Anyone planning to see "Becoming Jane"?

Read any good books lately?
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MissGoddess
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Anyone planning to see "Becoming Jane"?

Post by MissGoddess »

I am curious to see it because I am a big Jane Austen fan. I am also hesitant to see it because I am a big Jane Austen fan. From the trailers I get the impression this is a sort of 'romance novel', sexed-up version of her life story and that is something I definitely have no interest in seeing. If someone does go, I'd love to know their review. :?
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Moraldo Rubini
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The Mix-Up

Post by Moraldo Rubini »

I too love Jane Austin. And I love Anne Hathaway. But I fear that Jane and Anne don't mix. I saw the trailers and Miss Hathaway acts like a contemporary young woman in period dress. It's like a valley girl Jane Austin. Like, really, fer sure! You know I go to lots of movies -- even the bad ones -- but I think I'll avoid this one. I'll go see The Ten instead this week...
feaito

Post by feaito »

My youngest sister (who's 24) is a huge Jane Austen fan too and will watch this pseudo-biopic for sure. She's very critic when it comes to the adaptations to the screen of Ms. Austen's work (i.e. In spite that she found OK the 1940 version of "Pride and Prejudice" she was bothered by the change of period outfits to mid 1800s and to other alterations of the novel's plot in relation to certain characters, such as Lady Catherine De Bourgh, who turned to be sympathetic at the end). I am also curious and want to see this film. I'll let you know about our views when we watch the film.
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Jezebel38
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Post by Jezebel38 »

I was looking forward to seeing this until I saw the previews - won't bother now. I did see the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley, but was so put off by the modern demeanor and tone of the characters - ended up really hating that version! My favorite film adaptation of Austen is 1996's Persuasion, which I have seen numerous times and never tire of.
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Post by MissGoddess »

Thank you everyone for the replies. Moraldo: "Valley Girl Jane Austen", oh my! I think you may be right! It's too absurd---what a wit like Jane's couldn't do with a situation like this. I may skip it, I can't stand it when they "modernize" the manners and attitudes, what is the point?

Jezebel---is the 1996 Persuasion you refer to the one with Amanda Root? If so, it's one of my favorite JE adaptations, too. I have the dvd and watch it fairly often. I also really like the 1996 Emma with Gwynneth Paltrow (not an actress I like in anything else).
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Post by knitwit45 »

J38, I totally agree! "Persuasion" is a terrific movie. Who could be talked out of marrying Ciaran Hinds??? :oops: :oops: :oops: Especially with the family she was stuck with. The costumes, location scenery, the leisurely pace of the whole movie...divine!

I have to have a "fix" every 3 months or so.

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Post by sandykaypax »

I saw Becoming Jane this past Sunday. I enjoyed it, but I feel that Anne Hathaway was miscast as Jane. I didn't feel that the film was modernized, but something about Hathaway just wasn't exactly right. She didn't have the wit that I would expect from Austen. I wish that the film had been made 20 years ago with Emma Thompson. Hathaway is just too beautiful to play Jane Austen.

I already discussed the film ad nauseum with my friends, so I just can't bear to write out a long post about it...but I would say it is worth seeing if one has an interest in Austen and/or her novels.

Sandy K
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Post by MissGoddess »

Thank you, Sandy. I may just wait until the dvd comes out and rent it.
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Post by Birdy »

I am also a huge Austen fan and will see this movie when I can, despite some hesitation.

On a side note, did anyone read or see The Jane Austen Book Club? My book club read it because we thought it would be clever to read it( as well as an Austen novel) and go see the movie of the same name or Becoming Jane but the book was so terrible I couldn't even finish it. Life's too short to finish a book you still hate after 50 pages.
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Post by sandykaypax »

Birdy, that's so true--life is too short to finish a book that you hate! You could spend the time reading something that you enjoy!

I haven't read The Jane Austen Book Club, but the movie does look interesting. It has Kathy Baker in it, and I always enjoy her work.

Sandy K
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Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

Of all the Austen screen versions, I enjoy Persuasion with Amada Root and Ciarin Hinds the best, then the A&E Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and then Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility. (I do vacillate between the three.)

I must also express my sincere sense of disappointment with the lastest
P&P. It had it's moments, and I was glad Donald Sutherland had a moment or two there, but I haven't yet to view the new Becoming Jane.

I also enjoyed the music from these films that I have the sheet music. When my goddaughters were younger, I would play the music from the films and we would have tea parties.

Later, when one of them married, I played three of the songs featured in these films at her wedding.

It is quite a lovely afternoon. Anyone care to walk down the lane to Lucas Lodge where the attics are dreadful but the scenery breathtaking?
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Post by MissGoddess »

I also enjoyed the music from these films that I have the sheet music. When my goddaughters were younger, I would play the music from the films and we would have tea parties.

Later, when one of them married, I played three of the songs featured in these films at her wedding.


That's lovely, Sue Sue. Every young girl should be exposed to these Jane Austen stories; they're so rich in details of a more gracious age.

My favorite is still 1996's Emma, but that version of Persuasion you mentioned is right up there too.

I sometimes think I would love to have lived in that age, it must have been exciting in many ways, because so much change was in the air and yet tradition was still a way of life.
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Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

When I went to college, I studied several writers from that period, and Jane Austen was such a wonderful wordsmith with economy of verbiage and ability to craft humor, sadness, joy and anxiety and weave them all into such entertaining novels.

I am so glad that we have all these "Austen" films to relish. I especially enjpy the moment when all the old friends are in Lyme and so happy to be together again reminiscing.

And, Mrs. Smith, Anne's friend from her school days, is such a great character and plot device in the movie.

Her own sister, though, is a caricature of an evil stepsister right out of Cinderella.
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Post by MissGoddess »

Her own sister, though, is a caricature of an evil stepsister right out of Cinderella.

Wasn't she? I thought she was a great actress, so sour you can't believe it! And Sophie Thompson, who played her whiny, self-pitying other sister---she's a good actress as well. She played "Miss Bates" in Emma and was in Bridget Jones' Diary.

But Ciaran Hinds---whatever happened to him? He was so attractive!
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Post by silentscreen »

sandykaypax wrote:I saw Becoming Jane this past Sunday. I enjoyed it, but I feel that Anne Hathaway was miscast as Jane. I didn't feel that the film was modernized, but something about Hathaway just wasn't exactly right. She didn't have the wit that I would expect from Austen. I wish that the film had been made 20 years ago with Emma Thompson. Hathaway is just too beautiful to play Jane Austen.

I already discussed the film ad nauseum with my friends, so I just can't bear to write out a long post about it...but I would say it is worth seeing if one has an interest in Austen and/or her novels.

Sandy K
I just saw it and I agree. Anne Hathaway is much too pretty and far more self assured than I would imagine the real Jane to be as a young woman before her novels were published. It all rides on the premise that you have to have had an experience similar to her characters to be able to write about such things. That leaves out that her novels could have been written usiing her own imagination and creativity. James McAvoy as Jane's love, Tom Lefroy, has a lot of charisma though and is an actor to look out for.

Beautiful photography and locations didn't make up for the lack of authenticity to me.
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