The following movie review was submitted by Robbi Hess, editor of Byline Magazine, and an author advisor at WME Books. As a true Jane Austen fan, I felt a review by Robbi would be far better than anything I could write. Yes, I'm a fan, also...but, Robbi takes it to the outer reaches of fandom. As is her way. When she likes something, she shows it. Enjoy...
By Robbi Hess: Unrequited love and selfless acts always seem to be part and parcel of everything Jane Austen and so it was in the movie, “Becoming Jane.” I settled into my pleasantly warmed bed, Henrietta (poodle extraordinaire) by my side and prepared to get lost in the pageantry that is a Jane Austen movie, and I wasn’t disappointed. 
From the actress who played Jane (Anne Hathaway) to her unrequited love interest, barrister Tom Lefroy (played by James McAvoy) Lefroy’s actions and mannerisms were reminiscent of the tortured Mr. Darcy, as was the sexual tension that simmered between Lefroy and Austen. I knew how the movie was going to end – unhappily ever after – because Jane never married. While I am not even certain how much is actually known about any kind of romance between Jane and Tom, the movie played out the “what ifs” to a satisfying conclusion even when, after many years of separation, Jane encounters Tom and his young daughter at a performance.
The meeting between the two was bittersweet and although Tom was married (he had to… or risk losing his inheritance and monthly allowance from his wealthy barrister uncle) the love still remained between the two.
It was interesting to think that the love between Jane and Tom, one that could never be realized, may have been the impetus that drove her literary works. (and yet, I watched the movie twice, hoping for that happy ending the second time around!)
It was intriguing to watch Jane go from a starry-eyed optimist who wanted nothing more than to fall in love, while watching her writing evolve as her dreams of finding that one true love dissolved. It is incredible to think that the woman who wrote some of the best loved romance novels we know never married or truly experienced her own “love of a lifetime.”
I laughed out loud at the part of the movie where, after she first meets Tom; Jane is writing a letter to her sister listing Tom’s faults. She gets to the end of her litany, announces, "Too many adjectives!" and proceeds to pick up a pair of scissors and cut them out. Her sister, upon receiving the letter, holds it up to the sunlight and asks, “I wonder what she meant to say…”
From the pageantry, costumes, mannerisms and period clothing, “Becoming Jane” captured the era and drew me in even as if it had been one of Austen’s own novels, rather than one written about her life.
Now available on DVD and BlueRay. Get your copy and weep along with the rest of us.
Loved the review. Thanks for sharing it. I am a huge Jane Austen fan as well. Definitely going to watch the movie in the comfort of my own home now that it is out on DVD.
Julie for WOW!
Posted by: WOW! Women's World | March 15, 2008 at 05:06 PM
Loved the review. Thanks for sharing it. I am a huge Jane Austen fan as well. Definitely going to watch the movie in the comfort of my own home now that it is out on DVD.
Julie for WOW!
Posted by: WOW! Women's World | March 15, 2008 at 05:06 PM