Becoming Jane (2007) on Netflix
In 1795, Jane Austen wants to write and to marry for love, but her family has little money. Her parents favor Mr. Wisley, nephew of wealthy Lady Gresham, until Tom Lefroy arrives.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.0/1068,739 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes58%
Trailer
Plot summary
Jane Austen, the youngest daughter of a country clergyman, lives at his rectory, where money is short. She wants to write, which vexes her mother, though her father takes pride in her. No suitable husband has been found for her, and her parents look to Mr. Wisley, the nephew and heir of Lady Gresham, a rich local aristocrat. Tom Lefroy, an Irish lawyer with a bad reputation, is sent into the country by his uncle, a London judge, to calm him. At a reading of Jane's work he nearly falls asleep, and she overhears his criticism of it afterward. They meet again and argue, and each becomes interested in the other, and he treats her writing seriously.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Becoming Jane (2007)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Anne Hathaway, a fan of Jane Austen since she was fourteen, reread Austen's books, pored over the author's letters and learned sign language, calligraphy, dance choreography and piano for the role.
- Anne Hathaway moved to England a month before production began to improve her English accent, and attempted to stay in character throughout filming, the first time she had done so for a movie.
- Filming outdoors was often so cold that Hathaway turned blue and had difficulty saying her lines, so Automated Dialogue Replacement in post-production was used to re-dub them.
- There were concerns in some quarters that the American Hathaway was playing a beloved English writer, and James McAvoy, who plays Thomas Langlois Lefroy, believed filming in Ireland made her casting "a bit safer" than if they had shot in England.
- There is scant evidence that Austen and Lefroy's relationship went beyond acquaintance: all that is known is that they danced at three Christmas balls before Tom returned to school, and that Jane was "too proud" to ask his aunt about him two years later.
- In 2004, screenwriter Sarah Williams approached Ecosse Films about a film on Jane Austen's life after reading Becoming Jane Austen, a 2003 biography that pieced together known facts, such as Austen meeting Tom Lefroy on Christmas 1795, into a story about unrequited love.
- Jon Hunter Spence, author of the book the film drew on, was hired as its historical consultant, with the task of seeing that, given that the story is a work of imagination, the factual material was as accurate as possible.
- The story's central location was Steventon rectory, where Austen was raised, but it had been demolished in 1824, so Jarrold and his crew found "a wonderful house that was very like the original" and honed the script to make it as practical as possible.
