Product: Becoming Jane [Blu-ray] (2007)
Rating: 5.0
Modern Sensibilities
When I first saw this movie in the theater last summer, I was stunned. I hadn't anticipated liking Anne Hathaway in it. Now, I can't imagine anyone else. Don't get me wrong; Anne is a fine actress that I have enjoyed in the Princess movies and in "The Devil Wears Prada" many times. She just didn't leap to mind as the title character. But she successfully BECAME Jane Austen.Like many other women of my age, and many writers, I admire Jane Austen's work enormously. And I've enjoyed the recent resurgence of interest in her work, sparked by such commercial successes such as Emma Thompson's "Sense and Sensibility", Gwnyeth Paltrow's "Emma", and even "Clueless." BBC's rendition of "Pride and Prejudice" was the first DVD I bought. But like many other fans, I have often lamented the fact that Jane only wrote six novels (a seventh, "Sandriton", was incomplete at her death), and that she never wrote about herself directly (following the British creed of the time that a gentlewoman did not). Personal details are elicited from her letters to her sister and friends, and from the biography written about her by her brother after her death. This movie, while not claiming to be a strict biography, is certainly true to the Jane you can synthesize from her characters, in particular Elizabeth Bennett, but also Elinor of "Sense and Sensibility" as well as other of her female characters. The humor and public persona is Elizabeth, but the polite facade hiding a seething passion is pure Elinor, while the wistful regret is definitely Anne of "Persuasion."The ensemble cast (my favorite is Maggie Smith!) combined with an intelligent script makes this more than just a period costume drama...it makes it a true drama that just happened to be filmed in period costumes. It could easily be updated to modern times, with one exception -- in this time and place, very few people exercise the emotional restraint common at the time. That restraint, and the tension it causes, are what make this movie interesting.Will this movie join "Casablanca" (another movie about restraint) on the 100 movies of all time list? Probably not. But in characterizations, acting, and intelligent production, it could.