Anyone seen the new movie 'Becoming Jane'?

[MaryLupin]

Becoming Jane (about Jane Austen)?

If you have, what did you think?

[RoCKiTcZa]

nah... where do they show that? is it a TV movie?

[MaryLupin]

No TV. It's a major release.

IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416508/)

A youtube trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYViBfUvSOA)

[tinustijger]

I've been dying to go, but here in Holland it's released at august 16th, I'll have to wait a little longer!

[MaryLupin]

I've been dying to go, but here in Holland it's released at august 16th, I'll have to wait a little longer!

Cool. So when you see it let me know what you thought. Do you know Ms. Austen's biography?

[gatorwoman]

I saw "Becoming Jane" last night. I enjoyed it. Enjoy, though, is really not the word. I was entranced by it. Although the movie is loosely based on her life, the movie had me in an emotional grip. I left teary the whole 30 minute ride home with a lump in my throat. I feel ridiculous every time I cry during/after a movie, but I did and I was moved considering her life and writing. I will be interested in what others have to say about the movie.

[JBI]

It got torn apart by critics here, and taken out of theaters 4 days after release. I would have seen it, but now I can't see how I can (unless I travel for an hour each way).

[MaryLupin]

It got torn apart by critics here, and taken out of theaters 4 days after release. I would have seen it, but now I can't see how I can (unless I travel for an hour each way).

Too bad JBI! Where is "here?" I live in Vancouver. It didn't get great reviews here but since I've often disagreed with movie reviewers I never let that stop me from thinking about it differently. It just seems that often reviewers hold all movies to one standard and that just doesn't work because movies have many different targeted audiences and purposes. I think Jane's movie was targeted to the people who love to read stories with wit and perception but that also want a happy ending as a reward for a life well lived. I think that is completely acceptable but often reviewers do not.

Well, you can see it when it comes out on DVD...unless you are a torrent fan?

[LizzyBennet]

I just got back from seeing it! I was also entranced, just as I was with "Pride and Prejudice." I was also teary-eyed and weepy! My daughter asked more than once, "Are you CRYING?" I cried the whole way home.

I think it's just so sad how much she wanted the kind of love that she wrote about in her novels and never realized it.

[Literary_Cat]

I fear that the romanticizing (or Hollywood-ization, if you will) of Jane Austen's life will create the impression that she was a much more interesting person than she actually was. Witty, of course, and a goddess with the pen, but Austen's life was largely uneventful and hardly warrants a major motion picture. Unfortunately I must play the cynic and say, "Down with the movie!" Do please read a biography instead; the one by Carol Shields is an excellent one to begin with.

[Lioness_Heart]

I saw it on a plane, and I loved it! It made me cry so much...

But now it'll make her books seem sad, because you know that behind the happy endings was unrequited love, and that's the only reason the happy endings were put in.

But I love her books and the dramatisations of them, and am really glad I saw the film. More than any other books I can think of, it's really good to know about the author as a person because it adds so much to them.

That last bit was rambly but I hope it makes sense.

[MaryLupin]

I fear that the romanticizing (or Hollywood-ization, if you will) of Jane Austen's life will create the impression that she was a much more interesting person than she actually was. Witty, of course, and a goddess with the pen, but Austen's life was largely uneventful and hardly warrants a major motion picture. Unfortunately I must play the cynic and say, "Down with the movie!" Do please read a biography instead; the one by Carol Shields is an excellent one to begin with.

I admit it was like seeing Jane cast as one of the heroines in her own books, but still as long as I can keep the real Jane separate from the character Jane I feel like it adds to my conception of her as a person who still has relevance today. I do wonder what she would have thought of her being cast as her own character.

[aeroport]

I almost saw it today, but I went to "Death at a Funeral" instead. I'll probably see it within a week or so, though - supposing it's not taken out of the theaters here!


Do please read a biography instead; the one by Carol Shields is an excellent one to begin with.
Will do, when the time is at hand.

[BrontëMania]

Although it is loosely based upon her life, it was a very emotional film, and yes I admit to crying. It was brilliantly woven from situations in her novels, and shows why she may have had reason to write what she did. A really good, but really sad movie.

