In my opinion, Jane Austen has entered William Shakespeare’s orbit among the legendary British writers. In an era dominated by male novelists, she’s a wonderful trailblazing beacon to all women, giving us portraits and insights into female centric points of view previously rarely seen. Part of Austen’s legacy is the romantic fantasy of being swept off your feet by your one true love that sees you for who you are, a legacy that has shaped generations of women, including my lovely mom. I wouldn’t say Jane Austen Wrecked My Life or hers, but it certainly painted romantic pursuits in a fantasy lens a little more than I or our heroine Agathe Robinson (Camille Rutherford), probably needed.
Agathe lives in Paris, happily living her life in the legendary Shakespeare & Company bookstore in Paris, writing on the side. She lives a small life, with her sister and her family, and a close relationship to her BFF, lothario Felix (Pablo Pauly). Unbeknownst to Agathe, Felix submitted Agathe’s writings to the Jane Austen writers’ residency, where she is accepted. This was part Felix’s plan to get out of the friend zone, having harbored feelings for Agathe for a long time. The two make out before she departs on a boat to the UK. There she’s picked up by Oliver (Charlie Anson), a distant relative of Jane Austen herself, helping his aging mother and father at the residency.
I think you can maybe see a contemporary version of an Austen Story developing here. It’s a little bit Mansfied Park and Pride & Prejudice, with a wonderful modern French twist. Agathe for example, mistaking a joint room for a bathroom, walks in naked to take a shower only to stumble into someone else’s room, which would have gotten Jane Austen exiled. Letters are replaced by text and voice messages, with overt erotic words instead of longing. The openness of physical relationship discussion is early and often, with phrases like dry spell used amusingly. These little touches keep Laura Piani’s story from falling too far down the fantasy rabbit hole, and keep the movie at least moderately tethered to the real world.
Importantly though, when things need to get going, the setting and beats are all Austen classics. Annoyances turn into passions, surprise visits, revealed feelings confessions, and a ball. Of course there’s a ball. The residency is straight out of a British upper class storybook: gorgeous estate with impossibly adorable rooms to be inspired and write like the Austens of old. The pubs and shops are out of time, filled with trinkets and memories of the past between them. That ball I mentioned? Filled with incredible costumes and a great waltz dance number that turns up the heat even more than the sexting. Camille Rutherford, Pablo Pauly, and Charlie Anson understand the assignment well, and play the Elizabeth Bennett, Henry Crawford, and Mr. Darcy parts they’ve been assigned to accordingly. The ending is too annoyingly saccharine, but the 90 minutes before are sumptuous and knowingly silly enough to go on Laura Piani’s little fantasy adventure.
I was hoping a title like Jane Austen Wrecked My Life would have a more acidic tongue. Instead, though, this film shares similarities to Young Frankenstein. There’s too much love for Jane Austen for Piani to dig too deeply, instead choosing to make almost a modern love letter to the writing queen, showing how her story could work in any time. I didn’t need any affirmation about that though: Austen adaptations are incredible. If you’re Clueless, maybe go to Fire Island and check them out!