Movie Review: Becoming Jane

Becoming Jane (2007) 

Directed by Julian Jarrold

Written by Kevin Hood, Sarah Williams

Starring Anne Hathaway, James MacAvoy, Julie Walters, Maggie Smith, James Cromwell

Release Date August 3rd, 2007

Published August 3rd, 2007

The real life of legendary romance writer Jane Austen is shrouded by mystery and mostly lost to history. All that remains of the real Jane Austen are scraps of letters she wrote to her sister, most of which her sister burned at Ms. Austen's request. Also left is the one and only portrait of Jane Austen, a hand drawn caricature also done by her sister. That portrait remains a treasure in England where it hangs in the Jane Austen museum, the home of her brother where Jane wrote her masterpiece Persuasion before passing away at age 41.

Jane Austen remains a national treasure in England where her Pride & Prejudice has seen remarkable sales for over a century. The books many adaptations have won accolades, television ratings and banked large box office sums as well. Now comes an American attempt at telling the life story of this British legend. Becoming Jane stars American Anne Hathaway and posits a fictional romance in order to tell the story of Ms. Austen's inspiration for Pride & Prejudice.

This may sound like blasphemy to any Englishman with good sense, and indeed it may be. However, much of Becoming Jane is a splendid little trifle of a romance that is never dull and often quite enchanting.

Anne Hathaway, the gifted young star of the Princess Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada, takes on the challenging role of Jane Austen the author of such timeless romances as Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion. Becoming Jane is a fictional take on how Jane Austen was inspired to write her first masterpiece, Pride & Prejudice, and the decisions about love and family that would shape her too short life.

James McAvoy (Starter For 10) plays Tom LeFroy, a real life aquaintance of Jane Austen, though they were never romantically linked as far as any historian knows. In the fictional world of Becoming Jane, LeFroy is a boy lawyer living off his uncle, a judge, when he meets Jane, the eldest of the Austen sisters and the one required by family to marry above her station in order to keep the family solvent.

Jane's younger sister Cassandra (Anna Maxwell Martin) is already promised to a young man who will take over their father's church one day. Thus, it is left to Jane to make certain that her mother (Julie Walters) and youngest brother, a handicapped boy, are taken care of through her marriage. Jane however, refuses to marry without love.

Unfortunately, Tom is not of rich enough stock for Jane to marry. Being a young man in the law profession, it will be many years before he is solvent and able to take over the family fortune and good name of his uncle. Even then, he will need to be well married in order for his uncle to approve and their is simply no way that his uncle would approve of Jane, the peasant daughter of a church minister.

Thus the story of Pride & Prejudice played out in the life of Jane Austen. In reality, it is far more likely that Jane witnessed similar stories from afar or simply imagined the class warfare and invented her work. Historical fact however, is irrelevant to a light hearted, childish, Disney romance like Becoming Jane. This a simpleminded romance with only the goal of placing obstacles between two star-crossed lovers and hoping that we are compelled to ooh and ahh at their potential for life long companionship.

That Becoming Jane manages to be quite winning even as it tramples upon the real life story of a literary legend is quite a feat. Nevertheless, Becoming Jane is a real charmer.

Put aside for a moment the many blasphemies of Becoming Jane, such as a plot so easygoing and unpretentious that Ms. Austen herself likely would have trashed the paper it was written on. Forget the historical inaccuracies and the fake romance and the carelessness inherent in adapting the life story of a legend and then bending the facts of her life to the conventions of a typical romantic comedy.

Forget all of that for a moment, and understand that Becoming Jane may be an awful idea in theory, it is quite successful in execution. Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy spark a lovely little onscreen romance of salty banter, smoldering gazes and painful partings. Meanwhile, director Julian Jarrold keeps the mood light and airy but with a professional flair, with just a hint of the goofy vibe of his previous international success, Kinky Boots.

The Jane Austen cult is likely to revolt over seeing the life of their legend so simplistically drawn on screen and they have a point. Becoming Jane plays fast and loose with the life story of a historic literary figure. But therein lies the boldness of the enterprise. Their is a cheeky vibe to the lack of kneeling and bowing at the feet of legend and that gives just a slight spark to an already sparky, charming little romance.

For non-Austen-ites, Becoming Jane is just the kind of movie treat that goes down easy on a friday night.