"Becoming Jane": This misguided movie imagines Jane Austen's life as a genteel, tasteful Harlequin romance
First, let's put the most generous spin possible on the idea behind "Becoming Jane," an imaginary account of a love affair that the young Jane Austen may have had, circa 1795, with an Irish lawyer named Thomas Langlois Lefroy: It's possible that this leaden little trifle of a movie -- directed by Julian Jarrold (who made the sweet, entertaining "Kinky Boots") and written by Sarah Williams and Kevin Hood -- exists simply as a misguided act of generosity. For 200 years, readers have loved the way Jane Austen looked at love: It's natural, maybe, that we want to believe that at some point in her lifetime she had the pleasure -- with all its concomitant suffering and torture -- of experiencing romantic love herself.
So why not reimagine Austen as a lithe brunette with pillowy lips and airbrushed skin, a magnificent creature who looks remarkably like Anne Hathaway? And why not give her a bold, witty suitor -- James McAvoy, anyone? -- who looks smashing in his velvet frockcoats and dashingly masculine leather boots? Part of the pleasure of watching movies comes from looking at beautiful people: Choosing a "plainer" Jane (there are very few likenesses of the author for us to go on, anyway) wouldn't have made "Becoming Jane" a better or more authentic movie, but perhaps only duller to look at.
The problem with "Becoming Jane" is that it snaps all too snugly into a modern template of romance, instead of going to the trouble of imagining -- since we've already acknowledged that imagining is what we're doing here -- what romance may have meant to the real Austen. "Becoming Jane" takes as its premise a few measly letters, written by Jane to her sister, Cassandra, about a young man she had the pleasure of meeting a few times. There's no law that says imagination can't be applied to the lives of historical figures, and in movies, sometimes a little extra embroidery can actually help capture the spirit of a life, as in Sofia Coppola's vibrant brocade tapestry "Marie Antoinette" or Philip Kaufman's tattered-lace spectacle "Quills."...
Read entire article at Stephanie Zacharek at Salon.com
So why not reimagine Austen as a lithe brunette with pillowy lips and airbrushed skin, a magnificent creature who looks remarkably like Anne Hathaway? And why not give her a bold, witty suitor -- James McAvoy, anyone? -- who looks smashing in his velvet frockcoats and dashingly masculine leather boots? Part of the pleasure of watching movies comes from looking at beautiful people: Choosing a "plainer" Jane (there are very few likenesses of the author for us to go on, anyway) wouldn't have made "Becoming Jane" a better or more authentic movie, but perhaps only duller to look at.
The problem with "Becoming Jane" is that it snaps all too snugly into a modern template of romance, instead of going to the trouble of imagining -- since we've already acknowledged that imagining is what we're doing here -- what romance may have meant to the real Austen. "Becoming Jane" takes as its premise a few measly letters, written by Jane to her sister, Cassandra, about a young man she had the pleasure of meeting a few times. There's no law that says imagination can't be applied to the lives of historical figures, and in movies, sometimes a little extra embroidery can actually help capture the spirit of a life, as in Sofia Coppola's vibrant brocade tapestry "Marie Antoinette" or Philip Kaufman's tattered-lace spectacle "Quills."...