Initial Reaction: Well, excuse me, but I liked it.I'm what you may call a fan of Jane Austen. Considering the time in which she lived and what she accomplished, I find her works inspiring and comforting. I've read four of her novels, and have watched film adaptations of all of her works. I could watch the movie Pride and Prejudice (both 1995 and 2005 versions) every week, and sometimes I do. The film Becoming Jane, based on her life, exceeded my expectations.
I didn't rush out to see Becoming Jane, actually I only watched it during a late night babysitting on my laptop. I didn't really have much in the way of expectations, since a few people I know (you know who you are) saw it and didn't like it. It also didn't do well by the way of the critics, if you pay attention to that sort of thing. Ironically, I think these factors probably helped me to enjoy Becoming Jane even more.
The film has the same flavor of film adaptations of Austen's books. The plot is loosely based on Jane Austen's life, since very few details about her life are actually known. Jane lives with her parents, the Reverend and Mrs. Austen, her engaged sister Cassandra, and her brothers Henry and George. She writes for enjoyment, and surprisingly, her family seems fairly supportive of this.
Only now as I sit down to write this do I realize how little actually happened in the film. But that's something that I really appreciate about Jane Austen's writing...so much of what happens with the characters is based on social interaction and internal struggles, not depending on a lot of external events to drive the story. Anne Hathaway stars as Jane Austen herself, and James McAvoy was her love interest Thomas LeFroy. In the roles she plays, Hathaway seems to carry a bit of confidence and spark, which works here. McAvoy is thoroughly believable as Thomas LeFroy, having an interesting balance of goodness and sex appeal beneath his devil-may-care attitude.
Austen, like so many of the women she wrote about, is young and in want of a husband. Her want isn't so great, however, that she would accept the first proposal that comes her way. She refuses it, in fact, because she can't justify marrying for anything other than love. She is thrown to the lions of society and criticised for her ill-advised choice by family and acquaintances alike. In the meantime she meets Thomas LeFroy, a carefree young man studying the law under his Uncle and who is determined to enjoy himself in spite of his responsibilities. After a rocky start and some witty banter, the two become better acquainted and recognize an undeniable attraction between them. As anyone who has ever seen a film will tell you, however, all is not as simple as it initially appears, and Jane and Thomas must come to grips with some harsh realities.
Negatives? There were a few ... one being that in reality, I wouldn't necessarily see Austen and LeFroy falling for each other. Their motivation for doing so is unclear to me, unless it was only physical attraction. But the audience is led to believe there was more to it than that. Also, though I think most people assume that not everything in these "based on real people" films is true, I think that many will take away what happens in the plot as more or less true, which is the dangerous thing about these movies.
One thing I very much enjoyed was the struggle of Jane in dealing with being a female author. We know that Austen was fairly respected in society and came from decent family, and she wasn't seen as a rebel or outcast or anything like that. Yet she embraced who she was and pursued her ideals in a time when doing so had serious consequences. It added some weight and inspiration to the story mostly centered around her love for LeFroy.
Rating: 14
I'll admit: I'm extremely biased to these kinds of stories. Give me an oppressed heroine in the 19th century who falls in love with a man despite what society may say, throw in a "I bid you good day," and I'm sold. Maybe this allows me to make more concessions than most, but I don't care. I loved it! I thought the acting was extremely satisfactory, the characters interesting, and the story beautiful. Take that, nay-sayers.
5 comments:
I know who I am, and indeed - here I am.
Criticism towards Jane Austen along the lines of her stories not being driven by external events is not exactly new. Indeed, reading/watching Jane Austen books/films might lead you to believe that the dude calling himself Napoleon never existed.
That aside, my main criticism towards Becoming Jane, other than it being quite boring (which, I admit, is a matter of taste) is in the originality department. It is very obvious the filmmakers took it upon themselves to produce a Pride & Prejudice remake and then sought out a good way of selling it; I wonder at what point it occurred to them to sell it as an Austen autobiography. The point is, Becoming Jane has all the feel of "Pride & Prejudice 2: This Time It's Personal": you know, the type of sequel where everything is the exact copy of the original and thus everything feels so much worse. So bad.
Another point I would like to make is that the DVD version I have watched was simply awful, with really bad sound (couldn’t understand the dialog) and a bad picture to suit. I don't know about the American version, and being that you've watched it on a laptop you probably don't know either, but to me it felt as if the studio knew this one was not up to any good.
At least I'm happy you didn't feel like you've wasted your time on this one; I surely did.
I can't even begin to tell you how much I laughed at this line: "Pride & Prejudice 2: This Time It's Personal." Way to be, Moshe.
Honestly, I think the power of stories like this is that they reinforce a very attractive myth: You can be female, you can be strong and spunky and independent, you can reject the roles society foists on you, and, yes, you can still find a rich, handsome husband that you love.
(Quick note: My calling it a myth doesn't mean it's not true.)
And I think there's a real need, especially among people of a certain chromosomal makeup, to have that myth reinforced. In a way, it doesn't even matter what the story is -- it just needs to do enough to make you forget that you're ingesting another version of the same myth.
And, as one final note, I'm not at all suggesting that females are the only ones susceptible to myths. In fact, there's a fairly lucrative industry out there promoting and reinforcing the largely male myth that "There are incredibly attractive women out there who want nothing more than to have sex with you."
Thanks for helping me start the morning with a good laugh. You're absolutely right, of course.
That said, I do have to add that I really liked the recent version of Pride & Prejudice. Since, to the best of my understanding, I am not in need of a myth telling me I can be a spunky woman, I can only conclude that it was a truly good film (Ok, if we're serious about it I cannot conclude anything, but you get my point).
While talking about Austen, here's a short anecdote.
Just a few weeks ago we've visited Bath, the English town where a lot of Austen's stories are set. A lovely place to visit - highly recommended.
Anyway, at 1 Royal Crescent they have a museum where a house from Austen's period is kept the way it was back at Austen's time. Oddly enough, there are no toilets in the house; what the dining room does have is a portable barrier behind which hides a pot where you can do your thing if you want (only a couple of steps away from the dining table). The library room, on the other hand, had this pull from the wall seat with a drawer underneath where you could do your thing. Hygiene, it seems, wasn't on the agenda.
My point is this: the Austen periodicals all look flashy, but were they able to convey a sense of smell they would have stank like I don't know what. Maybe that’s why Becoming Jane is so stinking bad?
Very interesting. Somehow pooping into a drawer was left out of the Austen myth. Who knows why...
I'm not entirely sure what to say, except that I disagree. I didn't think it was very obvious that it was a P&P remake. I noticed some similar things, but then again, there are a lot of common themes throughout all of Austen's novels. I'm sure that some people, if shown parts of different Austen films, wouldn't be able to tell one from the other.
Also, some that believe P&P was based on Austen's life, so...
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