Anne Hathaway far from princess to pauper gives as good as she gets in this movie Becoming Jane is the life and times of Jane Austen depicted in the hallows fields of Hampshire the settings of her great triumphs that were her novels.
As in Austen's novels, the film is imbued with the signature Wit and Irony that are the characteristics of the books. Pride and Prejudice comes to life within the context of Jane Austen's tales, trails and travails. Father is an impecuniuous preacher trying to raise family, daughters, and small farm animals of the chicken and pig persuasion. Mother with a sharp tongue constantly frets about trying to marry her two daughters off.
Right from the start, Jane Austen is sitting uncommonly at her desk with paper and feathered pen struggling for the right words to put to page. She is a girl of youthfulness and independent thought, something that in those days was supposed to remain hidden. There is a bearing about her, a pride and prejudice in the making so to speak. She will not marry for money, she requires affection. Her attitude becomes a sore point with the mother, but father played with a downhome panache by James Cromwell is on her side. Moreso, Jane Austen will support herself, but how?
What is she doing?
She is writing
Isn't there anything you can do about it ?
Jane will not let herself be married off - even though she has caught the eye of the local boy who has means by way of his rich mother. Jane requires affection.
What is at the heart of this movie that will persuade the young females that will be drawn to this movie is the early romance between Jane and the young Tom Lefroy played with a certain flair by James McAvoy as an impoverished student of law in London who constantly gambles and fights for wagers [and in a clever device has a penchant for getting distracted by the sounds of strangers and at that moment be knocked out by his foe]. There is no suggestion that the hellion Lefroy is going to improve his way of life so the judge [played to the hilt of haughtiness by the late House of Cards Ian Richardson in his last role] has Tom sent off to a quiet life in the Hampshire countryside with the Austens family. From the start their mutual disdain for each other is apparent as he falls asleep during a family reading of her latest speech. Their duel is set against a comedy of manners. They fiercely banter back and forth in a battle of spirit and will, neither side giving in. While in a fictional world of an Austen novel it would appear that they are destined for each other, but life gets in their way. Jane's courter has not given up on obtaining her hand in marriage, even though she is looking for in her words: affection, which she has not for him.
Those who have seen the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice will relate to the scenery and down to earth depiction of that world seen in Becoming Jane and can begin to foresee what is to trespass in Jane's life when Lefroy capitulates before her. However, Jane Austen's life is not exactly parallel as Pride and Prejudice comes to fruition, but provides the strong inspiration for some of the greatest books in the English language.
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