[Auzel]

I havent actually seen the movie but by the way my mother wouldn't stop raving about it, it must have some high points my mother was so inspired by the movie that she actually asked me for all my Jane Austen books, I want to go but I fear that the movie will leave me feeling the same way I did after the first few chapeters of Pride and Prejudice, wanting to kill myself. I have no idea why I can't get into Jane Austen books like my friends do, I once was browsing through the comic's section (Yes, yes I read comics, you can't blame me my father once owned a comic book store its in my blood) and I happened to pick up a comic book version of Emma not being a fan of Jane Austen I did not realize it was her story of course you expect me to say that I loved it well no, Like all Jane Austen books it left me dazed and confused. I could not even grasp the personality type of the main character. I'm sorry I've tried hard but her writing alludes me, my father was disappointed to find out that I didnt finish any of the Jane Austen books that he gave to me for christmas he strongly believes that every girl should read them. I'll rent it the next time I see it, and cross my fingers and hope I'm not left out in the dark

[Mrs. Dalloway]

I don't like at all... It's only about her lover and her writings almost don't appear. There are lots of things they have invented and other things they have forgotten... It is just a film to make people "cry" but not a film about Jane Austen, the woman writer of XIX C. It's just another love film... I was really disappointed when I watched it.

[Niamh]

I saw it and oddly enough enjoyed it even though i didnt expect to.

[LadyW]

I donot believe that I have not seen this movie yet...
I will add that at least near the top of my list of priorities :)
James Mcavoy... A girl can dream.

[sciencefan]

I just rented the video and watched this last night.
I enjoyed it very much.
Anne Hathaway is a pleasure to watch, and
I preferred her Jane Austen to the BBC Jane Austen who was entirely too cynical for me.

I don't know how much of the story is true, but I liked it.

[Dark Muse]

I found it an enjoyable movie and I thought it was fun to watch the persepctive the movie offered of how the story Pride and Prejudice and the characters might have developed for Jane Austen.

I did not take it all for true fact, but it was an interesting secnario to watch play out I thought.

[sciencefan]

I found it an enjoyable movie and I thought it was fun to watch the persepctive the movie offered of how the story Pride and Prejudice and the characters might have developed for Jane Austen.

I did not take it all for true fact, but it was an interesting secnario to watch play out I thought.Me, too.

[Nossa]

I loved James McAvoy in the movie...didn't llike Anne Hathaway much though. But the movie, generaly speaking, was okay.

[byquist]

Can't remember it that well so it did not have an indelible imprint like some movies do. But the "Devil Wears Prada" gal gave it her all, and the Brit guy with long hair who went for money instead of love, well, -- got used to him. Julie Walters and Maggie Smith are always good. Worth seeing. "Miss Potter," in some ways comparable, I remember clearly; maybe because it had some humor. Not much humor in "Jane" that I can recall.

[byquist]

Well, there was also the excellent characterization by the tall guy who she gives the "brush" to. Later he talks, or comes to her aid, or says he'll be an eternal friend, right? That was a fine character development, and well-executed by that actor.

[sciencefan]

Well, there was also the excellent characterization by the tall guy who she gives the "brush" to. Later he talks, or comes to her aid, or says he'll be an eternal friend, right? That was a fine character development, and well-executed by that actor.
I think that was Wisley, the nephew of the rich old lady.

Good thing I watched with subtitles on!
Those British names really confound me!

[byquist]

Wasn't the father also looking out for his daughter's happiness, in spite of all the emphasis on money? If so, that is a good theme. Fancy ballroom dancing too.

[Tiny Dancer]

I saw it and it made me my chest ache for the rest of the day
I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE IN BOOKS OR MOVIES ARE SELFLESS
it annoys me so much!
anyway
going back to the movie..
it is very good but it has a sad ending. The guy is to die for.. ahem

[antonia1990]

James McAvoy is delicious!!

On a serious note, I'm glad I had read about her life prior to watching the movie. It meant that there were no tears for me. It was a pretty good movie, though it was highly romanticized. Haven't seen the other one, 'Jane Austen Regrets'. Is it worth watching?

[sciencefan]

James McAvoy is delicious!!

On a serious note, I'm glad I had read about her life prior to watching the movie. It meant that there were no tears for me. It was a pretty good movie, though it was highly romanticized. Haven't seen the other one, 'Jane Austen Regrets'. Is it worth watching?
"Miss Austen Regrets" is worth watching.
It has an entirely different feel.
That Jane is sarcastic and cynical.
I didn't like her as much as I did the Jane in "Becoming Jane".
But it's still worth watching for what it does have to offer.

[antonia1990]

"Miss Austen Regrets" is worth watching.
It has an entirely different feel.
That Jane is sarcastic and cynical.
I didn't like her as much as I did the Jane in "Becoming Jane".
But it's still worth watching for what it does have to offer.

Thanks! I'll look for the movie ASAP! :)