Although not claiming to be a biopic, Becoming Jane, based on the book by Jon Spence, pretends to show a specific period in Jane Austen’s life that could be the decisive influence on the novels she wrote. There are several people easily identifiable with Austen’s characters and she mentions in the end how her characters will have to surmount difficulties but will have their happy ending.
It’s a charming movie, entertaining and with a nice story and good interpretations. But can we take it seriously as portraying a part of Jane Austen’s life? We think not… Maybe more like a Jane Austen novel without the happy ending. After all these years, and Cassandra’s burning part of Jane’s letters, we will never know the true relationship between Jane and Tom Lefroy but it’s unlikely that they shared such a consuming passion that they would consider eloping. We can imagine Jane as Lizzy or Elinor but not as Lydia Bennett.
The portrait of Austen seems exaggerated: talented writer, loving family, intelligent, independent, modern, amusing, an exceptional beauty, good at sports too (that energetic croquet game sure was something) and we get an overall idea of flawless perfection.
As much as we try, we cannot really picture Jane Austen looking like Anne Hathaway. Maybe Cassandra’s portrait of her sister might be at fault. The young actress’ accent (or sometimes lack of it) didn’t help much either, but she did carry well the costumes and her loveliness was always agreeable to watch. Her performance is a different matter…
James McAvoy was surprisingly good, not because he is not a good actor, because he is, but he really managed to portray a delightful, rakish young man and his chemistry with Hathaway is pretty obvious. He is one of the reasons to see this movie even if at times he seems a bit too energetic.
The rest of the cast is definitely talented but Maggie Smith outshines everybody each time she is on the screen. Her aristocratic bearing and rigid attitude comes naturally and gives us some of the funniest moments in the story.
Some scenes felt a bit odd, like the two boys nude in the river with the two girls right next to them and all the family not far away. The running in the woods or some of Austen-Lefroy dialogues sounded too modern for a Regency period drama.
The photography, the settings and the costumes are beautiful and really help make this movie into an agreeable experience, but not a memorable one.
Official Site: http://www.bvimovies.com/uk/becoming_jane/
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416508/
