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BECOMING JANE Send This Review to a Friend
Anne Hathaway scores appealingly in the role of the young Jane Austen as “Becoming Jane” seizes on a few known facts to imagine a romance that might have occurred and shaped her writing and her life. The trick in this classy looking film written by Kevin Hood and directed by Julian Jarrold is that it is created in the style of an Austen work, and much of it reminds one of “Pride and Prejudice.” You can sense that the romance here is presented as if could be a key to that work
The drama is speculation, of course, but Hathaway is charming and feisty as Jane, who is determined not to be led into a conventional marriage without love. It is known that she once met a young lawyer named Tom Lefroy. The film supposes what might have been the feelings between them, and with James McAvoy as Lefroy, chemistry builds. Also in the cast are Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Laurence Fox and Maggie Smith.
The story develops smoothly with an effort to keep a period look and place the women’s independence angle embodied in Jane’s spirited outlook and behavior in the context of its time, rather than overstep by making it all seem too modern. But above all, Anne Hathaway is most impressive in a performance that deserves to further enhance her career. One might say the same for McAvoy. A Miramax Films release.
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