FilmLit: Becoming Jane (2007)

Film Review: Becoming Jane is the perfect example of how too many people can form their unalterable view of history from the poetic license, exaggeration, and fiction of films. This is a fictionalized telling of a true romance in the life of Jane Austen. Viewed as a trifle, an average romcom, this is a fine film, with more than adequate acting, attractive players, sets, costumes, and the like, but the story itself, the content of the story, is lacking. The film does not have the witty and tongue-in-cheek allusions to the life of Austen as Shakespeare in Love did with the Bard. The more the viewer knew about Shakespeare, the more the viewer could enjoy that film. Nor is it an accurate and illuminating commentary on the life of this great writer; although not overdone, I'm unsure there's any evidence that Tom Lefroy guided or influenced Austen's writing. The film takes liberties and makes real distortions in the facts of Austen's life. Nor does Becoming Jane cleverly incorporate Austen's novels into this telling, either comedically making her life into an Austen novel, or, conversely and more seriously, finding the autobiographical in her novels and using them to illustrate this biopic. In fact, except for a few instances, this film needn't have been about Jane Austen, and could've been about any young woman who wanted to be a writer and had an episode of romantic entanglement; it could've been simply a Georgian romcom. Although enjoyable and worth watching, Becoming Jane doesn't add anything to the story of the beloved writer, and so is a huge missed opportunity to make a lasting work that would be treasured by generations of Austen fans. A lovely and amusing entertainment, but little more. 🐢