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A well-informed write up. It's always instructive to see the choices screenwriters make in adapting novels, particularly classics like "Jane Eyre" that have been adapted so many times already.

Concur, pgronk. Femme does a great job here with her analysis. If you read the script, it's remarkable that at 92 pages -- 92! -- it tells the story of Jane Eyre in a complete and satisfying way, as Femme notes in her post. I've only adapted a handful of projects myself, but any time I interview a screenwriter who is known for adaptations, I always ask this question: Isn't it in some ways more challenging to figure out what to OMIT from the source material compared to what to INCLUDE in the script? And they almost always answer, "yes." You have to be focused on a character, plot and themes, and be ruthless with every potential scene and subplot: Does this belong? Does this advance THIS version of the story? Choices like the one Buffini did with the "inciting event," as noted by Femme, can critically influence the narrative, allowing the adapter to cut other aspects of the source material and still convey a comprehensive sense of the story. Buffini gave a BAFTA lecture and you can see video excerpts plus read an entire transcript by going here.

The script gave an amazing reading experience, truly. As it is suggested, the opening immediately hooks us, as also the resolution was bulls eye. I think as we move through the pages, the story moved like hook, sympathy, hook, sympathy. Opening,The fire, Richards injuries, interruption in the wedding being all hooks. Jane's childhood, Rochester leaving, coming back with ingram and then the wife's revelation, blind Rochester all arousing sympathy, This turned out to be great pattern as it makes us drive through the pages like rocket! i started reading it and finished it in one go! This story was fascinating! Unpredictable, believable. As for the movie, was amazinngly shot, I watched it just after. The sceneries, the composition and acting and lighting all had given me a simply beatiful experience.

Alice, your comments speak to the importance of a story creating a 'narrative drive,' a sense of propulsion that carries into and through the entire set of events. And one key to that is highlighted in your summary: "hook, sympathy, hook, sympathy". Hook: Equals an event that occurs that hooks into the plot and causes it to head into a new direction. This constant sense of change keeps the reader on his/her toes, developing a sense of anticipation throughout. We are curious to see what happens next and that curiosity becomes part of the narrative drive experience. Sympathy: This speaks to the Internal World of the story whereby the events compel characters to respond and change. Here, too, we become involved in the story, but in a deeper, emotional way, finding ourselves (in a good story) living vicariously through the characters' experience. That simple dynamic -- hook, sympathy, as you describe it -- is an experience that happens over and over and over again, creating this dance between events in the Plotline and emotional impact in the Themeline. Together they are instrumental in generating a sense of narrative drive. How did the movie compare to the script and vice versa? Did you notice any substantive differences or is what's on the screen substantially the same as the script? Thanks for your observations!

I think some of the dialogues and some actions were not potrayed in the movie or altered such as hannah refusing to let jane in at the opening scene. And when ingram comes and adele wishes to be with her father jane stops her and says that he wont be asking for her that day. I have a question. Do we have to read the script first than watch the movie or is it the opposite? Will it do if the movie is watched twice after the script is read? Or should I watch the movie first and then analyse the script? Could u please give some suggestions? Anyone.

I think what Scott might suggest is to watch the movie while comparing it to the script simultaneously. Have a look at the Script to Screen series on this blog to see how this might benefit.

I'm afraid I'm not much help with regard to suggesting script or movie first. I've read the novel Jane Eyre innumerable times since childhood, and I'd already seen the 2011 film based on Buffini's screenplay at least a half-dozen times. If I could offer an alternative method for evaluating the Buffini script against other productions, it would be to check YouTube for segments of Jane Eyre from different productions and compare them to both the 2011 script and film. The proposal scene in particular, which I've excerpted above as a Memorable Dialogue, has been copied from many different productions. 2011 version Playlist (includes 2007, 1996, 1983, the musical, 1973, 1970, and the 1972 Czech versions) 1943 version (Do note the screenwriters on this version!) BUT WAIT — DON'T WATCH THEM FIRST! Listen to the proposals without watching them, and ask yourself which ones sound most natural. You'll have to mentally screen out ambient noise, post-production audio, and score where applicable, as well as the crappy accents of some of the actors. You'll be able to hear the added bulk and confusion created in several of the versions with the mention of a new job in Ireland — Buffini's version omits this altogether as it adds nothing to the scene to further the plot. Then watch them; some are annoyingly awkward in a whole host of ways, including hammy acting and iffy direction. You'll be able to see what direction adds to the scene on top of the script. Take note, too, of the amount of time each scene takes from beginning to the relative end. One of my favorite versions is the 1943 film starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles. Welles is over the top, but Fontaine offers a lovely restrained performance (if you can hear past the bloated score), especially when compared to many of her later counterparts in the same role. Mia Wasikowska's performance is probably closest in emotion to hers, though Mia is better — she inhabits the part. The script for this scene is nearly as spare as Buffini's version. Of course it can't hurt to take a peek at the novel itself to see what all adaptations used or omitted. A free version can be found at Gutenberg.org; just Ctrl-F and search for Chapter XXIII in which the proposal scene occurs. [Sidenote: one evening both the 1943 version and the 2011 were playing concurrently on TMC and a movie network. I flipped back and forth between them; apart from the opening scene in the 2011 version, both movies tracked together simultaneously through Jane Eyre's backstory, even though the 1943 version was gothic and weighty. If memory serves, they are nearly in sync for ~40 minutes, then diverge — yet the two versions couldn't be more different. It's pure coincidence but remarkable, considering how much content had been rearranged and cut in the later version.] And now I am fully revealed as the period film geek that I am...