ACTORS PROVIDE ONLY SPARKS IN THIS CHILLY `JANE EYRE'.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Staff Writer

Don't expect a merry tug-of-war between sense and sensibility in ``Jane Eyre.'' Charlotte Bronte's classic English novel - and director Franco Zeffirelli's new adaptation - depict Victorian country life at its repressive and drastic, from the brutish boarding school endured by the young Jane Eyre (Anna Paquin) to the isolated country manor where she goes to work as a governess.

Much of the movie is slow going, with drab costuming, perfunctory scripting and broad, almost campy performances in the villainous roles.

Perhaps that's why it's such a relief when William Hurt gallops onto the screen, and after a clumsily staged fall from his horse, begins the first full-bodied performance in the movie as the complex and tormented Mr. Rochester, owner of the manor where Jane (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg as a young woman) is employed.

In Rochester's presence, the gifted but reserved Jane comes to life, discovering for the first time a person with whom she can communicate. Rochester discovers in Jane a bold and enchanting conversationalist, unbowed by her status as a household servant.

The mesmerizing bond that develops between these two - both mistreated by life but making their way through it with a kind of bruised but steely dignity - is all the more compelling for the bleak, unforgiving landscape against which it unfolds, and whenever they are on screen together, the movie is well worth watching.

Gainsbourg, who is the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French composer/filmmaker Serge Gainsbourg, won France's Cesar Award for best actress at 15, and is an unusual, haunting presence, perfectly cast as Jane. Though Rochester first describes her as ``quaint, quiet, grave and simple,'' he comes to see Jane as his first true companion and the one who can redeem him from the bitterness of a life of betrayal.

Though at one point Gainsbourg breaks into French for a lesson with the child she teaches, she's otherwise completely convincing in the English role, as is Hurt, an American who speaks the script's period English without adopting an accent, and young Paquin, an Oscar winner for ``The Piano,'' who comes from New Zealand.

Will Jane and Rochester ever reveal their feelings for each other? Can a penniless governess escape a life of humble servitude? What is the source of that mysterious, lunatic laughter in the attic, and the violent acts of pyromania that upset the house from time to time?

Zeffirelli (``Romeo and Juliet,'' ``Hamlet'' with Mel Gibson) hasn't done wonders with the often-filmed material - much of the movie seems rushed and perfunctory, as though there wasn't time or budget for more than the most obvious reading of scenes.

Still, he has found fortune with the casting of Hurt and Gainsbourg, who make the love story unusual and haunting. And Bronte's take on English life makes an interesting contrast to last year's multitude of Jane Austen works - showing us a more Gothic atmosphere and even stricter, more forbidding social codes that make our own freedoms, less than 150 years later, seem all the more remarkable.

THE FACTS The film: ``Jane Eyre'' (PG; adult references, frightening scenes).

The stars: William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Joan Plowright, Anna Paquin, Geraldine Chaplin, Fiona Shaw, John Wood, Elle MacPherson.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Produced by Dyson Lovell. Written by Hugh Whitemore and Franco Zeffirelli, based on the novel by Charlotte Bronte. Released by Miramax Films.

Running time: One hour, 52 minutes.

Playing: AMC Promenade, Woodland Hills; AMC Cecchi Gori Fine Arts, Beverly Hills; Goldwyn Pavilion, West Los Angeles; Laemmle's Monica, Santa Monica.

Our rating: Two Stars.

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Photo: William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg portray people bruised by life but nevertheless facing it with steely determination in ``Jane Eyre.''