‘Jane Austen Wrecked My Life’ movie review: a thoughtful and touching comedy
Jane Austen has inspired a wide range of modern films, from straightforward adaptations of her novels to modernised takes, Bollywood reimaginings, and even zombie-infused versions. Some focus on characters whose lives are shaped positively or negatively by reading Austen, like Austenland or the series Lost in Austen. The latest addition is the whimsical romantic comedy Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, which doesn’t shy away from genuine comedy, including moments of crude or slapstick humour, in its portrayal of an Austen-obsessed lead. It’s a light but often thoughtful and touching film that eventually leans into romance, while avoiding the usual sentimental clichés.
This first feature by French screen and television writer Laura Piani is a bilingual film that moves between Paris and rural England. Agathe Robinson (Camille Rutherford) loves her job at the iconic Parisian bookshop Shakespeare and Company, which allows her to immerse herself in literature and share favourite books with patrons. She lives with her sister and nephew, and has a fun, casual, supportive relationship with her best friend, Felix (Pablo Pauly).
Despite a cautiously romantic outlook, love has never worked out for Agathe; she is convinced she is fated to be a lifelong spinster. Her one regret is that her chronic writer’s block has kept her from completing any of her promising but unfinished works of fiction. In an attempt to help, Felix submits her latest manuscript to a writer’s retreat at Jane Austen’s former home, which Agathe reluctantly agrees to attend.
This is decidedly a character-driven story. The fairly simple plot has Agathe attending the writers’ workshop, attempting to expand her horizons and work past her resistance to sharing her writing, but most of the entertainment comes from Agathe’s personality and her interaction with others. Camille Rutherford’s performance is what makes the film work.
She is effortlessly funny at portraying Agathe’s social awkwardness, her outbursts of inappropriate enthusiasm, and her tendency to commit gaffes and create strife with nearly everyone she meets. She is sympathetic, ridiculously nervous, and maladroit as she deals awkwardly with the fellow writers at the retreat and with the glum and equally inept manager, Oliver (Charlie Anson, known for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). As with several beloved Austen characters, her flaws make her relatable.
Once Agathe has established herself as a personal and social disaster, the film allows other levels of her personality to show, mainly through her interactions with the rather disdainful fellow writers and the sweet but eccentric elderly couple who own the meeting place. Here, inventive film techniques bring out facets of her usually guarded personality, such as periodic voice-overs that reveal her thoughts, sometimes having her mentally narrate what she imagines other writers’ manuscripts might contain, at other times providing a fantasy version of Agathe’s inner thought processes.
Seeing her character fully revealed is funny and appealing, as she begins to rethink her overcautious approach to writing and life in general. In one striking scene, Agathe contradicts the viewpoints of her fellow writers, who see fiction writing as a means to an end, such as social reform, and movingly defends the value of literature for its own sake, revealing the inner Agathe through her one unequivocal passion.
Agathe and her peculiarities having been given free run, romance inevitably becomes a significant part of the story. In a chaotic plot thread that both celebrates and parodies Jane Austen, complete with Regency-costumed ballroom scene, Agathe finds herself in an unmanageable love triangle, made more difficult and funnier by her own quirks and insecurities. This leads from a full-fledged comedy of errors to further developments in Agathe’s life and state of mind in a subtly Austen-themed final act.
Following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is being released worldwide through the summer.
