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August 24, 2007 > Arts & Entertainment > Indie biography drags down Jane Austen’s real passions

Indie biography drags down Jane Austen’s real passions

By Jackie Ammons | Thresher staff

Fans of anything pertaining to novelist Jane Austen will likely flock to see the independent film Becoming Jane, an attempted portrayal of the Romantic writer’s romantic history. However, all but the most ardent Austenites will be disappointed by the film’s lack of an Austenesque plotline, and other moviegoers will simply be bored to tears. As true to history as the film tries to be, the writer’s love life drags on and on and encourages historical interest — but nearly no entertainment interest.

Based on the life of Jane Austen (The Devil Wears Prada’s Anne Hathaway) and drawn from her letters to her sister Cassandra (I Really Hate My Job’s Anna Maxwell Martin), Becoming Jane fills in the details of Austen’s brief but supposedly influential love affair Thomas Lefroy (The Last King of Scotland’s James McAvoy). Despite the outcries of her father (Spider Man’s James Cromwell) and mother (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’s Julie Walters), Jane manages to fall in love with Lefroy. This movie suggests that Austen’s romance with Lefroy had a substantial impact on her writing, yet the exploits of her fictitious heroines are entirely different.

Becoming Jane almost completely lacks plot elements characteristic of her novels despite being advertised as a tale comparable to Austen novels. The creators, in the interest of historical accuracy, make the mistake of not catering to their audience. Loyal fans of Jane Austen read novels and enjoy movies such as Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion for three common elements: rich men, wittily confident heroines and a happy ending. Unfortunately, Becoming Jane lacks all of these features.

First, Lefroy is without any fortune and depends entirely on his wealthy uncle for his and his family’s income. Audiences will find the Jane in this movie lacking the critical confidence found in Elizabeth Bennet and Marianne Dashwood — she promises to marry two men but runs away from both, and she quickly tears up her manuscript when faced with a slight criticism of her work.

Additionally, the ending of Becoming Jane is disappointing, as the camera leaves an unmarried Jane reading Pride & Prejudice to her former lover’s daughter.

Aside from generally missing the expectations of its target audience, Becoming Jane is a beautiful film. Shot almost exclusively in Ireland, the movie contains gorgeous long shots of landscapes and homesteads. Nevertheless, the extended sojourns on the countryside and montages of farm life — suckling pigs included — will bore both Austenites and regular moviegoers alike. These scenes, although breathtaking, detract from the story and seem to extend the monotony of the slow-paced plot.

Following her cowgirl prowess as a Texan in Brokeback Mountain, Hathaway pulls off a decent English accent, and her portrayal of a pretty and unique young woman subject to the criticism of an unforgiving, proper society is convincing. Lefroy, while lacking the wealthy-man ethos of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Frederick Wentworth, becomes intriguing to the audience due to McAvoy’s roguish looks and subliminal charm.

Becoming Jane garners points for its beauty and taste. However, the film’s appeal drops because it was advertised as something it is not: a typical Austen tale. The anti-Austen guise of romance will only confuse and disappoint audiences at the end of the film.

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