Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is a French romantic comedy about a bookseller and aspiring author who is invited to a residency to discuss the work of Jane Austen. Source: Australian Catholics.
The sub-titled film is written and directed by Laura Piani and is her first feature-length movie. It is presented as a modern account of seeking the kind of happiness Jane Austen writes about.
Agathe Robinson (Rutherford) is an aspiring novelist who has what she considers the opportunity of a lifetime to attend a writers’ residency exploring works of her favourite author, Austen.
Agathe is a lonely young woman who is struggling with grief following the recent tragic loss of her parents. She works in a Shakespeare & Co bookshop in Paris, but is experiencing writer’s block.
Her best friend, Felix (Pauly), arranges for her to be invited to the workshop in England, and she finds herself caught in a dilemma she must resolve: Is she a professional accomplished writer, or a person (she thinks) who isn’t able to experience genuinely romantic feelings?
She longs for romance, and she has enrolled in the workshop to enjoy Jane Austen, but also to give consciously expressed meaning to the dilemmas she knows she is experiencing.
She is a character whose unpolished charm makes audiences feel that she is someone Jane Austen might well have written about.
The film that communicates the tensions depicted in Austen’s writings in interesting ways. It captures the escapism of romantic attachment by mixing it with realism, and human tensions are structured to provide the reality check.
The film is modelled loosely on Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It slips at times into slapstick humour that stays anchored to Austen.
Review by Peter W Sheehan, Jesuit Media
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life: Starring Camille Rutherford, Pablo Pauly, Charlie Anson and Annabelle Lengronne. Directed by Laura Piani. Rated M (Coarse language). 98 min.
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Jane Austen Wrecked My Life (Australian Catholics)
