Thursday, October 8, 2009

BECOMING JANE (2008)

BECOMING JANE, this beautiful romantic/comedy, is loosely based on the life of Jane Austen. Anne Hathaway is wonderful in her beautiful portrayal of Jane Austen. The young Jane, daughter of a clergyman, receives a proposal from a wealthy nephew of an aristocratic Lady Gresham. She refuses because she has fallen in love with penniless lawyer to be Tom Lefroy. Jane Austen, writer, and a independant woman ahead of her time, resists the social pressure to marry a wealthy man from her family. When her brother Henry brings home his friend Tom Lefroy from London . Jane finds her love of her life in charming Lefroy. When they decide to elope to Scotland their plans are changed at the last minute when Jane has a change of heart. Thinking they would live in poverty , walks out of the train station. Years later, Tom Lefroy becomes the Chief Justice of Ireland and Jane Austen one of England's most famous novelists. Meet after an opera performance. One of my favorite scenes is when Tom brings his daughter, named after Jane, to meet Austen where she reads from her own book, and finishes when she covers her empty left hand.

I thought the cast did an excellent job in the film BECOMING JANE. Anne Hathaway’s skillful portrayal of Jane Austen was wonderful. Although, she is not my favorite Jane.

The costumes are another reason that i became hooked on "PERIOD FILMS". I am far from an expert.. but, I have to say I was a little disappointed in some of the dresses.


Becoming Jane was shot in Dublin and rural Ireland instead of Hampshire, England the birthplace of Jane Austen. Many scenes were also shot in Charleville Castle.

2 comments:

mark said...

Hi Dawn, I'm catching up on all the blogs I missed in the past couple of weeks. I must say everything looks great. 'Becoming Jane' is the only one I've seen, unfortunately, but honestly all these movies sound really good.

I agree - the ending, when Tom Lefroy lets it slip that he named his daughter after Jane. Any other movie could have put a little montage of all their happier moments, but instead, the stricken look on actor James McAvoy's face says it all. Totally devastating!

Dawn said...

Thank You Marco, So far I have not seen a Period Film that I have not liked.

I thought the ending was amazing. When Jane covered her left hand. You could feel her sadness.