Let me say this first: Yes. This movie is, in fact, NOT BASED OFF REAL LIFE. This appears to be the highest complaint for this clearly delightful and moving film about the fictitious life of Jane Austen. I walked into the theatre to see this movie knowing fully well that it was based off minor speculation, and anybody who has any knowledge of Jane Austen knows that this movie is not real.
It is a movie beautifully portrayed in the likes of Shakespeare in Love, where Shakespeare was transformed into a poetic hottie, rather than the ugly man with wooden teeth that he was most likely to have been. Shakespeare in Love garnered an Academy Award for best Picture, whereas Becoming Jane has been criticized for its lack of reality. Personally, I don't see what the fuss is about.
Becoming Jane is a beautifully directed film when fantastic scenery and sets. Anne Hathaway and James MacAvoy both have haunting and entertaining performances, making their slow journey to love extremely wonderful to watch. Maggie Smith is wonderful as well in her small role as a woman who, I can only assume, was the inspiration behind Pride and Prejudice's Lady Catherine.
While the story does falter near the end, giving the audience too many climactic moments before the film actually finishes, I found it to be achingly romantic. MacAvoy and Hathaway had great chemistry and were thoroughly convincing as a couple deeply in love, an emotion that caused them as much distress as it caused happiness.
The movie exudes subtle sexuality, displayed in a scene in which MacAvoy reads to Hathaway a passage from a nature book about mating birds and the female's "screams of ecstasy"; another scene shows the lovers walking up stairs to ask for permission to marry, MacAvoy gently grazes Hathaway's hand with his own and fondles the skirts of her dress. It was these subtle signs of love and lust that made this movie a treat to watch, being as overt sexuality would not have mirrored the time period. A scene at the end of the film in which, many years later, the couple meet each other by chance and we see MacAvoy's daughter, a charming lover of Jane Austen novels, conveniently named Jane. His daughter, named Jane, is based on fact. The movie is a chilling look on the few options that women had at the time, and shows that, although true love can be found, it can't always be kept.
I recommend this film to anyone who is a lover of Austen, a lover of romantic films, or just anyone who is interesting in seeing a thoroughly entertaining and beautifully sad film about a love unexplored.
It is a movie beautifully portrayed in the likes of Shakespeare in Love, where Shakespeare was transformed into a poetic hottie, rather than the ugly man with wooden teeth that he was most likely to have been. Shakespeare in Love garnered an Academy Award for best Picture, whereas Becoming Jane has been criticized for its lack of reality. Personally, I don't see what the fuss is about.
Becoming Jane is a beautifully directed film when fantastic scenery and sets. Anne Hathaway and James MacAvoy both have haunting and entertaining performances, making their slow journey to love extremely wonderful to watch. Maggie Smith is wonderful as well in her small role as a woman who, I can only assume, was the inspiration behind Pride and Prejudice's Lady Catherine.
While the story does falter near the end, giving the audience too many climactic moments before the film actually finishes, I found it to be achingly romantic. MacAvoy and Hathaway had great chemistry and were thoroughly convincing as a couple deeply in love, an emotion that caused them as much distress as it caused happiness.
The movie exudes subtle sexuality, displayed in a scene in which MacAvoy reads to Hathaway a passage from a nature book about mating birds and the female's "screams of ecstasy"; another scene shows the lovers walking up stairs to ask for permission to marry, MacAvoy gently grazes Hathaway's hand with his own and fondles the skirts of her dress. It was these subtle signs of love and lust that made this movie a treat to watch, being as overt sexuality would not have mirrored the time period. A scene at the end of the film in which, many years later, the couple meet each other by chance and we see MacAvoy's daughter, a charming lover of Jane Austen novels, conveniently named Jane. His daughter, named Jane, is based on fact. The movie is a chilling look on the few options that women had at the time, and shows that, although true love can be found, it can't always be kept.
I recommend this film to anyone who is a lover of Austen, a lover of romantic films, or just anyone who is interesting in seeing a thoroughly entertaining and beautifully sad film about a love unexplored.
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