Jane Eyre (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
The music featured in Jane Eyre has the daunting task of providing the score for one of the most recognized stories in literature. The music also must promote the overall feeling of mournfulness and melancholy. Even in the happiest of situations, it seems as though something always has potential to go wrong. The soundtrack for the film helps to bring an authentic feel and to score the motion and feelings of the characters as they discover themselves and each other with something sinister still lurking in the background.
“Yes!” and “My Edward and I” both come off as quite mournful, but they still both present a sense of happiness. This really gets at an overall mood of the movie that, though at times some of the characters are happy, overall this is not an incredibly happy story. The romance between Jane and Rochester is plagued with many other problems, but at times, there is just enough of a break for the two characters to be happy together.
“Wandering Jane” and “Jane’s Escape” both suggest that our heroine, Jane Eyre, is searching for something. Throughout the course of the story, it seems that Jane is always on the run from something. This lack of an ability to find some place to settle or the need to escape is key in Jane’s story because she cannot truly choose a place to be until she comes to the realization of what she truly wants, and this doesn’t come until very late in her story.
“Do You Never Laugh, Miss Eyre?” really promotes the idea of a lack of playfulness in the story. Most of the story is quite gloomy, much like Jane’s past. Jane really doesn’t have many experiences besides those horrors of her past, so as a result, she’s not especially cheerful when she begins her life as a governess.
The track, “Waiting for Mr. Rochester,” almost has an epic feel to it. This song is mournful yet hopeful, and it feels as though the music is progressing in some direction. Jane and Rochester’s romance blooms over time, and when something finally happens, those involved with the story feel as though this is what the story has really been missing.
Throughout the story and the soundtrack, there’s a suggestion that something very strange is going on at Thornfield Hall, and “A Restless Night” also brings up this suggestion through music. The track moves very slowly and eerily as though you don’t quite know what’s to come next, but whatever it is, it can’t be good. The song just gives listeners an uneasy feeling, much as anyone would have an uneasy feeling being in Thornfield Hall after dark.
The music on the Jane Eyre soundtrack helps to move the film along, and at times, it serves to buildup anticipation for what will come next in the plot. The music is important as a whole in conveying the powerful emotions that are being expressed by characters in the film as well as expressing the many odd events that go on that many people would not dream possible.