"Becoming Jane" Movie Review

Movie Review

Becoming Jane

Becoming Jane is a biographical drama which concentrates on the early life of Jane Austen, (1775-1817) the famous English novelist. The film concentrates on Jane Austen the woman and not so much on Jane Austen the writer. The plot of the film centers around Austen’s romance with a young Irishman named Tom Lefroy, who is completely dependent upon his Uncle, a judge, for his support and that of his family.

The movie is slow paced so if you are looking for an action thriller, this is definitely not the movie for you. I found the focus on the woman rather than the writer to be refreshingly different. In most biographical movies about famous people, the person’s career takes center stage. In this film, Jane, the woman, takes center stage. Anne Hathaway gives a reasonably good performance as Jane Austen. Her acting is not great in this film, but good enough to carry the role. James McAvoy gives a creditable performance as Austen’s love interest Tom Lefroy while James Cromwell gives a very good performance as Jane’s father, the Reverend Austen.

Austen and Lefroy are torn between what they want as individual people, and what they must do for the sake of family. Today’s society is very much a me first society in which the wants and desires of the individual take center stage. In 18^th and 19^th century England, however, this was not the case, particularly among the upper classes. Lefroy must choose between his love for Jane and his need to provide support for his family. Meanwhile, Jane faces the prospect of a loveless marriage to someone else in which she would have little independence, set against the remote possibility she might achieve independence (rare for a woman of that time) as an accomplished novelist. In the end Jane Austen did achieve this rare independence but in her early years, this seemed a far away hope at best so the choices she faced were difficult ones. Jane Austen had a mind but more importantly, she had a desire to cultivate that mind. Many women of her time also had good minds, but society and family provided poor environments for them to cultivate their intellect. Jane Austen was definitely the exception rather than the rule.

Today, Austen’s novels are considered classics. Her writing is extremely good and her use of language and irony puts her in the class of excellent writers. She was, however, for the most part, a romance novelist. She wrote stories in the genre of today’s Johanna Lindsey, a best selling romance novelist. I can hardly imagine the harlequin novels of today, or novelists like Johanna Lindsey being studied as classics in tomorrow’s High School Literature classes despite the fact Lindsey’s writing is polished and entertaining. In some ways, Austen’s works are considered classics not because of her writing, but because she was a woman writer of the early 19^th century. In other words, Jane the woman is what puts her writings in the category of classics more so than does her actual writing.

This is why I found the movie Becoming Jane’s focus on Jane Austen, the woman, a very good approach. This movie will not smash any box office records and it certainly will bore most children and teenagers to tears. It is, however, a good movie in its genre and well worth two hours of your time.