Becoming Jane

“Becoming Jane” tries to tell the life story of author Jane Austen by turning her into a tragic romantic character that might have come from one of her novels.

The film looks at the life of Jane Austen through the prism of her novels. This film is a semi-fictional biography of the esteemed author; although it incorporates people and events from her life, it also takes liberties with known events. Like Shakespeare in Love, this is intended to be a homage, not a serious reconstruction of the factors underlying the development of an icon.

It’s also another good starring vehicle for American actress Anne Hathaway, who adopts a credible British accent to play the younger version of Austen. Hathaway and her co-star McAvoy manage to put over line after line of awful dialogue and to overcome Jarrold’s inability to control the film. Hathaway is at her best when she is alone, writing or playing the piano; in these scenes, she communicates, partly because of her youth but mainly because of her instincts, all the vigor and imagination that Jane Austen must have had at that age.

At its heart, “Becoming Jane” is a costume drama romance. In the end, “Becoming Jane” can be said to capture the spirit of Austen without the sophistication.