Not Very Becoming to Jane

So ... I saw Becoming Jane last night.

As Mrs. Dashwood said in Sense and Sensibility, "If you cannot think of anything appropriate to say, you will please restrict your remarks to the weather."

Ahem ... It's rather hot, isn't it?

First of all, let me correct my previous advice that this movie would be a great date night movie. Gentlemen, I was terribly wrong. Authentic Jane Austen flicks are the goods every time. It's a truth, universally acknowledged! But this movie is only useful if you intend to break up after seeing it.

I knew the story of Jane Austen's life, but some of my companions did not. So they were terribly disappointed that this movie did not turn out like every other Jane Austen flick: no happy weddings. Let me just say that if you are wrestling with being single right now, don't go see this movie. It possibly could push you over the edge.

I was going out on a limb to plug a movie before I saw it, but I thought I wasn't risking much with Jane Austen. Even when I read about how inaccurate the story was with regard to the facts of Miss Austen's life, I still retained hope that the artistic liberties would be worth it.

They are not.

However, I can say that Anne Hathaway did a remarkable job on screen. She kept your attention and drew you into her passions. But she wasn't convincing as an early 19th-century woman. Like the rest of the film, she was the 21st-century recasting, a forward female in a fine frock. James McAvoy was also compelling, completely shedding any reminder of his previous role as Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia.

And I can say that the cinematography is luscious.

Now, about that weather . . .

Okay, seriously, this movie was a disappointment on many levels. The first is that those involved with the story's development--from perhaps the original novelist (I don't know for sure, I've never read the book on which this movie is based) to the director--seem to miss what legions of people adore about Jane Austen: the thrust and parry of her incredible dialogue, her emphasis on character and character development, and her elevation of romance. And I mean romance, not mere sensuality.

From the first scene, it is obvious this movie won't deliver those elements. Yes, we see Mr. and Mrs. Austen in bed. I, for one, am glad to see married people where they are supposed to be, rather than unmarried people. But the scene quickly degrades to unnecessary sexual innuendo. Equally as bad, as the plot develops, you can detect that this was indeed gratuitous innuendo because Mr. and Mrs. Austen have quite the contentious marriage in this movie. Character development, strike one.

Then we have the dialogue. It truly fell short of Austen's standards. There was quite an effort being made to sound like the original, an effort so self-conscious that it reminded you that yes, your seat is rather uncomfortable and that your shoes are sticking to the floor. And isn't that someone's cell phone buzzing? But wait, oh, what were they just saying? Never mind, it was just Jane firing off an out-of-context string of self-righteous verbiage with none of the charm of Lizzie Bennett.

But the low point of the movie was the fictitious development of Jane's relationship with Tom Lefroy. First, we learn in great detail how dissolute he is. Then once they meet, Lefroy goes on to recommend a novel to Jane in order to "broaden her horizons." It's The History of Tom Jones. Those around me in the theater gasped with knowing recognition, but fortunately I was unaware of this historical novel. I later learned that this book, published in 1749, was criticized for its inclusion of prostitution and sexual promiscuity in the plot. And Jane reads aloud portions of it just for the benefit of folks like me. Awkward! (It should be noted, however, that Fielding was considered a major novelist and some Internet sources cite the author of this book as an influence on the real-life Jane.) Finally, in the most un-Jane-like move, she leans forward to kiss Lefroy prior to any proposal from him. Character development, strike two. This does not suit the woman who championed Lizzie Bennett over Lydia Bennett, who rewarded Elinor Dashwood and Anne Elliot for their feminine patience, and who gave us the memorable line, "Badly done, Emma, badly done!"

Finally, we have the guys-going-skinny-dipping scene. At least in Pride & Prejudice--though it's a scene made up for the film that's not in the book--Mr. Darcy swims with a modest amount of clothes.

And that leaves us with another weather report. Isn't it going to rain?

Fortunately, the highlight of the evening was watching the movie with Lori Smith, a fellow author who is awaiting publication of her second book, A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith (coming from WaterBrook Press in October). Lori also runs the Following Austen and Jane Austen Quote of the Day blogs. I look forward to reading her review and to checking out her book this fall.

Bottom line: Save yourself the $10 and watch the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice. It's much better.

UPDATE: Two readers have submitted comments with useful information about Jane and about another Austen adaptation, so I've added them to this post.

Comments

[Rachel]

Thanks for the review! You do us all a service. :)

I'm not sure if you count every movie version of a Jane Austen book as an "authentic Jane Austen flick", but if so I need to say there's one we should all avoid-- the 1999 version of Mansfield Park with Hannah Taylor-Gordon. In Austen's book, the poor downtrodden Fanny Price triumphs by her humility, modesty, and wisdom. She yields to all sorts of bad treatment from her rich relatives, but she *will not* yield when urged to behave immorally. Her humble submission to the standards of right and wrong saves her. In the movie, however, she's got as much spunk and self-will as her dissolute relations and she obeys no authority but her own superior smarts, by which she beats the silly relatives. The message of the book is completely reversed. In Austen's version Fanny triumphs by humility; in the movie she triumphs by holding on to her pride.

Not to mention that the movie throws in drug addiction, a sex scene, and some very graphic drawings of rape. People seem to think they're being clever by throwing that stuff into Austen adaptations. In fact they're just demonstrating their failure to step outside our own culture and understand Austen's.

[Emma]

Oh I am so glad you didn't like this. It's awful. I saw it on it's release in the UK and was horrified by its portrayal of Jane.

Much better by far, if you happen to be in England, is to go to her house at Chawton in Hampshire. It has been very well preserved with her writing desk and some jewellery on display.

Of particular interest to Christians however are 2 displays upstairs. One in her bedroom is a copy of a prayer she wrote and the other is a montage decribing her final illness which contains a very moving letter written by her sister Cassandra. The letter describes the death of someone who was at peace with God, and is striking for the way in which Cassandra describes her own feelings. She is sad that Jane is dead but feels that this sadness is a selfish emotion, and that she should be happy for Jane being at peace in Christ. She also looks for reasons why God would have taken her favourite sister, leaving cassandra alone and concludes that it is part of God's plan for her own sanctification as she loved Jane too much and neglected other members of her family as a result. She never questions God's goodness.

It made for a very interesting discussion (as I was there with 5 girls from our church youth group,(we were on our houseparty)) as we ate our sandwiches in Jane Austen's garden, about God's sovereignty and the purpose of suffering in the christian life, which we all found helpful as we were studying 1 Peter and had found some of the passages hard going-this provided an excellent application.

Also there is a gorgeous tea shop opposite the house with very fine cake, and the whole thing is not too touristy.

[Scott Anderson]

Dear Carolyn:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting your negative review of the movie "Becoming Jane." My wife read it and was sufficiently convinced that it was not something she wanted to go see on date night.

I’m probably not unique in my appreciation of your review. No doubt there are hundreds of husbands (who’s wives read your blog) who are secretly rejoicing that they have, yet again, dodged the bullet of having to watch something written by or based on the life of Jane Austen. So keep posting the movie reviews.

In fact, could you do me a favor and write a POSITIVE review about "The Bourne Ultimatum?" Date night is coming up again . . .