Review of Becoming Jane (2007) by Jeff B — 29 Sep 2010

Pleasant, yet routine romantic fable about the life and loves of Jane Austen. The film is very beautiful to watch and the actors quite good, particularly James McAvoy, but the parallels that we are meant to spot between the author's tragic love affair and the future plots of her novels lead to an ever-present feeling of over-familiarity - however, this is offset by the time the film reaches its resolution, as we learn that in real-life, things do not always work out as well as they do in fiction.

Austen enthusiasts will no doubt embrace it, while purists will be rolling their eyes, but those just looking for a good weepie will be satisfied. Film never strays far from the subject of how to find a rich man and marry him despite not loving him, and loving a poor man and being not able to marry him - it would have been more refreshing to learn about Austen's family in a little more detail (I never knew she had a deaf/mute brother - that would've been interesting to find out more about) as would more time devoted toward exploring the attitudes regarding women authors at the time - the film just briefly touches on this.