Note d’intention de Franco Zeffireli Concernant Jane Eyre-621

Jane Eyre, a happy novel, was a success from its very first publication. It also caused a sensation. However, at first sight, the story has the elements typical of the romanticism of the time, complete with literary stereotypes: pity for mistreated childhood, a gloomy orphanage, the misery of loneliness, etc. But there was one totally original element that continues to make the novel very "different" even today: the personality of its heroine, Jane Eyre, the very first example of the representation of a woman aware of herself, her will, her dignity and her feelings. A totally modern woman (something unthinkable at the time that the novel is set in, around 1830) who acts, speaks and moves with full awareness of her rights and her duties: heroic without bravado, proud without arrogance, honest without sentimentality, "loving" without lust. A character that one can easily show again today in this tormented world hungry for ideals.

In contrast to Jane, the complex personality of Rochester, an aristocrat in his forties, is falsely strong, just as the young woman who faces him and seduces him is falsely fragile. A withdrawn, suffering and tormented man, grouchy and proud, who hasn’t been able to face constraint and injustice with sufficient determination and who will find his own strength and deliverance in the young woman’s silent passion.

A gloomy atmosphere will characterize the film, livid and crude colours in tones of white, grey and black. Sharp contrasts to underline the loneliness that marks Jane’s life. The paintings of William Blake rather than Turner’s golden landscapes. The grey orphanage, in dark stone, oppressive and colourless where the girls flutter around like opaque birds. And then Rochester’s home, so different from the English nobleman’s home as usual represented on screen, the sum of different superposed styles. An austere, rigorous and severe house with its imposing and stark architecture, set in the heart of a damp, green and splendid natural world.

In writing the screenplay, we have attempted to respect the events of the novel in the first part. However, it has been necessary to lighten the second, slightly repetitive section. Finally, we have introduced a new element of our own: Jane’s journey to Madeira. This journey not only highlights the personality of the main character but will also appear as a flood of light in the context of the film. We shall suddenly find ourselves in a golden atmosphere full of light and colour in clear contrast with the dark and oppressive atmosphere of the whole first part. Madeira should appear as a dream, a promised land, an enchanted place where everything is beautiful and warm, where Jane Eyre will find herself different and yet equal to herself – rich, financially independent, alone but respected, esteemed and desired.

And this ample, relaxed and reassuring life proves simply too cramped for the woman, a woman who does not give up her feelings but rather this "promised land" to return to Rochester’s love. The actors’ performances will be dry and rigorous, with a scant musical commentary that will nonetheless contain a certain romantic resonance.