Film

Remember when people were content to believe that authors simply used their imaginations to dream up the great works of literature? Alas, we now assume that they’ve pilfered some major event in their lives, pouring it into their prose. So it now goes with Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway), whose letters suggest that there was mutual appreciation between her and Tom Lefroy (McAvoy), an impetuous gentleman destined to be Lord High Justice of Ireland. Scholars believe this charmingly rakish rogue was the model for Pride and Prejudice’s Mr. Darcy. The film, however, fancifully transforms both their very brief encounters and Austen’s heartbreak into a point-by-point trial run for the whole damned novel.

The author’s devoted disciples may get a kick out of recognizing elements of her work woven into this what-if scenario, while the rest of us can admire Eigil Bryld’s rich, textured cinematography. Starting with the milquetoast title—Becoming Jane? Really?—this effort to turn the writer into one of her spunky, banter-spewing heroines hews frustratingly to the middle of the road. Hathaway makes for a passable, if rather bland, Austen, but the script seems tailored to those who favor Harlequin romances over the author’s complex, layered storytelling.