by John Noonan
Worth: $15.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Camille Rutherford, Pablo Pauly, Charlie Anson
Intro:
… doesn’t truly reinvent the wheel, but it has a cosiness that picks you up and makes you hot chocolate on a cold day.
In Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, written and directed by Laura Piani, bookseller Agathe (Camille Rutherford) lives a simple but seemingly happy life. She dances at closing time to bittersweet pop songs, her friend Felix (Pablo Pauly) teases her about never seeking out one-night stands, and she takes comfort in reading post-it notes left on walls by customers confessing their feelings to each other. In short, she’s a massive romantic who yearns for that spark to go off inside her, signifying that she’s found her true love.
Until then, she’s happy to bury her head in books and wrestle the writer’s block that jumps on her from time to time. “You need to tune in with the times, Agathe,” her writing tutor says, admonishing her for writing cheap romance in class. Our hero takes heed of this advice and, when daydreaming of naked men in Chinese restaurants – no, really – she conjures up prose that could actually be something.
Under the duress of Felix, Agathe finds herself on her way to the UK to take part in a two-week writers’ retreat called the Jane Austen Residency. There, she meets Oliver (Charlie Anson), a distant relative of Austen who doesn’t see the worth in his ancestor’s work. He takes pride in his dislike, in fact, which quickly raises up some prejudice in Agathe… And oh, we see what you’ve done there, Piani!
Adaptations of Pride and Prejudice are admittedly nothing new. See: Bridget Jones’ Diary, Bride and Prejudice, and to a lesser extent, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (which also happens to star Anson). However, the joke here is that Agathe appears to be so enamoured with the idea of being in a strong female-led romance that she’s unaware that she’s in one. Austen fans will likely take great delight in spotting the various nods, winks, and tropes to her work.
But outside of the literary easter egg hunt, is the film any good? Well, in short, yes. Piani has crafted a film that serves as a pleasant distraction from the glossy exclusives to Prime rom-coms. Agathe cherishes Austen for the rounded women characters that she created, which is Agathe to a tee. Rutherford is utterly captivating as our lead, managing to be both earnest and able to pratfall with the best of them. Neither of which seems forced in the hands of Piani. As our heroine’s foil, Anson provides a humanity to Oliver’s pomp and circumstance. Perhaps this is best proven when both Oliver and Agathe share what they consider to be the worst part of their life in the confines of a quaint English bookshop.
Yes, the possibility of romance hangs in the air as Agathe weighs her fascination with Oliver against her friendship with Felix. Still, the focus is squarely on her relationship with her writing. Agathe is constantly beating herself up about her talents to the extent that the film subtly suggests that everything that happens during the film is an excuse for her to avoid putting her finger to the keyboard. And in that, perhaps the only way Agathe can write or even love is to work on herself. As the great philosopher RuPaul once said: “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else?”
Sure, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life doesn’t truly reinvent the wheel, but it has a cosiness that picks you up and makes you hot chocolate on a cold day. It’s hard to believe that you could walk away from Rutherford’s charm and indeed the film’s denouement without a soppy grin on your face.
