Becoming Jane
So I finally saw Becoming Jane– it only came out in 2007!!!
And I loved it, of course.
It made me ball.
At the very end- when Jane sees the love of her long lost youth and he introduces her to his oldest daughter, Jane….
Floodgates. Open.
I am sure this was literary license (I am pretty sure they never met again beyond their flirtation when she was 20) but it got me- like a dagger to the heart.
Yes I am a total sap.
This may make me a total girl but I love Jane Austen, the books, the adaptations of her novels to the small and big screen.
The ultimate adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is the 1995 BBC mini-series staring a delicious Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. I defy anyone (regardless of gender or sexual persuasion) who does not swoon when he steps out from the pond after taking a dip fully clothed.
My favourite movie is a tie. I loved Persuasion (1995- a very good year)- the heroine, a 27-year old spinster was persuaded to refuse the (penniless) love of her life eight years earlier only to have him return from the Napoleonic War with rank and wealth and not ready to forgive.
The second is very different from the quietly unfolding Persuasion- Mansfield Park, the lively, self-aware 1999 adaptation directed (and screenplay adapted) by Patricia Rozema.
Though Becoming Jane made me weep (despite commercial interruptions), I’ll have to watch it again to see where it fits among the adaptations of her novels, the novels themselves and that which is influenced by Austen’s work (I’m talking about you Pride and Prejudice and Zombies- purists would probably spit but this literary mashup was absolutely hysterical and gross).
I think I know where I may be able to borrow a DVD of the movie….
AngryEgg 