Film: Becoming Jane

Studio: 2 Entertain; BBC Films

Director: Julian Jarrold

Principal Actors: Anne Hathaway; James McAvoy; Maggie Smith

Release Date: August 10, 2007

Film length: 120 minutes

Rating: PG

4 stars

Reviewed By: Deborah Ground Buckner

Becoming Jane tells a romantic story of a period that may have occurred in Jane Austen's life and certainly could have appeared in one of her books. History does record a mention of Tom Lefroy, who became the Chief Justice of Ireland, in a letter Jane wrote to her sister Cassandra. This becomes the premise for a supposed romance between the two.

The film opens with the hand of a writer at work (the writer's fingers are smudged with ink, a nice detail). The writer's voice struggling with the next line is heard, and when the next words don't come, solace is found by banging out a tune on the family piano—waking the family in the early morning. “That girl needs a husband!” her mother declares.

“That girl” is Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway), living in a world where it is a woman's function to exist as a daughter, sister, wife and mother, a world where “a profound mind is best kept a profound secret.” It is a world of beautiful scenery of the English countryside, and a world where Jane has an abundance of potential husbands, enough to make her cry “are there no other women in Hampshire?”

The poor Austen family's potential salvation rests with Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox), nephew and sole heir of Lady Gresham (beautifully played in grande dame glory by Maggie Smith). Mr. Wisley is a nice-enough chap, with all the personality of dry toast. Also in line for Jane's affections is John Warren (Leo Bill), a student of the clergy who is as inept at courtship as he is at cricket. Add to the mix Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy, recently Mr. Tumnus, the Faun, in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe) , a handsome young Irishman studying the law in London. His uncle and benefactor, hoping to calm the young man's wild ways, sends him to stay with other relatives in the country, making him a temporary neighbor of the Austen family.

As could be expected from a movie or from a Jane Austen novel, Jane and Mr. Lefroy do not get on well at first meeting. But a romance blooms, and then, like many of Jane Austen's characters, Jane and Mr. Lefroy face the difficult decision of marrying for wealth and position or marrying for affection—or, as Jane ultimately chose in life, living “by my pen.” Jane declares “my characters will have—after a bit of trouble—all that they desire.” Perhaps her statement may also ring true of her life.

Anne Hathaway continues to blossom as an actress, though her English accent seemed to come and go. James McAvoy brings all the charm one would expect of the romantic “bad boy” in a Jane Austen story. Anna Maxwell Martin, who portrayed Esther Summerson in the BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House with great success, gives a richly poignant performance as Jane's older sister, Cassandra.

Many are billing this film as a “chick-flick for educated women.” True Jane Austen fans may resent the embellishing of their favorite author's life, but the completely female audience in the theater all concluded this is a lovely romantic movie, a few sniffling as they gave this assessment. A true story or not, this is certainly in the spirit of Jane Austen's work, and I think she would approve. A great writer would never let facts get in the way of a good story.