Becoming Jane | 
| Director: Julian Jarrold
Actors: Philip Culhane, Jessica Ashworth, Eleanor Methven, Elaine Murphy, Russell Smith
Studio: MIRAMAX
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.99
Buy Used: $3.93
You Save: $16.06 (80%)
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Rating:  193 reviews
Sales Rank: 1610
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd, Ntsc, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: DISD54104D
UPC: 786936731927
EAN: 0786936731927
ASIN: B000ZIZ0RA
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: February 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Movie DVD
Amazon.com
Like Moliere, which was released in theaters around the same time, Becoming Jane isn't a conventional biopic. Instead, Julian Jarrold (White Teeth) expands on events from Jane Austen's life that may have shaped her fiction. To his credit, he doesn't stray too far from the facts. In 1795, 20-year-old Jane (Anne Hathaway with believable British accent) is an aspiring author. Her parents (Julie Walters and James Cromwell) married for love, and money is tight. They hope to see their youngest daughter make a more lucrative match, and there's a besotted local, Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox, son of actor James Fox), who would be happy to oblige. Unfortunately, Jane isn't interested. Then, she meets brash law student Tom (The Last King of Scotland's James McAvoy), while he's staying with relatives in rural Hampshire. As in many Austen novels, it isn't love at first sight--but rather irritation. Just as affection begins to bloom, Tom has to return to London, and Wisley, whose financial prospects are superior, proposes. To complicate matters, Tom's uncle (Ian Richardson in his final performance) disapproves of the outspoken young lady just as much as Wisley's aunt (Maggie Smith, lending the proceedings some subtle humor). Had Austen penned the script, Tom and Wisley would be combined into one person, but life doesn't work that way--and nor does Becoming Jane. Though Jarrold's effort may not be as swoon-worthy as Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, it remains true to the spirit of the author's work. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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| Customer Reviews: Read 188 more reviews...
 Loved This, Might Want to Have a Tissue Handy June 29, 2009
Barb Mechalke (in the lovely Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York)
I hadn't read any of Jane Austen's novels at the time I saw this film. so this was my introduction to Austen.
My husband and I tried to see it when it was at the theatre but the local cinema had the wrong time listed on their web-site so we ended up waiting for it to come out on video. And boy am I glad we didn't see it at the theatre. This movie reduced me to a blubbering fool! And I much prefer to blubber in the privacy of my own home.
I loved the period details, the clothes, the dances, the social interactions and the relationship between Jane and Tom.
The beginning was a little bit on the slow side, my husband fell asleep, but I didn't mind.
I loved this movie, I thought it was wonderful, the acting was wonderful, the story was moving, the costumes were beautiful. It made me want to read Jane Austen's books.
 Horribly Disappointing May 26, 2009
M. Moody (Florida, USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
First, I will be upfront: I didn't get very far in this movie. There are few movies that I will stop in the middle (in fact, I can't think of any), but this was one of them. I was very disappointed with this movie. It makes fun of Jane Austen. It criticizes everything about Jane Austen's time period. Everything in the movie seemed designed to mock, from the pond filled with scum in front of a great house to an unpolished mirror that could hardly be looked in to show the sisters reflections. It blatantly attacks Christianity ( or being faithful to your spouse before you ever even meet them, by keeping your wedding vows). As strange as it sounds, I felt like I was being attacked through the movie screen. It is a movie full of lies. Particularly the lie that by being faithful to your spouse you are missing out. The opposite is true. Hopefully, the movie improved by the end, but I couldn't make it that far to find out.
Loving Jane and TOM!!!! May 7, 2009
J. A. Short (new rochelle, new york United States)
What a wonderful, breath taking film. It was a total delight to watch and I must confess I have watched it again and again. It is a beautiful love story and tugs at your heartstrings with the realization that their hopes to be together forever would never be. I do not profess to know all that much about Jane's life but I have read enough to believe that they did love each other, no matter how brief the relationship.I also believe that what she felt for Tom Lefroy was a life altering experience for her. If the real Tom Lefroy was anything like James McAvoy, then who among us does not understand the attraction between these two. McAvoy's Lefroy and Hathaway's Austen.....what a match!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The supporting cast alone is worth your time! May 5, 2009
A. J. Stavsky
But here's a hint. If you haven't yet bought a Region-Free DVD player (or modified your Region 1, something easier to do than ever), now is the time. The amazon.co.uk version sells for under $11 brand-new, including shipping. Moreover, it has a bunch of special features the Region 1 edition seems to lack.
 Reader, I Bought It April 24, 2009
Anne Garrett (Anderson, IN USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Unable to overcome the attachment in spite of my best endeavours, I purchased this dvd. Not in an excusable way--on impulse, perhaps, from a bargain bin, on a rainy day, with a cold coming on. No. Having seen it in the theater and knowing exactly what I was getting, I looked up the release date and pre-ordered it.
You can't think how difficult it is for such a nit-picker as I to swallow my pride (which is considerable) and my prejudice (even greater) and admit that I like this film. Even knowing just how much of the story is true (a very little bit), I enjoy imagining myself in Jane Austen's world and family. Anne Hathaway does a lovely job as Jane; likewise Anna Maxwell Martin as Cassandra. And, oh, yes, despite my disgust with Hollywood's obligatory but unfounded portrayal of Tom Lefroy as a rake, I completely fell for James McAvoy's devasting charm.
Why, then, only three stars for this sweet story, my guilty pleasure? Really I intend three and a half, but the low rating is due to the greatest irony in a film greatly concerned with irony (if not, perhaps, with a good definition of same). That while the creators eagerly depicted Jane Austen as a courageous, intelligent, forward-thinking young woman, struggling against archaic societal constraints, they completely belittle her creative genius. The portrayals of her family and acquaintences suggest that she drew most of her characters directly from them. Even her most famous phrase, "It is a truth universally acknowledged," is uttered in the movie not by Jane, but by one of her suitors. Perhaps this was intended simply as an allusion for the Austen fans in the audience; but I find any hint that she couldn't write it on her own quite insulting indeed--much worse than any other liberty taken with her biography.
Enjoy the period romance, the lovely soundtrack, the literary allusions, as I do. Just remember that it is only a story.
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