Becoming Jane (2007)
I went back and forth on whether to watch Becoming Jane. If I could advise my past self, I would say to skip it. I find Jane Austen’s six complete novels well written and engaging; they draw me through from beginning to end and keep my interest. Alas, I can’t say the same for this piece of historical fiction. The movie about the woman who wrote such timeless books, and her own possible romantic entanglements, manages to be quite dull. There are some good points, especially a scene between Jane and her mother, but overall this was a poorly done pastiche, with a little of Austen’s life, a little of her plot points, and a lot of made up stuff. Austenblog has a thorough and very fair review of the DVD. I think Becoming Jane was interesting to contrast with the recent PBS Miss Austen Regrets, which looked at the same themes and characters from the end of Austen’s life. In my opinion, it was the better film of the two, though not perfect, either.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:40 am
I vehemently refused to see this movie when it first came out in theaters, because as an Austen fan, I didn’t get the point of this film. People who don’t like Jane Austen are very unlikely to choose to see a movie about her (whether it’s mostly fact or fiction), and people who *do* like Jane are likely going to be upset with the liberties that were taken within the scope of the film.
And yet, somehow this movie wound up on my Netflix queue (the place where all movies I wouldn’t dare see for $8 at the cinema wind up) and is now sitting on my coffee table at home. I watched the first 15 minutes a couple of nights ago, and am already nervous. I think the only way I’m going to get through this is by thinking it’s ALL fiction, and that it’s a movie about a character name Jane Austen, who just happens to be a writer… Either that or it’s going back without me fully watching it. Sigh.
April 4th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
It isn’t a bad film, just kinda boring. James McAvoy is pretty to look at, and the idea of how Austen’s experience formed the base for her pairing of marriage and money in all her books is very likely true, I think. But I would have liked it if they’d taken the time to be a little more accurate about her writing life–they pretended as if she wrote P & P right out of the gate.
April 8th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I liked it.
I don’t need it to be historically accurate. But then I’m not Jane Austen’s biggest fan.
My parents both thought it was charming and both ARE fans of hers.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
It was that kind of middling movie that’s hard to describe, because I did like it some, I did think much of it funny and charming, yet it still was a little boring and glossy. I’m on the tipping point–smack in the middle, at about 2 1/2 stars.