Exactly like ''Shakespeare In Love'', ''Becoming Jane'' is a fictional film about a famous English writer, whose plot is inspired by her various novels. Both films suggest in turn that those writers might have been inspired by those romantic adventures in their later works. Both William Shakespeare and Jane Austen are perfect subjects for such films, because very little is actually known for certain about their lives. What is known for certain, however, is that Jane Austen is one of the greatest English novelists. It could be argued that her entire oeuvre is composed only of masterpieces. Every single novel of hers is the best in some particular way. ''Sense and Sensibility'' is her most touching work. ''Pride and Prejudice'' – her wittiest and cleverest. ''Emma'' – her most enduringly popular (and modern). ''Persuasion'' – her best written one (and most critically-acclaimed). ''Mansfield Park'' – her most complex and profound. And ''Northanger Abbey'' – her most entertaining. All of those novels have been adapted for the screen, most memorably with
''Pride and Prejudice'' in 1940 (starring Laurence Oliver),
''Sense and Sensibility'' (with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet), and
''Persuasion'' (both in 1995). ''Emma'' has been adapted twice - a modern version called
''Clueless'' in 1995 with Alicia Silverstone and a more
faithful period adaptation from 1996 starring Gwyneth Paltrow. And then, there was Patricia Rozema who literally massacred Austen’s
''Mansfield Park'' in 1999, completely misreading this complex novel, and turning a masterpiece of clever humour into a serious and heavy-handed melodrama. Directed by Julian Jarrold, ''Becoming Jane'' tells a purely fictional tale of young Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) courted by a handsome Irish aristocrat (James McAvoy). Inspired by her various novels (especially ''Pride and Prejudice''), the dialogue is full of Austen’s witty phrases and clever retorts. The performances are superlative. It is definitely a great and very entertaining film.
