Product: Becoming Jane [Blu-ray] (2007)
Rating: 2.0
Love Austen, but film ruined due to horrible sound
Having read Jane Austen's novels numerous times as well as having read a good bit about her life, I was set to engage in willing suspension of disbelief for a film that magnifies a young flirtation of Austen's.Despite interesting actors and acceptable dramatization of a flirtation that from Austen's letters doesn't seem to have been this intense historically, the film only gets two stars due to poor sound. It seems as if the director ordered poor enunciation to substitute for other dramatic techniques for showing emotion. Then the sound editing worsened the problem by magnifying background noises at the expense of dialogue and dropping off sound coverage the most at the moments of poor enunciation. It was difficult sometimes because of the sound problems to stay in the world of the film. I found myself picturing the sound guys holding the mikes close, then backing away--repeat process for 120 minutes and what would've been a delightful escape ended up a frustration.