Becoming Jane

[mothwing]

What has the poor woman done to deserve this?

Not that I even like Jane Austen, but I feel that summing up her life so blandly as a boy meets girl story and a heartbroken romance - which also seems to be the sole inspiration for her novels - is selling her short. She is one of the greatest writers in the English language, and what does this movie do to her? Put her into an inspiring love story à la Shakespeare in Love. Of course there are people who suggest that she harboured deeper feelings for Lefroy, but there is just not enough evidence to prove or disprove what is hard fact and the basis for the story of this movie.

What is a fact is that Jane Austen was not a stomping, lovesick teenager, and nor did she write some of the greatest novels in the English language because she was one. The suggestion that she would not have been able to create the characters she did create without encountering exact real-life models is absolutely insulting. Of course she based some of  her characters on people around her, she mentioned this herself, but this direct translation of reality into fiction really annoys me.

The only thing which saves this movie is Maggie Smith.