No, folks who know "Jane Eyre" only from the 2006 version, Bronte did *not* describe a statuesque, robust Jane with finely arched eyebrows and pouty lips. Zelah Clarke is not only, overall, the best Jane I've seen, she's one of the very few Janes whom producers were willing to cast as the book casts Jane. Don't even look at him." He's that radioactive with tamped down agony. If I saw Timothy Dalton performing Rochester in a singles bar, i would say, "That guy is trouble. Current fan favorite Toby Stephens doesn't even try. No other actor I've seen attempt this part conveys that black hole of despair as Timothy Dalton does. And here's the key thing - the actor performing Rochester has to convey that he has spent over a decade of his life in utter despair, lonely, living with an ugly, life-destroying secret. Rochester's imperiousness, his humor, his rage, his vulnerability: Dalton conveys all, sometimes seconds apart. You really can't tell if he's going to hurt Jane, or himself, in his desperation. But Dalton is scary more than once, here. Welles got the scary streak down, too, for example, when he shouts "Enough!" after Fontaine plays a short piano piece. Dalton brings the page's Rochester to quivering life on screen. I've never seen anything like his utter devotion to the role, the text, the dialogue, and Rochester's love for Jane. But Dalton gives a mesmerizing performance as Rochester.
And Timothy Dalton is nothing if not stunningly handsome. Rochester is, famously, not handsome Jane and Rochester are literature's famous ugly couple. As a long time "Jane Eyre" fan, I was prejudiced against Timothy Dalton as Rochester. There's a reason it has lasted 150 years plus, while other, slicker, sexier and easier texts, have disappeared. For me, someone who valued the book and didn't need it to be any less "wordy" or any less "Christian" or any more sexed up, this version's faithfulness to the novel Bronte actually wrote is its finest asset. The critics of this production say it is too close to the book. This "Jane Eyre," in spite of its technical flaws, brought the feeling back to me of reading "Jane Eyre" for the first time. not only is this the best "Jane Eyre" I've seen, it may be the best adaptation of any novel I've ever seen. Orson Welles' Rochester lived in cave-like gloom, very appropriate to the novel's Gothic mood. I just can't see Bronte's Rochester abiding such Martha Stewart domestic arrangements. And the sets don't fully convey the Gothic mood of the novel. And the pancake make-up is way too heavy. I felt like I was listening to a high school play. Everyone / everything is washed out in a bright white klieg light that, in some scenes, casts shadows on the wall behind the characters. So, I approached watching this the way I'd approach doing homework. I felt duty bound to watch the 1983 Timothy Dalton / Zelah Clarke adaptation of "Jane Eyre," because I'd just written an article about the 2006 BBC "Jane Eyre" for TheScreamOnline.