Movie · 2011 · Drama, Romance · 2h · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 6.3/10 (211.8K ratings)
She sought refuge… and found a place haunted by secrets.
Overview
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?
Ratings
Curator score: 6.3/10
IMDb: 7.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.66/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 85%
Metacritic: 76
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Cary Joji Fukunaga
Production
BBC Film, Ruby Films, Focus Features, Lipsync Productions
Cast
Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Sally Hawkins, Simon McBurney, Valentina Cervi, Judi Dench, Su Elliot, Holliday Grainger, Tamzin Merchant, Amelia Clarkson, Craig Roberts, Lizzie Hopley, Jayne Wisener, Freya Wilson, Emily Haigh, Sandy McDade, Freya Parks, Edwina Elek, Ewart James Walters
Curator Review
Verdict
A moody, emotionally restrained Gothic romance with strong atmosphere, elegant period detail, and a compelling central push-pull between desire and self-respect. It’s especially rewarding if you like literary adaptations that lean into repression, class tension, and haunted-house melodrama.
Best for
fans of Brontë-style literary adaptations
viewers who like Gothic romance and atmospheric period drama
people drawn to emotionally intense but restrained love stories
audiences who enjoy strong production design and wintery visuals
Skip if
you want a light, swoony romance with a happy-go-lucky tone
you dislike period dialect, restraint, or emotional repression
you prefer fast-paced plotting over slow-burn character tension
you are not interested in gothic secrets, melancholy, or domestic dread
Overview
Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre is a beautifully controlled adaptation that treats romance as something earned through pain, memory, and moral stubbornness. The film’s cold palette and windswept landscapes give the story a haunted quality, while Mia Wasikowska plays Jane with quiet force rather than sentimentality.
Worth noting
Michael Fassbender’s Rochester is all volatility and wounded charisma, which makes the central relationship feel dangerous in the right way. The movie understands that the appeal of Jane Eyre is not just the love story, but the tension between independence and longing, and it keeps that balance with real discipline.
Bottom line
It may feel a little austere if you want a lush, sweeping period romance, but that severity is part of its power. This is a version for viewers who like their passion filtered through shadow, restraint, and moral consequence.
Top Letterboxd reviews
martika (4.5★) · 5087 likes
imagine Fassbender asking you "do you think me handsome?" and you have to say no
phoebe 💫 (4.5★) · 3899 likes
My ABSOLUTE favourite part of this masterpiece is when Jane’s like “I’ve never seen a city!! I’ve never even talked to a man!” and like five minutes later Michael Fassbender shows up and is like “Jane....you forest elf....from what woodsy hovel do you hail....do you find me handsome...you bewitching fairy creature.....be my wife.....” like how do you REACT
jenna🌞 (5★) · 2642 likes
Imagine needing plain and unattractive characters and then casting Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender
terry (5★) · 2392 likes
Charlotte Brontë: Edward Rochester was unattractive.
Casting directors: No.
lauren (3.5★) · 2153 likes
the men in period dramas fall in love so effortlessly, at the drop of a hat. where is that energy today, men? hm??