Jane Austen's greatest love story was her own
BECOMING JANE is an imaginative romantic comedy in the spirit of Jane Austen that places young Jane herself at the center of a witty, enchanting romance not unlike those that would later captivate millions in her celebrated works of literature. The film spins the few known facts surrounding Austen's real-life flirtation with the Irish lawyer, Tom Lefroy, into a tale about the kind of personal passion and social complications that could have inspired Jane to become the ingenious and utterly timeless observer of human relationships and romance that she soon did. Indeed, the story playfully references the characters and themes that wend their way through her six novels.
The year is 1795 and young Jane Austen (ANNE HATHAWAY) is a feisty 20 year-old and emerging writer who already sees a world beyond class and commerce, beyond pride and prejudice, and dreams of doing what was then nearly unthinkable -- marrying for love marrying for love, without any regard for financial well-being at all; in other words, their romance was based not on sense, but on sensibility or feeling, as the word meant in her day and in her book title, Sense and Sensibility. Naturally, her parents (JULIE WALTERS and JAMES CROMWELL) are searching for a wealthy, well-appointed husband to assure their daughter's future social standing. They are eyeing Mr. Wisley (LAURENCE FOX), nephew to the very formidable, not to mention very rich, local aristocrat Lady Gresham (MAGGIE SMITH), as a prospective match. But when Jane meets the roguish and decidely non-aristocratic Tom Lefroy (JAMES MCAVOY), sparks soon fly along with the sharp repartee. His intellect and arrogance raise her ire -- then knock her head over heels.
Now, the couple, whose flirtation flies in the face of the common sense of the age, are faced with a terrible dilemma. If they attempt to marry, they will risk everything that matters -- family, friends and fortune. But navigating the stormy waters between romance and duty, heart and head, sensibility and sense, goodness and greatness is all a part of BECOMING JANE.
It has long been surmised that Jane Austen, who wrote so brilliantly of romantic relationships yet herself remained unmarried, never knew undying passion. Yet recently, this notion has been turned upside down by several Austen historians who have proposed the possibility of a fervid romance between 20 year-old Jane, fresh off beginning her adult writing career, and the equally young, ambitious and smart Irishman Tom Lefroy. Was it this seemingly brief, deep love affair -- with its apparent rapid build-up and heartrending demise -- that inspired the great romantic novels Austen was about to write?
The full truth of what really happened between Austen and Lefroy will never be known. The importance and extent of Austen's true feelings for Lefroy will continue to be hotly debated. And yet, the thrilling notion of Jane Austen in the middle of her own heated, rebellious love story was nearly irresistible to fertile imaginations who saw it as an intriguing jumping off point for a fictional, fun romantic comedy in the Austen spirit.
Thus was born BECOMING JANE, a film that boldly imagines what might have happened if a youthful Jane Austen fell in love.
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