Becoming Jane (2006)
Country: GB/EIRE/US
Technical: col/2.35:1 120m
Director: Julian Jarrold
Cast: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith
Synopsis:
The young Jane Austen, daughter of a clergyman, lives in straitened circumstances with her family and must decide between two men, between love and security. In the end she chooses neither.
Review:
An extraordinarily opportunistic piece of filmmaking, so much so one can scarcely believe they had the nerve to make it. It has so many things going against it: a transparent attempt to shoehorn into its plot as many Austen situations and characters as the two hours will allow, and at the same time to cash in on the current celebration of Austen's work, not to mention the insatiable thirst by a large proportion of the over-50s for this kind of thing; an over-attractive heroine and an under-charismatic hero; the customary modernist touches to be found in recent adaptations of her work, particularly by the BBC, notably a skinny dip in the river; and a rather plodding and repetitive narrative. The fact that it contrives at times to be affecting or entertaining is largely due to the star and a couple of scenes with the late Ian Richardson.
Country: GB/EIRE/US
Technical: col/2.35:1 120m
Director: Julian Jarrold
Cast: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith
Synopsis:
The young Jane Austen, daughter of a clergyman, lives in straitened circumstances with her family and must decide between two men, between love and security. In the end she chooses neither.
Review:
An extraordinarily opportunistic piece of filmmaking, so much so one can scarcely believe they had the nerve to make it. It has so many things going against it: a transparent attempt to shoehorn into its plot as many Austen situations and characters as the two hours will allow, and at the same time to cash in on the current celebration of Austen's work, not to mention the insatiable thirst by a large proportion of the over-50s for this kind of thing; an over-attractive heroine and an under-charismatic hero; the customary modernist touches to be found in recent adaptations of her work, particularly by the BBC, notably a skinny dip in the river; and a rather plodding and repetitive narrative. The fact that it contrives at times to be affecting or entertaining is largely due to the star and a couple of scenes with the late Ian Richardson.
Country: GB/EIRE/US
Technical: col/2.35:1 120m
Director: Julian Jarrold
Cast: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith
Synopsis:
The young Jane Austen, daughter of a clergyman, lives in straitened circumstances with her family and must decide between two men, between love and security. In the end she chooses neither.
Review:
An extraordinarily opportunistic piece of filmmaking, so much so one can scarcely believe they had the nerve to make it. It has so many things going against it: a transparent attempt to shoehorn into its plot as many Austen situations and characters as the two hours will allow, and at the same time to cash in on the current celebration of Austen's work, not to mention the insatiable thirst by a large proportion of the over-50s for this kind of thing; an over-attractive heroine and an under-charismatic hero; the customary modernist touches to be found in recent adaptations of her work, particularly by the BBC, notably a skinny dip in the river; and a rather plodding and repetitive narrative. The fact that it contrives at times to be affecting or entertaining is largely due to the star and a couple of scenes with the late Ian Richardson.