ByTowne ByTowne Cinema
ByTowne Cinema
325 Rideau St. Ottawa K1N 5Y4
Info Line: (613) 789-FILM
Jane Eyre (1996)
Print this pageMust-See Cinema! Compare & contrast the two Janes!
Showtimes:
No screenings currently scheduled.
In anticipation of the new version of Jane Eyre by Sin Nombre director Cary Fukunaga (opening April 1st at the ByTowne), we hunted around a bit and found this Franco Zefferelli take on the timeless classic. Lovers of literature, and lovers of love stories, will want to see both!
Starring the Brontë lookalike Charlotte Gainsbourg and the troubled William Hurt as a more shaded Rochester than we have been used to, this Jane Eyre is magnificent, perhaps the best yet.
We meet the young Jane (Anna Paquin) in the spare and unloving home of her mean-spirited aunt. She’s a wilful and obstinate girl and she is dispatched to Lowood school ‘to be made useful, to be kept humble,’ as her aunt says. ‘We shall tame her unruly spirit,’ says the awful headmaster, but, Jane, of course, is untamable. Jane grows up to get a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall, owned by the mysterious Edward Rochester. It is at Thornfield that the overwrought dramas of Jane Eyre are mostly played out: a big empty mansion of forbidden rooms, strange noises and dark secrets.
Zeffirelli has made a career out of remounting familiar classics – from Romeo & Juliet in 1968 to Mel Gibson’s Hamlet – in a lush light, and his touch is evident in every frame of Jane Eyre. He opens the inner world of the book, and adds some sunshine to it: a cold and imposing world filled with real people and unreal romance.
– Jay Stone, The Ottawa Citizen
The ByTowne doesn't have a parking lot of its own, but denizens of downtown can usually find street parking close by fairly easily.
This web site is very useful, but the hard copy of the ByTowne guide still has its merits. People rely on it and love it. Plus, its calendar pages can be pulled out and posted on your fridge door, something that we still can't achieve with the web site. Get your copy today at many local stores, coffee shops and info centres around town! 