I wanted to like it—if for no other reason than I like Anne Hathaway, adore James McAvoy, and thoroughly enjoy Jane Austen's works. I have no problems with biographies that take a generous approach to the truth. As far as I’m concerned, a well-told story is a well-told story, and a well-acted film is a film worth seeing. Becoming Jane, unfortunately, was neither a well-told story nor a particularly well-acted film.
It comes down to this: Becoming Jane offers the viewer no real foothold into Austen’s world. The film is not visually stunning. The supporting cast just barely showed up for the final taping. That is to say, virtually every member of the supporting cast succeeded in receding into the background of each and every shot, and mastered the art of making oneself wholly forgettable. As for the leads, if this were my first encounter with either Hathaway or McAvoy, I would walk away impressed only by McAvoy’s shirtless physique. The two only rarely manage to fully occupy a scene—there is either too much space, visually and emotionally, or much too little.
This isn’t to say that there are no appealing sentiments expressed. Tom LeFroy and Jane Austen show themselves capable of cleverness and undercut each other in amusing ways early in the film. Their near-kiss in the stairwell, when he’s holding the candlestick, is a very pretty shot indeed. When Tom materializes at the dance, holding her hand, my heart stuttered a little (smooth, Lefroy, very smooth). Tom and Jane's parting is bittersweet (the line, "if our love destroys your family, it will destroy itself" was very powerful), but would have been moreso had I not somehow missed when exactly it was the two went from friendly acquaintances to making out in the forest, each incapable of living without the another. Jane and Cassandra’s conversation near the end, about young women who are “better than their circumstances,” was very well-placed.
Finally, Becoming Jane cannot help but suffer by comparison to the vastly superior Pride & Prejudice, a film it borrows from too heavily at points. Pride & Prejudice, masterfully filmed against a rich backdrop of lived-in homes and wild spaces, enjoyed an unbeatable supporting cast of eclectic, carefully developed, and memorable characters, and soared alongside its commanding, believable leads. In Pride & Prejudice, you did not see inside every room, nor hear every thought voiced. The actors carried the film by Austen’s words and their own actions and expressions. The film flowed seamlessly from beginning to end, where Becoming Jane variously drags its feet and rushes ahead of itself. Pride & Prejudice transports; Becoming Jane merely offers small morsels of mild entertainment.
While not dead on arrival by any means, Becoming Jane lacks feeling, depth, and originality. The film is occasionally warm and witty, but never brave, inventive, reflective or engaging. Ultimately, it contributes very little to the ongoing conversation about Jane Austen’s life and works.
