Review of Becoming Jane (2007) by Amanda H — 15 Jun 2010

(from The Watermark, 08/23/2007).

Jane Austen's answer to Shakespeare In Love, this film is a fictionalized account of the writer's early romantic life that inspired her to create some of her most famous novels (in particular Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility). This version of Austen (Hathaway) is a young farm girl with a struggling family who hopes she will marry well. She is faced with a typical Austen-esque quandary: should she marry the rich man she doesn't love, or the poor man she does? Enjoyably, the treatment of the story happens in the style of one of Austen's own novels -- there is just enough reference to her actual work that die-hard fans will be satisfied while the uninitiated won't be confused or distracted. The elements are all there: strong female characters; a clear-cut delineation between city life and country life; themes of class, wealth, and propriety; matters of the head vs. the heart; a light touch of humor; and of course at the core, a charming love story. Hathaway is perfect as young Jane, and even surrounded by an all-British cast, there is nothing detectably American about her. McEvoy makes for a dashing and typically British leading man (charming if not drop-dead attractive). Their chemistry absolutely works, while Walters, Cromwell, and Smith lend spot-on support as the elders trying to push Jane into a life she doesn't want. The extra perk of the film is that we get a (loose) education about the early life of this highly influential writer. Though some argue that there is a lot of fabrication and speculation as far as what really happened in the author's life, certainly Austen herself wouldn't have been opposed to a little poetic license.