Becoming Jane is a biography of the life of author Jane Austen, fictionalized in the way that Austen herself might’ve told it. Many devout fans of the writer have expressed their discontent in the picture’s supposed historical inaccuracies and, for all I know, they may be justified in doing so. However, despite my limited exposure to Austen’s body of work, I still very much realize that Becoming Jane is of its subject’s spirit. Austen wrote many stories of this film’s nature, and it does a solid job of staying true to her personality.

     Unfortunately, Becoming Jane’s aforementioned adherence to the conventions of the Austen’s work becomes both a blessing and a curse for the picture. While the film invigoratingly captures the author’s air, it also becomes externally quite derivative. On the surface, Becoming Jane plays nearly identically to countless Austen film-adaptations, primarily the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. As Jane (Anne Hathaway) finds trouble in the social expectations surrounding her forbidden relationship with a social lesser, Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), the whole affair seems all too familiar. In many respects, Becoming Jane is a flat-out thematic copy of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, rendering its narrative oftentimes tiresome.

     With this in mind, I find myself in a bit of a critical dilemma. Despite the fact that Becoming Jane’s external plot is somewhat unoriginal, I admire many of the film’s subtler qualities too much to not recommend it. In the leading roles, Hathaway and McAvoy brilliantly internalize their characters. It almost seems irrational of me to complain about the story’s shortcomings because, frankly, Becoming Jane isn’t about story. It’s about watching Jane and Tom live two entirely different lives and, somewhere in the midst of this, discover a true but impossible love for each other. When it comes to representing this, Becoming Jane is honest and unrelenting. Hathaway and McAvoy are perfect in the roles; both performers are especially effective in their nuanced face-work.

     Another thing I deeply admire about Becoming Jane is that it never becomes overly showy. Too many period pictures of this sort derive their entire moods from heavy-handed dialogue and meaninglessly detailed art direction. Despite implementing a few technical flourishes (there are a few needless jump-cutting sequences, in particular), director Julian Jarrold and editor Emma E. Hickox tone the material down in a way that best showcases the picture’s greatest asset: the lead performances. Eigyl Brlyd’s cinematography, also, is ethereal and beautifully clear, further setting the stage for Hathaway and McAvoy to lucidly take internal command over the audience.

     Predictable as it may be on the exterior, Becoming Jane works on the whole. Hathaway and McAvoy alone had me captivated for the vast majority of the duration and, thanks to their great performances, the picture was able to affect me. Whatever its flaws, Becoming Jane is a film that I think Austen herself would have approved of.

-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews (8.7.2007)