Becoming Jane

Well, I watched "Becoming Jane" on cable the other night. Honestly, I am not sure about it. Anne Hathaway is a pretty girl but somehow she doesn't look very English (despite the name). Maybe she looks too modern? Or perhaps the eyebrows? Whatever it is, she looks like a changeling amidst her brothers and sister Cassandra.

The story centres around Jane's relationship with a young Irish lawyer, Tom Lefroy (played by James McAvoy). We all know the end - it doesn't work out. But in the meantime, we are invited to draw parallels between the Jane-Tom and Lizzy-Darcy romances - Jane initially prejudiced against Tom, but after that drawn by his charm (ok that doesn't sound so much like Darcy). Plus another suitor who has an aunt just like Lady Catherine de Bough.

I did enjoy the exchanges between Jane and Tom. But there are elements that don't ring true - somehow it is hard to picture Jane attempting to elope. She is a vicar's daughter, after all. More importantly, I would have liked to see a little more of Jane's artistic development and her relationship with the other members of her family - aspects brought out so well in "Miss Potter", the movie on the life of Beatrix Potter. But see this note about the production which supposedly provides more insights on the film.

All in all, a pleasant movie about a failed romance but nothing much about the deeper influences that resulted in a young woman, from a pretty ordinary family, becoming one of the most enduring and celebrated writers of all time.