Product: Becoming Jane [Blu-ray] (2007)
Rating: 3.0
Reader, I Bought It
Unable to overcome the attachment in spite of my best endeavours, I purchased this dvd. Not in an excusable way--on impulse, perhaps, from a bargain bin, on a rainy day, with a cold coming on. No. Having seen it in the theater and knowing exactly what I was getting, I looked up the release date and pre-ordered it.You can't think how difficult it is for such a nit-picker as I to swallow my pride (which is considerable) and my prejudice (even greater) and admit that I like this film. Even knowing just how much of the story is true (a very little bit), I enjoy imagining myself in Jane Austen's world and family. Anne Hathaway does a lovely job as Jane; likewise Anna Maxwell Martin as Cassandra. And, oh, yes, despite my disgust with Hollywood's obligatory but unfounded portrayal of Tom Lefroy as a rake, I completely fell for James McAvoy's devasting charm.Why, then, only three stars for this sweet story, my guilty pleasure? Really I intend three and a half, but the low rating is due to the greatest irony in a film greatly concerned with irony (if not, perhaps, with a good definition of same). That while the creators eagerly depicted Jane Austen as a courageous, intelligent, forward-thinking young woman, struggling against archaic societal constraints, they completely belittle her creative genius. The portrayals of her family and acquaintences suggest that she drew most of her characters directly from them. Even her most famous phrase, "It is a truth universally acknowledged," is uttered in the movie not by Jane, but by one of her suitors. Perhaps this was intended simply as an allusion for the Austen fans in the audience; but I find any hint that she couldn't write it on her own quite insulting indeed--much worse than any other liberty taken with her biography.Enjoy the period romance, the lovely soundtrack, the literary allusions, as I do. Just remember that it is only a story.