie and she appeared much more in the screenplay.

OH!!! My favorite thing about the screenplay that didn't appear in the movie was that voiceovers were actually going to be used in a particular scene. Do you remember how in the movie they showed the little glimpses of Jane and Rochester's courtship? Well they originally intended to do this same idea with voiceovers from Jane AND Rochester, adding more conversation. So basically, they would have been shooting different scenes of Rochester and Jane wasting the month of courtship while the characters were doing voiceovers of one of the conversations from the book. That conversation was the one in which Rochester says "For you are a beauty in my eyes and I wish to make the world acknowledge you a beauty." Gosh, I would have loved that!

There's also a bit more emphasis on NAMES in the screenplay. It goes out of its way to point out that the name "Mrs. Edward Fairfax Rochester" was put on Jane's traveling trunk before the marriage got broken off. Also, during the leaving scene, Edward tries to tempt Jane a bit more by embracing her and laying her down and he says "You've never called me by my name. My name is Edward...say it" and the writer adds that he says this gently, which sharply contrasts to what happens later on in the film when St. John yells the same lines at her, saying "Say his name. Say it!!"

I also found a lot more physicality between Rochester and Jane in the original screenplay. As I've just mentioned, in the leaving scene he tries to lay her down and tempt her. I can imagine it. However, it also shows up in other ways. There is a lot of focus on the contact between hands, which I love because that was in the novel too. Cary also commented on that in one of his interviews. We didn't see it all that much in the final movie, but in the screenplay it was definitely highlighted because Moira Buffini actually intended for Rochester to lose his hand during the fire (which most previous adaptations chose not to do, save the 1983 and the 1973 if I remember correctly). I for one am glad that they didn't make him lose a hand. It doesn't translate well to a modern audience, and that's exactly what Cary thought. He says that back then it might have been a bit more normal, but nowadays it's considered highly melodramatic. I agree. I also think that the facial hair was alarming enough.

One last thing I wish they had put into the movie...
This screenplay included my favorite quote from the novel that NEVER gets put in any of the movie. It's not a quote that most Jane Eyre diehards normally go to first, but it's my favorite in the entire book and none of the movies ever use it. It's a quote used during the conversation between the servant and Jane when he's telling her about the fire at Thornfield. He says:

 " The governess had run away two months before;
and for all Mr. Rochester sought her as if she had been the most
precious thing he had in the world, he never could hear a word of
her; and he grew savage--quite savage on his disappointment: he
never was a wild man, but he got dangerous after he lost her."

Anyway, in the returning scene when Jane sees Mrs. Fairfax, the screenplay includes that line. Unfortunately, they didn't end up using it, but It made my night when I read it. I sincerely hope that the deleted scenes will be included on the DVD now that I've gotten a taste of what they were. If they are, then I'm sure that my life will be complete. 

My name is Bonnie and I am a Jane Eyre addict!! However, I don't really think I want to go to rehab. :)