Movie review: ‘Jane Austen Wrecked My Life’ a warm romance befitting the author

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life or Jane Austen a g ch ma vie is a catchy provocative title for writer director Laura Piani s debut feature but it is a bit of a misnomer Her heroine Agathe Camille Rutherford might harbor that fear deep inside but it s never one that she speaks aloud A lonely bookseller working at the famed Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris she gets lost in the love notes left on the shop mirror and complains to her best friend and coworker Felix Pablo Pauly that she was born in the wrong century unwilling to engage in casual digital connection Deeply feeling and highly imaginative perhaps she believes she s alone because she won t settle for anything less than a Darcy Good thing then that Felix posing as her agent sends off a minimal chapters of her fantasy-induced writing to the Jane Austen Residency And who should pick up Agathe from the ferry but a handsome prickly Englishman Oliver Charlie Anson the great-great-great-great-grandnephew of Ms Austen herself She can t stand him It s perfect Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is the kind of warm romance that will make any bookish dreamer swoon as this thoroughly modern woman with old-fashioned ideas about love experiences her own Austen-esque tumble through her own emotions While she initially identifies with the wilting old maid Anne from Persuasion her shyly budding connection with Oliver and questions about her blurred-lines friendship with Felix is more Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice A pastoral English estate is the ideal setting for such a dilemma The casting and performances are excellent for this contemporary meta update to Austen Rutherford is elegant but often awkward and fumbling as Agathe Anson conveys Oliver s passionate yearning behind his reserved wounded exterior with just enough Hugh Grant-ian befuddlement Pauly plays the impulsive charlatan with an irrepressible charm But it isn t just the men that have Agathe in a tizzy The film is as romantic about books literature writing and poetry as it is about such mundane issues as matters of the flesh A lover of books and literature Agathe strives to be a writer but believes she isn t one because of her pesky writer s block It s veritably a dam against the flow of feelings past traumas and heartbreaks that she attempts to keep at bay It s through writing that Agathe is able to crack her heart open to share herself and to welcome in new opportunities Writing is like ivy Oliver tells Agathe it demands ruins to exist It s an assurance that her broken past hasn t broken her but has given her the necessary structure to let the words grow The way the characters talk about what literature means to them and what it means to write will seduce the writerly among the viewers these discussions of writing even more enchanting than any declarations of love or ardent admiration Related Articles Review Tom Cruise holds the key to Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning Movie review Live-action Lilo Stitch an utterly refreshing delight Friendship review Tim Robinson Paul Rudd in doppelganger I Love You Man Movie review Final Destination Bloodlines reinvigorates horror franchise Review In Magic Farm viral video makers go off the grid but can t escape the algorithm If you ve read any Austen or watched any of the films made from Austen s novels Piani s film will be pleasantly predictable in its outcomes but that doesn t mean it s not an enjoyable journey it s our expectations both met and upended that give the film its appealing cadence It never lingers too long just sweet enough in its displays to avoid any saccharine aftertaste or eye-rolling sentiment With its lovely verdant environs and gentle rhythms there s a salve-like quality to Jane Austen Wrecked My Life a balm for any battered writer or romantic s soul It may be utter fantasy but it s the kind of escape you ll want to revisit again and again like a favorite Austen novel And as it turns out our heroine was wrong Jane Austen didn t wreck her life rather she opened it up to the possibilities that were right in front of her Jane Austen Wrecked My Life In French and English with English subtitles stars out of MPA rating R for language several sexual content and nudity Running time How to watch In theaters May