Jane Austen fans have long joked that the infamous British author has ruined men for them. Most males lack the wit and romantic tendencies of Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wentworth, or Colonel Brandon. This concept is loosely explored in Laura Piani’s French and English production Jane Austen Wrecked My Life. Combining the hallmarks of modern French cinema with the slow burn and chaste beats of Austen may not work for some people, but lead Catherine Rutherford (Anatomy of a Fall) offers a fresh heroine many can get behind.
Rutherford plays Agathe Robinson, a bookstore clerk and aspiring author. She lives with her sister and nephew and has been sexless for two years. Obsessed with Jane Austen (she openly compares herself to Persuasion’s Anne Elliot), she pines for her best friend and coworker, Félix (Pablo Pauly), a known fuckboy who Agathe correlates to Mansfield Park’s suave and capricious Henry Crawfield.
When Agathe is accepted into a writer’s retreat hosted by the Austen estate, she reluctantly leaves Paris, but not before sharing a kiss with Félix on the docks before she takes the ferry. Thinking she will write and great novel and then return to the “love of her life”, her plans are foiled by Oliver (Charlie Anson), the French-speaking prickly great–great–great–great grand nephew of Jane Austen. If you are thinking that he sounds very similar to Mr. Darcy, you’d be correct.
Overall, Piani’s script is short, sweet, and charming. She is definitely aiming for more of an Emma or Mansfield Park-like tone rather than a sweeping period romance we’ve seen from recent Austen adaptations like Persuasion or Pride & Prejudice. Some of the story’s more farcical and slapstick elements don’t land the way she wants them to, but when her characters are sniping about the merits of romantic literature and the modern impact of Austen’s work, she creates some fun, thoughtful moments.“Do you know what the real problem is?” Agathe tells Oliver, upon their first meeting, after he revealed he was not a fan of his aunt’s writing. “Until Jane Austen came along, all female roles were solely written by men. They were either portrayed as idealized perfection or monsters. Jane Austen made them human beings.” Insightful commentary like that and then will bog down the story with characterizations that don’t feed into the premise. Both of the men in Agathe’s life aren’t given enough screentime, and the moments we do get feel like comedic bits that drown out the Austen elements.
Rutherford and Anson could easily be cast in any classic literary adaptation, but especially Austen. Anson (who was in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) plays the Darcy part brilliantly, with reserved British charm. Rutherford is sweet and flustered and brings a French je ne sais quoi to the part.
Peter Von Poehl’s woodwind forward score brings out the French in Piani’s visuals of the English countryside. There are a few shots that mimic Austen adaptations from walking in the forest, a blooming garden, or across a cliff-scape. Jane Austen Wrecked My Life works best when Piani outrightly acknowledges her literary inspiration, and lucky for the audience, she does it most of the time.
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is now playing in theaters. Watch the trailer below.
