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Becoming Jane Miramax Films, 120mins, PG Directed by Julian Jarrold  I remember
looking at a an encyclopedia of women writers by some radical
feminist group and noticing that while some unreadable academics had
several pages to themselves, Jane Austen had less than three
paragraphs. I mention this because Ms. Austen has stood the test of
time and is thus politically incorrect. But she remains the Queen of
Literature, and since most of her works have been translated to the
sliver screen several times over, the British costume drama industry
has decided to do a cheap imitation of her genius by doing a highly
fictionalized biopic staring the great lady herself.When she's first introduced, Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) has yet to become famous and is working on” Pride and Prejudice.” While her sister Cassandra (Anna Maxwell Martin) looks for love and everyone is despairing over Jane's inability to find a husband. But then, who should come around by the rakish Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), and after some initial resistance, the standard romance takes place. What exactly can you say about this film? The acting is fine, but the film is old hat. Jane seems intelligent, but unlike some other similar films of late, like “Miss Potter” the romance is something that is rather uninteresting and the supporting cast isn't anywhere near interesting. There is no real plot like “Moliere” where the main character actually undergoes a consciousness-raising journey among characters who would make riveting films on their own. The film never gets above the “vapid costume drama” category, and if you're a fan of Austen's original books and want to see a film, there's plenty to choose from superior to this. Go to Index Archives of past reviews
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