Product: Becoming Jane [Blu-ray] (2007)
Rating: 5.0
Love and life of Jane Austen
I do not believe that there is a person who has never heard of Jane Austen and her novels. It is wonderful that someone has set out to create a biography about the life of the novelist. Wonderful cast of actors and period costumes make this film pleasing on many levels. We get to learn about real Jane Austen and the life she led with her family in English courtyside. Raised in a household of a minister and his loving wife, with a dotting sister Cassandra, Jane's life is calm and somewhat predictable. Film starts at her marriageable age, when suitable husband will mark her future. Many young men are interested in Jane because she is fascinating, witty and talented. Her father and mother encourage her to accept proposal from the local noble wealthy landowner, an arrangement that would elevate her social status and secure her future. When a young lawyer (Tom LeFroy) from London arrives to the countryside for a prolonged visit, Jane finds herself smitten by him. Their romance is doomed, because of the fact that neither of them has money or high social standing and they do not have blessings from their families to marry. In addition, Jane is a decent human being and she recongnizes early that she cannot build her own happines on her own guilt and other people's misery. As the lover affair ends suddenly and her marriage prospects dissipate by her own choice(s), Jane finds strength to find herself in her work and creates soem of the most beautiful novels that are calssics today. Personal unhappiness that both she and her sister Cassandra experience in their real life is replaced by beauty of Jane's prose and loyalty to her family. I anjoyed this movie a lot and it does nto take one to be Jane Austen's fan to enjoy it too. Beautiful performances by Anne Hathaway (Jane) and James McAvoy (Tom).