Becoming Jane

Director: Julian Jarrold Julian Jarrold

Overview

Events from the life of the author Jane Austen inspired this romantic historical drama, which speculates of a romance that may have had a significant impact on her life and work. Twenty-year-old Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) is the daughter of Rev. Austen (James Cromwell), a minister who looks after a flock in a small rural community in Southern England with his wife (Julie Walters). While her older sister, Cassandra (Anna Maxwell Martin), is engaged to be married, Jane resists her family's efforts to match her up with Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox), the wealthy but dull nephew of Lady Gresham (Maggie Smith), a minor member of the British nobility. Jane has the heart of an artist, and hopes to distinguish herself as a musician or a writer, though her parents don't think much of her prospects. When Jane meets Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), a young man her own age, she's intrigued; while he scoffs at her writing style, he clearly sees she has talent, and is eager for her to learn more of the larger world by exposing her to more daring literature and modern pastimes such as boxing. As Tom begins to court Jane, she finds herself increasingly attracted to this poor but keenly intelligent man, though she soon realizes her own ideas about love and marriage are sometimes at odds with the conventions of the society in which she lives.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/2021
UPC:	0032429351678
Original Release:	2007
Rating:	PG
Source:	Miramax
Language:	English
Time:	2:00:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Anne Hathaway	Jane Austen
James McAvoy	Tom Lefroy
Julie Walters	Mrs. Austen
James Cromwell	Reverend Austin
Maggie Smith	Lady Gresham,2nd Coachman
Joe Anderson	Henry Austen
Lucy Cohu	Eliza De Feuillide
Laurence Fox	Mr. Wisley
Ian Richardson	Judge Langlois,Alan Brett
Anna Maxwell Martin	Cassandra Austen
Leo Bill	John Warren
Eleanor Methven	Mrs. Lefroy
Jessica Ashworth	Lucy Lefroy
Michael James Ford	Mr. Lefroy
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor	Robert Fowle
Elaine Murphy	Jenny
Guy Carleton	Coachman
Philip Culhane	George Austen
Helen McCrory	Mrs. Radcliffe
Louise Marie Kerr	Admirer
Gina Costigan	3 Caroline
Sophie Vavasseur	jane Lefroy
Chris McHallem	Mr. Curtis
Michael Patric	Don Dogarty
Tara Lynne O'Neill	Wine Whore
Tom Maguire	Miscreant
Lynda Lee Harrison	Soprano
Aidan Broadbridge	Fiddler
Tony Brown	Player
Judy Donovan	Lady at Gresham Ball
Glenn Gannon	Mr. Radcliffe
Lucy McKenna	Lady Gresham's Maid
Giedrius Nagys	Farmer Boy
Don Doherty	Michael Patric
Donal O'Farrell	Black Bob
Tara Nixon O'Neill	Wine Whore
Alan Smyth	The Showman
Lynda Lee	Soprano
Paul Englishby	Conductor
Adrian Johnston	Composer

Technical Credits

Sarah Williams

Kevin Hood

Jane Austen

Julian Jarrold	Director
Sarah Williams	Screenwriter
Kevin Hood	Screenwriter
Robert Bernstein	Producer
Douglas Rae	Producer
Graham Broadbent	Producer
Brendan Byrne	Special Effects,Special Effects
Jane Austen	Screenwriter
Jeff Abberley	Executive Producer,Producer
Julia Blackman	Executive Producer,Producer
Nicole Finnan	Executive Producer,Producer
Tim Haslam	Executive Producer,Producer
Joanna Anderson	Producer
James Flynn	Producer
Morgan O'Sullivan	Producer
James Saynor	Producer
Peter Dillon	Stunts
Nick Adams	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Jeremy Adamson	Sound Effects
Mark Barry	Sound Effects
Carlie Bergman	Sound Effects
Peter Blayney	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Noëlette Buckley	Producer
Louie Alexander	Special Effects
Dave Roddham	Special Effects
Team FX	Special Effects
Gail Stevens	Casting
Gillian Reynolds	Casting
Tom Johnson	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The title Becoming Jane should be taken fairly literally. Viewers with an academic interest in Jane Austen's craft, expecting a Georgian-era Shakespeare in Love, are bound to find Julian Jarrold's film lacking. But those eager to witness the molding of an uncompromising feminist, who refused to marry for financial comfort at a time when loving your husband was considered irrelevant at best, are sure to understand Austen's principled pain by film's end. Becoming Jane starts out a bit tediously, going through the familiar motions of a costume drama in which the lead happens to be one of literature's great talents. Screenwriters Kevin Hood and Sarah Williams aren't interested in winking allusions to the future plot points of Pride and Prejudice; instead, they give us a standard "courtship" between Austen (Anne Hathaway) and Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), a commoner lawyer dependent on a capricious uncle, in which initial comic friction morphs into passionate love. But as the film leaves behind its frivolous beginnings, it really engages the dilemma faced by the young Austen, whose convictions have consequences beyond her own well-being. Her whole family depends on an advantageous match elevating them from poverty, since the literary aspirations of a woman appeared to have no possibility of accomplishing that, and in fact provoked derisive laughter from those who heard the plan. Austen's tragedy was that she would in fact develop the skills needed to prosper in this way, but not soon enough to facilitate the marriage she truly wanted. Hathaway is more than passable, but not particularly memorable, as Jane; the same goes for McAvoy as the rakish lawyer-pugilist, who gives Jane a taste of the life experience needed to become a good writer. Becoming Jane is both handsome and thoughtful, but not enough of either to constitute a major achievement.