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More on Becoming Jane: Quotes from the Reviews

Posted in jane austen, Movie review on September 9, 2007| 3 Comments »


Once you admit that the Jane Austen depicted onscreen bears scant relation to any person named Jane Austen, living or dead, the film fulfills its purpose. I had never before considered her as a cricketer, for instance, and I am fairly sure that she never sought to elope, but I enjoyed both inventions—the one bucolic and triumphant, the other sodden and frustrated, and presumably meant as a precursor to Lydia’s running away with Wickham in “Pride and Prejudice.”

Lover Beware, Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, August 13, 2007

Becoming Jane is based on a chapter in Jon Spence’s 2003 critical biography, Becoming Jane Austen. In the book, Spence does identify Tom Lefroy as the love of Austen’s life and her relationship with him as the origin of her genius. But he never suggests that there was an aborted elopement (much less subsequent reading sessions with any of Lefroy’s children). And he is careful, as the filmmakers are not, to clarify that in speculating about Austen’s romantic experience he is reading between the lines of the family records and of the three rather opaque Austen letters that are his principal sources.

Deidre Lynch, See Jane Elope

I am listing only those reviews that reflect my take on the movie:

Illustration by Lara Tomlin, New Yorker

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Becoming Jane

Posted in Movie review on September 1, 2007|

I’m still digesting the movie and reading Jon Spence’s Becoming Jane Austen. Of the four of us who saw Becoming Jane, the one who knew almost nothing about Jane Austen enjoyed the movie the most. Her reaction was curiosity. She wanted to go home and reread Jane’s novels and to learn more about her personal life. She was also the only one of us who cried towards the end when Jane met Tom’s daughter. To me the scene seemed contrived to provide a neat, pat ending to a rather trite tale.

After the lights turned on in the theater, my fellow Janeite, Lady Anne, and I exclaimed (almost simultaneously), “Nice movie, terrible biography.” Two women in the row in front of us turned around, smiled, and agreed. We then briefly discussed “Amadeus,” which was also a good film, but which portrayed Mozart’s and Salieri’s relationship inaccurately.

Click here for my other post about Becoming Jane, and to access other sites about the film. I’ll write a more detailed critique about the film later, after finishing Spence’s biography.

For comments on this post, please click here.

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Becoming Jane

Posted in Movie review on August 17, 2007|

This weekend I am going to see Becoming Jane, which has finally come to our city. In my small Janeite group people are skeptical about the film. “What are the chances that Hollywood’s take on her life will be accurate?” asked one. “I don’t see how they can make an entire movie about a minor youthful romance,” said another. “I didn’t like that last (2005) interpretation of Pride and Prejudice,” remarked a third, “so I don’t hold out much hope that this movie will be any better.”

“Anne Hathaway?”” I asked, my artist’s sensibilities slightly ruffled and offended at this mismatch of visual cues. Seeing Anne’s dramatic, gorgeous features disguised as Jane Austen, and watching her romp about the country side like a frisky young filly and making moon eyes at the actor playing Tom Lefroy in previews, well, it all seems anachronistic to me. In fact, to my eyes, watching Anne as Jane is like watching a parrot disguising itself as a thrush. Both birds are beautiful in entirely different ways.

I like my Jane Austen just as she is, thank you, no more and no less. In fact, I rather like the quiet, mysterious side of her and I don’t need to see her life glammed up by Hollywood types whose main mission in creating a film is the bottom line. So I will see this movie with some trepidation.

Nevertheless, I’ll try to see Becoming Jane with open eyes, since so many people are reporting that they like it and because it has garnered a number of good reviews, but something deep inside tells me to remember as I watch, “It’s only a movie.” As for my review of Becoming Jane, don’t expect to see it soon. I intend to see the film twice and will take my time digesting what I have seen before writing my opinion.


Links to Becoming Jane

Did you intend to jump onto the Becoming Jane bandwagon, only to have stumbled across my quiet site? Here are some important links:

  • Becoming Jane Fansite: An unabashed fan site of the film that contains an enormous amount of information about the movie and actors, and speculations about Jane’s romance with Tom.

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Becoming Jane Has Arrived

Posted in jane austen, Movie review, tagged on July 31, 2007|

But not in Richmond. We’ll just have to make do with multiple photos of Anne Hathaway arriving for the New York City premiere. Click here to see them.

And here for an interview with Anne in the San Francisco Chronicle.

You can catch Anne on Live With Regis and Kelly on Wednesday, August 1.

Here’s a trailer of the movie on Yahoo.

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Masterpiece Theatre Presents the Complete Jane Austen

Posted in jane austen, Movie review, tagged , on July 31, 2007|

Click here to enter the PBS site and see a preview of the shows coming in 2008.

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