Becoming Jane
Dec. 1st, 2007 10:44 pmA few weeks ago I bought the Becoming Jane DVD. As a fictional film it was enjoyable enough, but there was a lot of character assassination. And the ending doesn't quite make sense - Pride and Prejudice was published in January 1813 and Eliza died in April after illness so it's hard to see when that scene would have occurred (plus Tom Lefroy's daughter would only have been 11 in 1813). But anyway. One thing I like is the costuming, even though Jane seemed to be at least 5-10 years ahead of fashion. For example this dress of Eliza's (2nd from right) reminds me a little of this c. 1790 jacket from the Kyoto Costume Institute (just more widely spaced stripes and a narrower collar).
One thing that is missing from the region 4 DVD is subtitles. And I've heard that the region 1 DVD is going to have The Real Jane Austen as a special feature. If it's the same thing as I think it is it's a documentary narrated by Anna Chancellor (Miss Bingley in P&P2 and several times great niece of JA) with interludes of Jane and her family talking about herself or of things happening as they are described. Gillian Kearney plays Jane, Lucy Cohu is Cassandra (she's Eliza de Feuillide in Becoming Jane) and Jack Davenport plays Henry Austen. I may have to look into getting the region 1 version.
One thing that is missing from the region 4 DVD is subtitles. And I've heard that the region 1 DVD is going to have The Real Jane Austen as a special feature. If it's the same thing as I think it is it's a documentary narrated by Anna Chancellor (Miss Bingley in P&P2 and several times great niece of JA) with interludes of Jane and her family talking about herself or of things happening as they are described. Gillian Kearney plays Jane, Lucy Cohu is Cassandra (she's Eliza de Feuillide in Becoming Jane) and Jack Davenport plays Henry Austen. I may have to look into getting the region 1 version.