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Becoming Jane Our rating: Your rating:   MPAA rating: PG (for brief nudity and mild language) Genre: Drama, Romance Theater release: August 03, 2007 by Miramax Directed by: Julian Jarrold Runtime: 2 hours Cast: Anne Hathaway (Jane Austen), James McAvoy (Tom Lefroy), Julie Walters (Mrs. Austen), James Cromwell (Rev. Austen), Maggie Smith (Lady Gresham), Anna Maxwell Martin (Cassandra Austen) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Few names elicit from women both wistful sighs as well as secret gratitude to be alive in this century as does Jane Austen. The 19th century English writer graced us with six classic novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. These beloved tales mostly center on women in Jane's era trying to marry well—for their family's satisfaction, for much-needed financial security, and, wonderfully, often for love.

Coming from a family of modest means herself, Austen knew the pressure to marry well firsthand. Becoming Jane draws on what we know of Austen's life through her letters and writings, specifically her flirtations with a young lawyer named Tom Lefroy, and speculates on how this relationship may have unfolded and then shaped Jane's life and literary work.

Anne Hathaway as a young Jane Austen

When we first see Jane (Anne Hathaway), she's up before dawn and before the rest of her family, writing. When she finds a just-right turn of phrase, she sits at the piano to pound out her pleasure—waking her dozing but adoring family members. When we first meet Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy) a few scenes later, he's losing a boxing match, boozing it up with his buddies, and kissing on a woman I'm not altogether sure isn't a prostitute.

Our Good Girl and Bad Boy meet when Tom's uncle, a local judge who's providing Tom with lodging and employment, reprimands his party-boy nephew and sends him to live with other relatives (who happen to be close friends of the Austens) out in the country for the summer. This feels like a death sentence to city-boy Tom, who descends on Jane's peaceful, pastoral corner of England with a scowl and an attitude. Within hours of his arrival, he falls asleep while Jane reads one of her works to a gathering of friends and family, much to Jane's consternation.

James McAvoy as Tom Lefroy

Our pair meets next in the wooded English countryside. Bored Tom is taking a walk and randomly smacking the trees with his walking stick when he happens upon Jane, who's out for an afternoon stroll and giving the occasional trunk a gentle caress as she passes. They spar verbally there, and soon thereafter at a family picnic and at a local dance. Though they appear to be polar opposites, Jane and Tom seem to appreciate the intelligence and feistiness in each other—surely a refreshing change from the lusty women Tom's kept company with and the rich but boring men to whom Jane's parents try to marry her off.

Of course a romance develops amidst all the verbal jousting, but since neither Jane nor Tom is from a wealthy family, it's complicated. Tom is dependent on his wealthy but snobbish uncle, who looks at commoner Jane with disdain. Jane needs to marry well to help provide for her family and provide her the freedom to keep writing. And when she hasn't been hanging out with Tom, her parents have been nudging her toward a rich bachelor with the personality of a houseplant. Jane and Tom both want to marry for love, but feel trapped by a time and a culture in which marriage is much more about securing one's livelihood. The agonizing choices they must make between security and happiness, between self and family, between convention and conviction comprise the rest of the movie—and surely will ring familiar to any Austen fan.

While Tom and Jane dance, Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox) looks on

Much was made about the fact that an American actress, Hathaway, was cast as Jane, such a beloved British icon. (This on the heels of Renee Zellweger portraying another British literary great, Beatrix Potter.) Though Hathaway's accent does falter in a few places and she's arguably much prettier than Austen was believed to be, for the most part she does an admirable job. She's never overdramatic and doesn't bring a modern ring to a character whose independence and intelligence are before her time, which is a common struggle for such period pieces.

The chemistry between Jane and Tom is pitch perfect. We feel the sparks fly when they argue, we believe their yearning for each other. My main complaint with the movie is that we don't get enough of these two characters falling for each other. They're painted as such opposites from the outset of the movie. And while opposites do attract (in many Austen works, certainly), it's difficult to imagine savvy Jane falling so quickly and completely for a guy who's been a bit of a womanizing cad. As lovely as they were, I would have gladly sacrificed some of the lush pastoral scenes for a few more transitional moments in this relationship. The strength of their bond is the axis for the entire movie, and with this foundation on a bit of shaky ground, it's more difficult to buy and feel the highs and lows this couple journeys throughout the course of the film.

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