A mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer soon discovers that he's hiding a terrible secret.
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) 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, Mr. Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender). 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 Mr. Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?—Mel Bellis in the U.K.
Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) flees Thornfield House, where she works as a governess for wealthy Mr. Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender). The isolated and imposing residence, and Mr. Rochester's coldness, have sorely tested the young woman's resilience, forged years earlier when she was orphaned. As Jane reflects upon her past and recovers her natural curiosity, she will return to Mr. Rochester, and the terrible secret that he is hiding.—Focus Features
After being orphaned, Jane Eyre had a childhood being treated cruelly by those in charge of her welfare, first by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, then second those at Lowood School for Girls, where she at least received an education. Now nineteen, Jane, going by the assumed name Jane Elliott, arrives with nothing and within an inch of her life on the doorstep of Moor House, the home of the plain living Rivers siblings, who, led by St. John Rivers, not only nurse her back to health, but secure employment for her as a teacher. Why Jane has taken this new name is to hide from where she just came, her first position following her schooling, as governess to Adèle Varens, the French ward of Edward Fairfax Rochester, the master of Thornfield Hall. Despite a slightly antagonistic beginning and the differences in their position, a romantic attraction formed between Jane and Rochester despite he courting Blanche Ingram. It was not Blanche but a secret he hid from the world that led to Jane running away from Thornfield, he having placed her in the difficult position of bringing her into his confidence to hide that secret without telling her what that secret was or that he was indeed hiding something. Factors into what happens with Jane are her past catching up with her, time with St. John, her continued feelings for Rochester, and that secret.—Huggo
The film begins with Jane Eyre running away from Thornfield Hall in the middle of the night and finding herself alone on the moors, in the pouring rain. She manages to reach the doorstep of Moor House, the home of Mr. St. John Rivers, a clergyman, and his two sisters. They take Jane in, saving her life.
There follows a flashback, to the ten-year-old Jane Eyre, an orphan, living with her maternal uncle's family, the Reeds, at Gateshead. Jane's aunt, Sarah Reed, doesn't like Jane and is very cruel to her; Mrs. Reed's three children are also abusive towards her. One day, Jane is locked in the Red Room, where her uncle died, and which Jane believes is haunted. She knocks herself unconscious on the door, after a huge puff of smoke comes down the chimney. Jane's aunt sends her to Lowood School for Girls, which is run by a cruel clergyman, Mr. Brocklehurst. Mrs Reed tells him that Jane is a deceitful child and is not to be trusted. Jane tells her aunt how much she hates her and that she is a woman with a hard heart
Jane arrives at Lowood. While another pupil, Helen Burns, is being beaten, Jane accidentally drops her tray. Mr. Brocklehurst brands her a liar and makes her stand on a chair all day. Jane and Helen become close friends, but Helen later dies of typhus.Eight years later, Jane leaves Lowood and takes up a post with Alice Fairfax (Judie Dench) of Thornfield Hall. She will be a governess to Adele Varens, a young French orphan girl. When she first arrives at Thornfield, a gloomy, isolated mansion, Jane mistakes Mrs. Fairfax for her employer, but she finds out that she is only the housekeeper for her absent master. While Jane is walking into town, to post a letter, a horse passes her and throws its rider. Jane helps the gentleman to his horse. Later, back at the mansion, she learns that the horse rider is Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender), master of the house. He jokingly tells her that she must have bewitched his horse to make him fall. They gradually fall in love with each other.
One night, Jane is awoken by a strange noise at her door, to find that Mr. Rochester's room is on fire, which the two of them manage to extinguish. He thanks her for saving his life and holds her hand affectionately. The next day, Rochester leaves Thornfield to visit Lady Blanche Ingram, his future wife; he brings her back to Thornfield with him a few weeks later. When a man named Richard Mason, of Spanish Town, Jamaica, shows up, Jane can see that Rochester is disturbed. That night, a scream awakens everyone. Rochester assures his guests it is just a servant's reaction to a nightmare, but after they go back to their rooms, he has Jane secretly tend a bleeding Mason, while he fetches a doctor. Rochester has the doctor take Mason away.
Jane receives a letter from her old nurse, Bessie. Jane's cousin, John Reed, has committed suicide, the news of which has so shocked his mother, Sarah Reed, that it has brought on a stroke. Apparently, Mrs. Reed has been asking to see Jane. Jane returns to Gateshead, where her dying aunt shows her a letter from Jane's paternal uncle, John Eyre, asking for her to go to live with him in Madeira. He wants to adopt Jane and bequeath her at his death. Jane notices that the letter was dated three years ago. Mrs. Reed admits to telling her uncle that Jane had died of typhus at Lowood School. She tells Jane that she (Mrs. Reed) has been cursed by her. Jane forgives her aunt and returns to Thornfield, where she begins corresponding with John Eyre.
Jane informs Rochester that she must leave Thornfield, due to his impending marriage to Blanche Ingram. But Rochester suddenly proclaims his love for Jane and proposes to her; they kiss passionately. However, during the wedding ceremony, Mr. Mason appears, along with a lawyer, declaring that Mr. Rochester cannot marry Jane, because he is still married to Mr. Mason's sister, Bertha; he adds that his sister is still living at Thornfield Hall. Mr. Rochester admits this is true and takes Jane to meet his wife, calling her his own demon; they find her locked away in a room at Thornfield. Rochester tells Jane that his father wanted him to marry Bertha for her money. Once they were married, he discovered that she was rapidly descending into madness and was forced to lock her away in Thornfield; she was the one responsible for the strange happenings in the house. Refusing to go against her principles, and despite her love for Rochester, Jane leaves Thornfield in the middle of the night.
After Jane regains her health, St. John finds her a teaching position at a nearby charity school. One night, St. John appears, informing her that her uncle, John Eyre, has died, leaving her all his property and that she is rich, to the tune of 20,000 pounds. Jane offers to share the money with St. John and his sisters, suggesting that they live together at Moor house; they agree to the offer. St. John asks Jane to marry him and go with him to India. Jane agrees to go to India with him, but rejects the marriage proposal, suggesting that they travel as brother and sister, as that's how she sees their relationship. On the moor, Jane suddenly hears Rochester's voice calling her name.
Jane returns to Thornfield, only to find the house a blackened ruin. She learns from Mrs. Fairfax that Rochester's wife set the house on fire and died, jumping from the roof. Jane finds Rochester, but in the rescue attempt he has lost his eyesight. Jane reunites with him and they embrace.
