Product: Becoming Jane [Blu-ray] (2007)
Rating: 5.0
It is a wonderful tribute to Jane Austen!
The story is about the early years of Jane Austen, as a young writer. It deals with her meeting of Tom Lefroy, a dashing, young, Irishman who might have inspired her in her writting.I am a great fan of Jane Austen but as her life remains very much a mystery, I was curious to see this movie. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it very much. I have seen it three times now and it is still a pleasure. I might add that the more I see it, the more I love it.So what if this story doesn't really correspond to the life that Jane Austen might have had, or that some parts of the story are probably ficticious, this story is still very believable and it pleases me to imagine that she might have been in love and that this love might have been a great source of inspiration.I had one fear about this movie: I thought -wrongly now-that it would be a remake of Jane Austen's story Pride & Prejudice. I was relieved to see that it was not the case in the end. Tom Lefroy, the man Jane falls in love with, is not at all like Darcy. Some characters in the movie might have inspired Jane Austen, there are some references here and there to Jane Austen's novels and the fans won't miss them but I think these references are a kind of tribute to Jane Austen and her work. I appreciate that.Moreover, what I ask of a period drama movie is to take me to another place, in another time and on this account, 'Becoming Jane' achieves that very well. The balls are a delight, the dances are beautiful and very well-shot, you almost have the illusion of seeing an 18th/19th century England. This Jane is young, witty and rather spirited for her time but she also has to respect the conventions of the English society and the issues concerning ranks, money and women's writing are dealt with in the movie. This is also a kind of tribute to her writing and to the feminine writing.The cast is perfect. All the actors give a good performance, even Anne Hathaway. You can still hear some of her American accent sometimes but she fits the part very well for me. She brings charm and some freshness to the heroine. She has some good chemistry with McAvoy who is, I must confess, absolutely breathtaking! He even almost steals the show with his amazing performance. His character, Tom Lefroy is irresistible and I can totally understand why Jane falls in love with him. Wow! The library scene is probably one of my favourite scenes, after the dancing scene at Lady Gresham's ball, in which Tom and Jane start falling in love. Ah, and this scene with the beautiful music behind is really breathtaking! The looks between the two actors as they are dancing are so extraordinary that you can really sense that they are indeed falling in love. This moment is pure magic!The cast is superb, Maggie Smith (Lady Gresham), Julie Walters (Mrs Austen), great Anna Maxwell Martin as Cassandra (seen as Bessie in North &South;), Laurence Fox, Joe Anderson (Henry).The music is enchanting with a touch of 'baroque' style for the dances. The way the movie is directed might be a little simple and academic but honestly this is a good period drama movie. For those who don't know Jane Austen, this movie will urge you to read her novels, I am sure. For those who are already great fans, you may or you may not like this movie. It depends on how you imagine Jane Austen's life. Would Jane Austen have eloped with the man she loved? We may seriously doubt that, considering that elopement is very much condemned in her novels, but then after all, we are 'all fools in love', why would Jane be different on the impulse of the moment?Beautiful!