Becoming Jane
DIR: Julian Jarrold • WRI: Kevin Hood, Sarah Williams • PROD: Robert Bernstein, Graham Broadbent, Douglas Rae • DOP: Eigil Bryld • ED: Emma E. Hickox • DES: Eve Stewart • CAST: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith, Joe Anderson

‘A woman, especially if she has the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.’ – Jane Austen.

Anne Hathaway apparently took this quote (used as a promotional tagline for Becoming Jane) very much to heart, as her performance manages to perfectly conceal the wit and intelligence that made Austen not just an exceptional woman, but an exceptional author.

However, it’s possible that the problem is not so much Hathaway, as the casting of Hathaway. Posterity has it that Ms Austen was plain – a plain Jane if you will. If Becoming Jane had had a target audience of males age 18 to 35, one could understand the necessity of casting a young, attractive starlet. However, if ever there were a chick-flick, Becoming Jane is it. With a not-so-Hollywood actress in the starring role, the film might well have been a success; with Hathaway at the helm, it simply doesn’t work. 

While it may be catastrophic, the casting of Hathaway is the film’s only major flaw. James McAvoy (Dr Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland and Mr Tumnus the Faun in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) is both the love interest Tom Lefroy and a fine example of when casting goes right. McAvoy has what can only be described as charm with an off-switch. Neither a Hollywood hunk nor a pretty-boy, McAvoy’s Lefroy begins as a mildly diverting character whose features inspire very little, and goes on to become a genuinely magnetic on-screen presence.

The supporting cast are excellent, with Julie Walters as Jane’s mother turning in a performance worthy of ‘Mrs Bennett’, James Cromwell, grave and kind as the Revd Austen, and of course the fantastic Maggie Smith, ever ready to deliver cutting lines through pursed lips, playing Jane’s nemesis Lady Gresham.

Overall, if you are already a fan of Austen adaptations and are willing to forget the woman on whose life and work the film is based, you may well enjoy Becoming Jane.

Niamh Creely

Rated PG (see IFCO website for details)
Becoming Jane is released on16th March 2007.
Becoming Jane – Official website