Becoming Jane
Directed by Julian Jarrold
Starring Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Available Feb. 12, 2008

Jane Austen’s classic novels have been exhaustedly adapted for film for years, so Becoming Jane is a refreshing change, as it finally gives us a look behind the real-life events that inspired the author’s 19th-century beloved classics like Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park.

The film opens with a 20-year-old Jane (Anne Hathaway) practicing away on the piano in the early morning hours, awakening her sleeping family with her loud compositions. Jane — the youngest daughter of a local reverend (James Cromwell) and his wife (Julie Walters) with good societal standing — lives a quaint English pastoral life with her parents and numerous older siblings. The well-educated and witty Jane is doted upon by her family and friends for her talent with words, as well as for her knack for the boys-only sport cricket.

At that time, even a woman of Jane’s stature had few opportunities in life other to become a wife and mother. But Jane has other plans for her life. While she will consider marrying — but only for love — her intentions are actually to live by her pen, a notion her loving parents had long indulged … until now. The family’s fortune is long gone and time is running out for their youngest daughter. The only way Jane can have any future at all is to find a suitable husband so when Lord Wisley (Laurence Fox), the nephew and heir of the wealthy Lady Gresham (Maggie Smith), proposes marriage, Jane is encouraged to accept.

That’s when Tom Lefloy — said to be Austen’s inspiration for Pride and Prejudice‘s Mr. Darcy — comes into her life. City boy Tom (James McAvoy) is studying to be a barrister and lives off the allowance from his well-to-do Uncle, a harsh-sentencing judge. At first, Tom seems like he has no intentions to settle down, instead spending his days boxing and whoring. To get Tom to calm down, his Uncle sends him to visit his relatives in the country, who are the Austen’s neighbors. When Tom first meets Jane, he finds her writings juvenile and her outlook on life naive. At first, the two have a tense relationship that soon grows into passion and love.

Becoming Jane, while not a biopic, does include real events from the author’s life and offers up a wonderful look into Jane Austen’s world, one in which everyone’s behavior was dictated by strict etiquette and protocol. We’re used to seeing societal restrictions — especially those placed upon women — in films based on Austen’s works, but here we’re given a glimpse into how the author might have coped with it.

The film’s theatrical release seemed to come and go very quickly and wasn’t on my radar. I recall seeing a TV ad for it and assumed it was a wildly misconstrued take on Austen’s life, possibly just over-sensationalizing the author’s past for Hollywood purposes. I also barely realized that Austen’s love interest Tom was played by James McAvoy, who has since become a major Hollywood golden boy. But after viewing the DVD, I realized my presumptions were all wrong.

In one of the DVD’s behind-the-scenes featurettes, Hathaway says of McAvoy, “I didn’t realize I was working with a future legend.” And I can see her point. McAvoy really stands out as Tom Lefloy and the chemistry between him and Hathaway was surprisingly strong and natural looking. I was surprised, but the duo truly set the screen afire when they were together — and that’s saying a lot considering this is a PG-rated movie with not so much as a bare shoulder shown. I imagine that if this movie had been rated R, we’d have gotten the same kind intensity between these lovers as we did from McAvoy and Keira Knightley in Atonement (albeit a little more lighthearted, given the subject matter).

Anne Hathaway truly brings Jane to life. The actress learned the piano for her role and even studied Austen’s penmanship so that the scenes where she’s writing would look authentic. Hathaway manages to get across Austen’s somewhat unconventional viewpoint and biting wit, while remaining affable and charming — exactly how one would imagine the real Jane Austen would be. Here, the author is far more interesting and admirable than any of her fictional creations. You can’t help but love this true-life heroine.

The film only covers a year or so of Austin’s young adult life, but it was a time that influenced her and help sculpt her into the independent woman and successful novelist she became. Even though Austen struggles through some adversity, the movie is really a light period piece, and is very similar in tone and style to the film adaptation of Austen’s Emma (which starred Gwyneth Paltrow). Any fan of period dramas will be pleased with Becoming Jane, while fans of the author’s life and works will definitely want to see this truly enjoyable movie. (Hey, the Jane Austen Society gave it a thumbs up!)

DVD Bonus Features

Audio Commentary

Director Julian Jarrold, writer Kevin Hood, and producer Robert Bernstein provide this feature-length audio commentary. If you liked the movie, you will truly enjoy this the insights provided in this feature. The filmmakers obviously went to great lengths to be as accurate as possible in portraying Austen’s life with her large family and the love affair she supposedly had with Tom Lefloy. And their enthusiasm and devotion to this film is contagious. I actually watched the movie twice with this commentary turned on, because the trio offered up so much information on their research as well as the actually shooting of the film it was hard to absorb it all the first time.

Deleted Scenes

Judging from my notes, it seems that I can write a second review just on the deleted scenes. There are 13 deleted scenes, most of which would have been a nice addition to the film. For example, a humorous marriage proposal attempt that comes early on and a scene where Jane’s mother reprimands her for having a night out in London with Tom and their friends.

Discovering the Real Jane Austen featurette [17 minutes]

This is a behind-the-scenes “making of” type of featurette. The cast and crew are interviewed and give insight into the creation of the movie. Hathaway talks about all the research she did for the part and what drew her to the role. Jane Austen experts offer up their opinion on the film and give explanation to some of the events that took place in Jane’s life. There’s also a lot on the costumes for the film, as well as the choreography created by Jane Gibson for the several ballroom scenes. Production designer Eve Stewart reveals a lot of what went into the dynamics of the movie, about Jane’s family life and how their home was created.

Becoming Jane Pop-Up Facts & Footnotes

This feature runs the entire length of the movie and provides “pop-up” facts about Jane Austen’s life, her family, the area where she lived, and the standards of the time. For instance, the pop-up fact a scene showing the exterior of the Austen’s home read, “The house used for the Austen estate dates back to 1747”; the pop-up fact for another scene with Jane in a library read, “Jane Austen was heavily influenced by authors Fanny Burney, Samuel Richardson, and Ann Radcliffe.” If you’re not one to sit through the audio commentary, this would be a good alternative.