"This film depicts Jane Austen as one who understood love at this higher level and made just as strong demands on it in her life."
As a huge Jane Austen fan (yes, I have actually read her novels), I was expecting quite a bit from "Becoming Jane," and I was not disappointed. While few romantic facts about Austen's life are known, this movie weaves a delightful web that imagines how those events might have unfolded and impacted her writing themes and characters.
Austen, who only lived to be 42, was one of eight children in what would be considered a decent level of society. Her father was a rector and her brothers received educations, but she understood well what it meant to have no dowry or financial attraction as a wife — though that did not seem to limit her suitors.
We know, from the small percentage of Jane's letters that her sister Cassandra did not destroy, that Jane knew Tom Lefroy and discussed the racy novel "Tom Jones" with him. Taking it a step further, this film places the two in an impossible romantic relationship where love abounds, but money does not. As her mother says, "Fiction is desirable. Money is absolutely indispensable." Since they are both inherently penniless, their union has no support from family or friends — a theme vastly familiar to anyone who has read Austen's books or seen the various movies made of them.
Alert: plot spoiler ahead. I can't make my point without it!
As usual, Tom's uncle (who controls his money and future) opposes the marriage and sees Jane as a fortune hunter. In the wild abandon of youthful love, Tom proposes an elopement. Unlike running off to Vegas today, in the late 1700s such a plan would entail complete isolation from family and society. They would be cut off forever.
Young Jane is willing to sacrifice her own financial comfort and social status for love; however, she will not take that leap when she realizes how many others will also be affected, probably even ruined, by this decision. She is sadly confident that even the greatest love will be slowly poisoned by this monetary lack and Tom's inability to support the family who counts on him. She refuses to create her own happiness at the expense of others.
The implication of the film is that, unwilling to marry without that highest level of love (just like so many of her literary heroines), Jane remains a quiet old maid the rest of her life. The characters in her novels always find incandescently happy marriages, but Jane never does.
It seems terribly sad and ironic that the author of some of the greatest love stories ever written never had that same kind of love in her own life. But if this lack inspired stories like "Pride and Prejudice" — and her beautiful, posthumously published "Persuasion" — great blessings did come out of it.
About 100 years after Austen's decision never to marry,Mary Baker Eddy wrote:
"I make strong demands on love, call for active witnesses to prove it, and noble sacrifices and grand achievement as its result. Unless these appear, I cast aside the word as a sham and counterfeit, having no ring of the true metal." ("Miscellaneous Writings," Page 250)
This film depicts Jane Austen as one who understood love at this higher level and made just as strong demands on it in her life. Noble sacrifices were made, instead of frivolous choices. And her life-work certainly shows the grand achievement of being true to her own talents and abilities in a world where being a published woman author was a tad scandalous.
Could she have accomplished as much as some wealthy man's well-kept wife? Probably not. And it would have been even more impossible as a poor man's wife. But by being true to love, and sharing that truth through her writing, she has brought joy and inspiration to millions through many generations.
"Becoming Jane" is a must-see for all women of independent thought and spirit — women willing to find an ending happy, even when there is no wedding. Anne Hathaway is luminous as Jane Austen and James McAvoy delightfully rakish and lovelorn as Tom Lefroy. With a witty screenplay and amazing supporting cast, as Jane would say, this film has much to recommend it.
"Becoming Jane" opens in select cities Friday, Aug. 3. It is rated PG, but does have minor sexual innuendo and situations.
Check out the recording of Meg's live online chat: "Let's go to the movies — with spirituality as our guide."
Meg Welch Dendler is an avid moviegoer, always on the lookout for a uplifting, spiritual message. She'll tell you when she's successful and warn you when to save your money. Meg is in the public practice of Christian Science healing just outside Houston, Texas, where she lives with her busy family, five cats and a dog, Max. You can reach Meg to comment on this piece or suggest a movie for review in this column at
or check out her new blog at www.megwelchdendlercs.blogspot.com .
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