Sunday 27 April 2008

Miss Austen Regrets

Did anyone else watch this on BBC1 tonight? I enjoyed it immensely -- I thought the script was excellent (based on Jane Austen's letters, apparently), and Olivia Williams was perfect as Austen.
But I wondered -- would I have liked it as much if I knew as much biographical detail about Jane Austen as I do about, say, Charlotte Bronte? What do the Janeites make of it? Were you annoyed by the liberties taken with the truth? For example, that in reality, she wrote anonymously, but in the film, she is feted and recognised?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go on over to AustenBlog.com--there have been many discussions about the authenticity of Miss Austen Regrets, including one very recent one.

BrontëBlog Adm. said...

I also enjoyed the film, especially when compared to that awful, awful Becoming Jane thing. Olivia Williams didn't exactly fit my image of Jane Austen but she did such a great job that I truly believed her. And I loved that they used actual words written by Jane.

I also wondered about Jane signing her novels 'by a lady' yet being recognised everywhere. I remember reading somewhere (Austenblog probably) that her brother told one and all about it so there wasn't much of a mystery.

Cristina.

Justine Picardie said...

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of AustenBlog -- I'm off to read it now. Glad you enjoyed it, Cristina. Who would you have playing the Brontes, in an equivalent drama?

BrontëBlog Adm. said...

I'm terrible at that kind of thing. Sometimes, though, I think it would be better to have unknown faces (though hardly feasible sometimes, just like Ruth Wilson playing Jane Eyre.

Justine Picardie said...

Ruth Wilson was perfect...

dovegreyreader said...

I really enjoyed it too Justine but someone had written in to Terry Wogan asking about that scene by the lake with the view of the distant summerhouse and wondering what need Jane had of the satellite dish fixed on the side!

Justine Picardie said...

How disillusioning! And what eagle eyes... I didn't notice anything out of place at all!