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The classy cast includes William Hurt as Rochester Charlotte Gainsbourg as Jane Joan Plowright

The classy cast includes William Hurt as Rochester, Charlotte Gainsbourg as Jane, Joan Plowright as Mrs Fairfax, with Billie Whitelaw, Fiona Shaw and Samuel West.Pluses: Can’t be as bad as Peter Kosminsky’s 1992 version of sister Emily’s Wuthering Heights, which launched Ralph Fiennes but crashed thanks to Juliette Binoche who was as English as Dom Perignon but with less sparkle.Minuses: Elle MacPherson lives up to her nickname, “the Body”; her voice was dubbed. Seventeen-year-old Nastassia Kinski was utterly photogenic but wrong as the shunned country girl who loses her child, ricochets between lover and husband, and comes to a sticky end.Coming soon: The Woodlanders, starring hearthrobs Rufus Sewell (Colin Firth with bigger hair), and Linus Roache (Priest, Seaforth), Emily Woof and Polly Walker.PLAIN JANE EYREThe book (1847): Charlotte Bronte’s Plain Jane grows up in an orphanage, becomes a governess and falls for her Byronic, bad-tempered boss, Mr Rochester, only to discover he is already married to the archetypal madwoman in the attic. Polanski gave us restraint where we should have had ravishment and ruin. Best thing about it was Nicolas Roeg’s lush cinematography and an equally lush score by the composer du jour, Richard Rodney Bennett. Determinedly faithful to the book despite the golden tresses of Julie Christie as the raven- haired Bathsheba Everdene being fought over by Terence Stamp, Peter Finch and Alan Bates.Tess (1979): beautifully crafted but tame.

Keepers of the Hardy flame willattempt to murder the location manager because the film is shot in Scotland and the north not Wessex.Variety says: “Minimises the downside of Hardy’s bleakest novel. Commercially, however, this will need savvy marketing and excellent reviews to break out of the middle ground between pure arthouse fare and quality mainstream films, especially given the pic’s novel approach and lack of marquee wattage.”Poke-bonnet rating? Too much poke, not enough bonnet.Hardy’s previous screen outings: Far from the Madding Crowd (1967). “Dirt, drivel and damnation,” yelped the Pall Mall Gazette upon publication. Hardy was so appalled by its reception he abandoned fiction altogether.The movie: Jude stars the exceedingly hot Kate Winslet – no stranger to period frocks after covering her mantelpiece with awards for Sense and Sensibility – and Christopher Eccleston, last seen in Our Friends in the North. Also stars the sainted June Whitfield in a cameo role as reproving Aunt Drusilla.Pluses: can’t be as bad as the TV film of The Return of the Native, starring Catherine Zeta Jones re-rehearsing her Darling Buds of May character.Minuses: low feel-good factor in a powerfully tragic tale Unhappy ending.

Stonemason Jude Fawley yearns for a classical education but is sidetracked by a disastrous marriage after which he becomes obsessed by his independepent-minded cousin Sue Bridehead. Liza Minnelli could do with a hit …JUDE THE WHO?The book (1894): a scandalous novel concerning a struggle to the death between flesh and spirit, infused with dreams, desire and deception No laughs. Sense and Sensibility: Ang Lee proved you don’t have to be English to direct “our Jane”, but having either or both of the Thompson sisters on hand helps.Persuasion: Roger Michell’s film provoked a fit of the vapours among Jane-ites with its final kiss in the street, obscuring the fact this was a simply tremendous version of her most sombre novel.Coming soon: rival TV versions including one from the Pride and Prejudice team Shame she only completed six novels They’ll just have to make Jane Austen, the bio-pic. But the costume of the period, all heaving bosom and Empire line, wasn’t glamorous enough.

A romantic comedy with jokes rather than a comedy of manners.Variety says: “Gwyneth Paltrow shines brightly as Jane Austen’s most endearing character, the disastrously self-assured matchmaker Emma Woodhouse. A fine cast, speedy pacing and playful direction make this a solid contender for the Austen sweepstakesPoke-bonnet rating? All bonnet, no poke.Austen’s previous screen outings: Pride and Prejudice (1940) was an MGM classic, co-scripted by Aldous Huxley, and starring Greer Garson as Lizzie and Laurence Olivier as Colin Firth, sorry, Darcy. Clock the scene in the bower where apples appear to grow vertically from small bits of dowelling Looks like it was financed by Interflora and Persil. We get to see Juliet Stevenson (Mrs Elton) play comedy at last.Minuses: the designer is horticulturally challenged.