Miss Austen Regrets

I won't bother comparing Miss Austen Regrets to Becoming Jane. I will simply say: skip the latter and turn to the former if truly interested in the life of Jane Austen and not the fictional speculation. One is BBC and the other Hollywood. Enough said.

The only possible criticism of Miss Austen Regrets is how it starts off at such a startlingly quick pace, so much so that if the credits hadn't run I would have thought I'd come in on a good third of the production already gone. Allthe speculation of Jane Austen never having been in love, or having a chance at marriage (especially an advantageous one) is dashed in the first few minutes. From there the audience is left to wonder at the title--is it a what or who she regrets?

The biopic focuses on Jane Austen's latter years, and uses her relationship with her niece Fanny as a means of exploring her past relationships. We come to see financial security was of paramount concern to her, yet that concern was not so much for her sake as it was for her family's. We also see that her freedom to write being more important to her than love. Yet, it is all speculation. It isn't really clear that she had regrets at all. She exuded a satisfaction, so the title is a bit misleading.

What this new biopic brings out is the independence Jane enjoyed, and how much she enjoyed writing. The acting is commendable, the factual details admirable, and the rendering of the time satisfactory (although Jane's outfits swung from either being rather matronly to almost brazen). An enjoyable addition to Austen offerings. Yet, maybe it's time to leave off on the conjectures and meddling in her love life and focus on the brilliance of her writing--no speculation there.

I SO wanted to absolutely love this movie. I did. Don't get me wrong -- it got a lot right. It was on Masterpiece Theater, for heaven's sake, and the script generally tried to stay closer to the few facts we have about Austen's life. It had decent direction and adept, credible Brits portraying Jane and her family. And yet, there was one huge flaw that I just couldn't ignore. Miss Austen Regrets would have us believe that Jane had several offers of marriage during her lifetime but knowingly and deliberately chose to remain single and focus on her work. This is a 20th to 21st century conceit awkwardly imposed on a 19th century situation.

The few facts we have show that Jane received only one marriage proposal during her life, and that was from someone with an irritating personality. Harris Bigg-Wither was described by Jane's niece Caroline Austen and by one of his own descendants, Reginald Bigg-Wither, as unattractive at best: he was plain, if not homely, stuttered, aggressive in conversation, and almost completely tactless. Those objectionable qualities, despite his comfortable financial position, would have put off many women, then *or* now. Had he had a more pleasing personality, Harris might have tried first for a fiancée from a more prosperous family instead of proposing to Jane.

Moreover, Jane had known Harris since childhood and probably knew full well what she'd be getting into if she decided to marry him. To endure Bigg-Wither every so often at social occasions was one thing, but to marry him and have to endure that personality day in and day out would have been quite another. The simplest explanation is that Austen initially agreed to his proposal in order to be less of a burden to and/or provide for her family, but she knew him too well not to immediately regret her decision the next morning -- and thus she reneged on her acceptance in less than a day, and remained single. She probably considered that the lesser of two evils.

The truth, then, is *not* that Jane Austen turned down acceptable proposals and made a conscious decision to put her writing first and stay independent, particularly given that she *never was* financially independent, but rather that no handsome, sweet-tempered, intelligent man, with or without means, ever asked her. She may have had such men as friends or acquaintances, but none of them ever proposed. If one had, remaining single would have been a much harder decision -- but that's moot, because such a man never did ask. Period. And that's a rude truth she had to suffer for all her adult life. It's not a truth that Miss Austen Regrets chose to address, however, and that is the film's greatest failing.

This film is so much better than 'Becoming Jane' (which deals with Jane Austen's earlier life), that it is really in another category altogether. Olivia Williams as Jane Austen in this film is scintillatingly brilliant, she truly becomes the character, and although she had already shown in 'The Heart of Me' (see my review) what a sensational actress she is, here she transcends herself. Rarely can an actress have so thoroughly 'become' a historical character as in this film. Olivia Williams has now proved that she is one of the finest actresses in Britain today. She is not vain, and is not afraid to look rough when necessary for the story, whereas Hollywood actresses do not ever want to be seen from the wrong angle, so that they become artificial. Olivia Williams really does seem to suffer with her character every step of the way. She also effervesces and bubbles with uncontrollable mischief and naughtiness, rebelling against the intolerable restrictions of life for a woman in those days. The pathos of Austen's solitary state, when women who were unmarried could not carry on any other relationships either, is vividly portrayed. Greta Scacchi is marvellous as the silent sister Cassandra, though it is hard for me to come to terms with her no longer being the dazzling starlet she was when younger, as I still envisage her as that. Imogen Poots is a mixture of charm and jealousy, feather-brained idiocy, and beaming smiles, even a touch of innate wisdom, in other words, just as full of contradictions as a real person. She pulls it all off, and we believe every aspect of her changing nature as it varies from circumstance to circumstance, laughing with her one minute and at her the next. Her versatility and instinct will doubtless bring her a fine career. Phyllida Law is marvellous as Mrs. Austen, the mother worn out by it all. Adrian Edmondson does a wonderful job as brother Henry, charming but hopeless, devoted brother and failed banker. The director, Jeremy Lovering, has never directed anything other than television material, but here he shows himself as a superb feature film director, albeit this was a film made for television. Let's hope he can now break out of the box. He is announced as director for 'The Wedding Party', and maybe that is for a larger screen. He has proved that he knows how to tease the best results out of his actors and actresses. This film is a genuine triumph, and everyone connected with it should be thrilled at the result, which could hardly be bettered. It is an instant classic, and long may it live its life as a DVD, avidly watched by anyone with an ounce of taste. And above all, what will the amazing Olivia Williams do next? Will she get all the plum roles she deserves? If there be any justice in the world at all, we will see no end of her from now every which way we turn.

I have watched this movie because I love Jane Austen's books, and because I have seen "Becoming Jane", and because I have read a TLS review of it. But, somewhat to my surprise, it is not Austen's biographical details – true or false – that were my main attraction. The point is, the movie tells an important truth (apart from delivering a series of trite statements on men-women relationships, which are all trite because they are so true…) about life stories, or the ways people think – and talk – about their lives. They oscillate – at least Jane did, as many of us do – between regrets (in spite of the title, the movie is NOT about regrets) and the idea that one could have made a "better" decision, and the feeling that the decision was absolutely right ("I have won my freedom"), and yet another feeling, that there was no decision at all, just a coincidence, which (Freud would have said) expressed the true longings and desires, or (some other people would have said), ended up as it did ("things turn out for the best", the movie says). I would hate to think that people see that movie as "just about Jane Austen" – much as I admire her, it is about all of us, and importantly so...

This is a good movie for those who love Jane Austen (and similar movies). In the beginning i had to get used to this Jane but when i did i could get lost in the movie. A brilliant movie with a lot of accuracy about Jane's life. Of course not all of it is accurate but they are forgiven since this is a movie and not a documentary. People can't help comparing this movie with "becoming Jane" but this movie basically picks up where "becoming Jane" left of. All in all a must watch for fans of Austen and other period drama movies.