Becoming Jane (2007)

Before she was beloved author, Jane (Anne Hathaway) was the beloved intelligent daughter of an impoverished clergyman (James Cromwell). It is Jane's duty to marry well according to her mother. But a marriage without affection is no life at all according to dear Jane who, at 20, sees the world beyond societal expectations. Rejecting the advances from the nephew of a wealth noble, has Jane's mother (Julie Walters) at wits end. Instead Jane falls for the roguish Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), a poor Irish lawyer. Their sharp repartee gives way to love and their relationship becomes more than a matching of wits. Both families are determined to intercede but headstrong Jane will not be told what to do.

Anne Hathaway portrays Jane as intelligent, but impudent. She has yet to govern her strong wit. Poorly cast, Hathaway struggles to really embody Austen and her struggle over duty and love, seeking to make them one in the same. James McAvoy is the very definition of 'dashing'. Their on-screen chemistry does make for a lovely couple.

One must remember that Becoming Jane is purely speculation. With that in mind, one can see the film as it is, a period drama of unrequited love. The story, loosely based on two letters exchanged between Jane and her sister Cassandra, builds into a series of events pulled from the novels. Director Julian Jarrold (Kinky Boots) goes for the obvious and mundane. The implication that Austen could not have written without the 'experience' is insulting to the author and fans alike.

As I see it, Becoming Jane works better as a faux-BBC production not as look into the lady who is Jane Austen.