'Jane Austen Wrecked My Life' is lit
Laura Piani's French-English debut celebrates love and reading
It’s not a typical romantic fantasy to imagine yourself slow-dancing with a naked man in a Chinese restaurant. But then, “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” is not a typical romantic comedy.
Writer-director Laura Piani’s debut is more of a winning, minor-key film in which (as the title suggests) the love of literature is at least on the same footing as romantic love. It may be a little too muted for traditional romcom fans (and a little light on Austen for Jane fans), but Camille Rutherford’s engaging performance makes it a pleasant enough watch.
Rutherford plays Agathe, who likens herself in the Austen pantheon not to Emma or Elizabeth Bennet, but to Anne Elliot of “Persuasion,” who she describes as an old spinster “who life has passed by.” If life has passed by Agathe, it’s likely because it didn’t notice her hiding there in the corner.
Agathe is a clerk at the infamous Shakespeare & Co. bookstore in Paris, which sounds like a dream job for a bibliophile. But Agathe, still grieving a family tragedy, doesn’t seem to enjoy her life very much. She’s pretty much given up on true love, and refuses to share her own writing with the world. (Those Chinese restaurant fantasies may be the only fun she really has.)
Her best friend (and possible love interest) Felix (Pablo Pauly) decides to give her a push by submitting her work to a prestigious writers’ retreat in Britain, run by the descendants of Austen. She gets accepted, and soon she’s off on a two-week adventure at the residency’s English country house, surrounded by other writers. (One wry running joke in the film is that, based on her writing, everybody assumes Agathe is much older than she really is.)
Once at the retreat, Agathe pulls out her laptop and diligently gets to work on her writing. Just kidding! The one thing that writers almost never do in movies is actually write. Nursing a writer’s block, Agathe distracts herself by meeting the other denizens of the house, including the other writers and the kindly older couple who runs the residency.
She also meets Oliver (Charlie Anson), the son of the couple, who is helping out with running the retreat, even though he’s a contemporary lit professor who looks down condescendingly on Austen’s work. As Agathe argues her case for Austen’s value, sparks fly between the two. And then Felix unexpectedly shows up at the country house, providing the third side of the love triangle that’s been building all along.
“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” gets a little ungainly when Piani injects broad comedy into the mix, such as when a llama spits in Agathe’s eye, or she takes a pratfall. The elements don’t all quite fit together, but the movie’s heart is in the right place, and it’s celebration of love and literature is sincere.
And it made me think about finally going back and reading “Persuasion.”
“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” is now in theaters. In Madison, it’s playing at Marcus Point and AMC Fitchburg 18.