Jane Austen Wrecked My Life

I had seen the trailer at least five times, so I knew what to expect when I snuck in for my third film of the day. This movie is a small gem, a European romantic comedy without Hugh Grant or Colin Firth. Agathe is stuck in a rut. Her parents died in a car accident with her in it. She now has a car phobia. She lives with her sister, who sleeps around and brings them home. She has a platonic relationship with her Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company coworker Felix. They end up kissing on the dock after he secretly enters her for a Jane Austen writing residency in England. This is somehow the same plot device contained in Broadway's one woman show, Call Me Izzy. JA's great great great grandson picks her up. She vomits all over him. Needless to say, they will fall in love and Agathe becomes suddenly embroiled in a romantic triangle. Camille Rutherford is unconventionally pretty and funny as the lead. Charlie Anson nicely handles his intellectual hunk Oliver assignment. Pablo Pauly is good as the Casanova coworker. Frederick Wiseman has a nice cameo as a poet at the end. It's just a sweet, pleasant and relaxing film to spend a hundred minutes with on a weekend. Writer and director Laura Piani has secured her artistic future. My audience and I were enthralled.

Watched as part of the french film festival, I went into this film relatively blind. The first thing that I'll say is that I don't resonate with the blurb very much, and I spent the entire car ride home puzzling over how Jane Austen wrecked the lives of either of the main characters. Yes, Oliver's backstory included Jane Austen, and he rejected her work in favour of other (male) contemporaries, which seemed to have served him well in his career, but not in love. Agathe was the same, successful at her book selling job which she doesn't seem unhappy with, but waiting for her 'Mr Darcy' for 2 years. That's hardly a lifetime...

In saying that, it was witty, and I liked Agathe's relationship with Felix and her sister. It was nice to get a fresh take on an Austin-like writer, rather than as a retelling of one of her characters. As Agathe observes, Austen was the first writer to write women as humans, and idea which absolutely needs to be revisited in the current media world. This film successfully does that in making Agathe a messy and imperfect human in the best way.

Absolutely resonated with her writer's block trauma and imposter syndrome. The message seemed to get lost a little for me, and I felt that some parts that could have been atmospheric dragged. It's possible that some Jane Austen references went over my head.

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.

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 thought this movie was alright. I wasn't expecting it to be primarily in French, but if that doesn't deter you, it's worth watching! I don't know if Charlie Anson has inquisitive eyes or creeper eyes, but he walks a fine line in this movie. The romance between his character, Oliver, and Agatha is kind underdeveloped. Throughout most of this movie, it just feels like something is missing. Nevertheless, an inquisitively eyed guy meets annoyed RBF woman and go! That's this movie, and it's alright, closer to being good than bad. This movie fits very well into itself, and I mean, you're expecting a fairy tale like romance to develop, but it can't because of the disposition and assumptions and chaos and trauma of Agatha, and you get that. I don't think you really feel what she's feeling, but you get it well enough to understand. This movie has the capacity to make you smile and laugh and feel contentment with its conclusion. I'd recommend a watch. Ideally, it's better suited for a streaming, date night kinda movie.