The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
I thought The Jane Austen Book Club was a very good film, and faithful to the spirit, if not the letter of the book, which I also thought was very good. I found it so well done that I not only watched all the extras, but stayed up late to do so.
Austen completed six novels, and the book club has six characters, whose joys and troubles overlap as they work their way through Jane’s oeuvre. The movie is very well cast. Each actor does a good job of embodying their character’s charms and quirk. Hugh Dancy is Grigg, the only male in the group. He wears spandex better than he adopts an American accent. Emily Blunt is smoldering as the repressed Prudie. Maria Bello is intimidating as a control-freak dog breeder and matchmaker; she went a little nuts with the Botox though. Her forehead hardly moves. Kathy Baker has appropriately wacky hair and outfits for the spacy Bernadette. Amy Brenneman is sympathetic as a recently divorced parent, and Maggie Grace is charming as the reckless Alexis. Jimmy Smits and Marc Blucas do a great job in supporting roles as well. It’s a wonderful ensemble, and the movie clips along at a satisfying pace through a year of their lives.
Aside from the performances, what I loved about this movie was its obvious love for reading in general, and Jane’s books in particular. Each segment focuses on one character, and one book. Each character is shown reading each book. With one notable exception, most of the editions are different, and obviously cherished; they look lived in. Penguin, Oxford, softcover, hardcover, they reminded me fondly of my shelves, where I have different editions of works by Austen and the Brontes.
The extras did a good job of rounding out the film. One on Austen interviewed two scholars to give details on her life. For example, one of the things known about Tom Lefroy is that he ran out the back door one day when Austen came to visit, and returned the visit days later in the company of his 13yo cousin. “Hardly the stuff of passion,” one of the commentators notes, wryly, in what may be a small dig at Becoming Jane, which imagined a torrid romance between Austen and Lefroy. I skipped the extras in Becoming Jane; that film took so many liberties with fact that it hardly seemed a reliable reference. Extras on The Jane Austen Book Club included an analysis of which character reflected which novel, as well as a brief but entertaining glimpse of the red-carpet opening of the film. A behind-the-scenes featurette wasn’t the usual puff piece; it included interesting background for how the charactes were cast, and how the film received financing. For example, Maggie Grace is an Austen geek; she’s read all the novels, short stories and letters.
If you like reading Austen, and enjoyed Fowler’s book, you’ll likely appreciate the movie. It’s done skillfully and with care. If you’re lukewarm or unfamiliar with either, it might just prompt you, as the book did with me, to seek out all of Austen’s novels.
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Interestingly, it was watching this movie, which I didn’t really think he would like and was a concession to me, that prompted my boyfriend to say that he would like to read some Jane Austen. I think he was moved by the scene near the end with Marc Blucas’s character (though thankfully our relationship is not strained like the one depicted in the movie), as I was. Loving books as I do, I appreciate it when someone will take the time from their own “reading schedule” to pencil in some of my favorites, simply because I love them so.
Anyway, I enjoyed both the book and the movie, and it actually made me think that I’d like to go back and revisit some of my Austens. I actually have a boxset from the Folio Society so that all of my Austen novels match, but I assure you they’re well loved!
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
You’re one of the first I’ve heard to give a positive review of the book. I bought this book but it’s been languishing on the shelf after I saw some bad reviews. You’ve given me a bit of hope. I think I’ll watch the movie at some point, most likely after I read the book.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I liked the book as well. I’ll check out the movie at some point, although I am dubious that Marc Blucas could actually be good in anything. He’s usually so wooden…
April 30th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Steph, I loved that scene where Emily Blunt and her husband are reading together. It was really sweet and I didn’t find it cloying.
Natasha, the editrix at Austenblog is a fan of both the book and the film, and I find she’s a good barometer for all things Austen. It’s an odd book that will be mean very different things depending on how familiar you are with Austen’s novels. And the movie is the same.
And Becca, I know you’re cautious because of the disastrous I Capture the Castle, but I assure you, he’s pretty good in this. A small part, but well cast (plays a clueless jock type) who comes around.