 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.
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