Jane Austen a gâché ma vie

Although I was hopeful about this movie after watching the trailer, I went to the theater with not very high expectations but I am sad it still disappointed me.

I think the film's concept of writers going to a Jane Austen Residency was a great idea. However, the romance between Agathe and Oliver did not feel genuine or believable. The relationship between Agathe and Félix was just sad and there was no love there. The story had too many cliché components for me and it was too "modern" to be associated with Jane Austen. I found that none of the characters were inspiring. Agathe is very far from being a Jane Austen virtuous heroine. There were a few times that I genuinely laughed and will remember these so that is a positive. Sadly, I think one is better watching any other movie based on any Jane Austen book or even the film "Austenland" was way better than this one, and would watch instead of this one.

Some movies you wish are shorter. Others, longer. This one belongs in the latter category. The characters are introduced, we learn a little about them, and then we move on. Too many conversations start but don't end. And always when they get interesting. We learn about a host who is in decline but still active with gardening and conversation, for example.

The acting works for the screenplay. While short, nothing is forced. Nothing is contrived, either. Everything that happens here doesn't elicit any disbelief.

However, the movie works on light hearted charm. You care about who you learn about. The laughs are all honest. And there's a ball. I hope the director's next film is longer.

I have to admit that I liked this movie. A nice movie experience and the time went by quickly. For me the actors were unknown, but I thought it was nice to have new actors who were really good in their roles. Not really my type of movie, but not a bad movie anyway. Movies don't have to be more than light-hearted sometimes and you'll still be satisfied. It was a little funny also . A worth seeing little movie.

For me, one of the weaknesses of the film was that although most of it was set in England, it was all filmed in France. A French chateau does not look like an English country house, which gave it an artificial feeling.

It was OK, but didn't convince. Perhaps they tried to include too many story lines, such as a childhood trauma, complicated family, man with dementia, etc, which didn't add anything to the story. This left too little time for the romance to blossom realistically.

"Nameless, unremembered, acts/Of kindness and of love." Wordsworth

Around Regency England Jane Austen began to rule romantic literature with her witty deconstruction of upper-class pretentions and wise advice about how to find love and/or fortune. With the 250th anniversary of her birth, the film Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is a low-key Austen modernization that depicts a young book seller, Agathe (Camille Rutherford), who can't break her writer's block or find love. Yet, she has a disposition given to "acts of kindness and love."

While she has a womanizing co-worker, Felix (Pablo Pauly), who apparently loves her, she won't give herself to him out of diffidence, good sense, and plain cluelessness. He signs her up for a Jane Austen Residency at a posh estate in Britain (all shot in France), where it looks like she will fail again to be inspired to write. It's not unknown that meeting new people, including seasoned writers, helps to mitigate the block and renew a zest for life; for Agathe, it will be a slow burn, her very name suggesting "a gate."

This lyrical French rom-com, with alternating subtitles, is a treat for a cool summer evening when you are ready to be seduced by French joie de vivre and an art film that uses no CGI, relies on insights about love and writing fitting to Austen herself, and sometimes dips into old-fashioned screwball comedy or plain old-fashioned pratfalls. A bit of vaudeville, I'd say, such as when she, naked, stumbles into the room of Oliver (Charlie Anson), a distant relative of Austen and for whom romance with Agathe has potential.

There's even a formal ball, in the Austen spirit, and Agathe shines like the actress Anne Hathaway, slender and charming. Emerging into a woman less like Austen's Emma and more like Elizabeth Bennet.

All in all, not much happens in Jane Austen Wrecked My Life but a tardy romance, just right for light, summer cinema and fitting for the immortal Jane Austen on her anniversary.