Becoming Jane

Supposedly the story of Jane Austen's early life and an explanation of the writing of 'Pride and Prejudice'. Starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy (who seems to be appearing in everything at the moment).

A captivating movie, and oh such a good depiction of upper class life at the cusp of the eighteenth & nineteenth century. Engaging, but how accurate was it about Jane Austen? For a start the rare portraits of the author don't indicate anything other than 'plain Jane'. Julie Walters as her mother and Ian Richardson (his last role) as his uncle were excellent supporting actors. This was a better film than the recent Beatrix Potter biopic, but it is light. It is more moving (especially as Tom deserts Jane for 'better prospects') than I expected, and I did start to fill up in places. I just wonder though if it was anything more than a standard historical drama in the tradition of Merchant Ivory?

My rating 7/10