Jane Austen Wrecked My Life (2024)
I initially had no idea about the film. I had been trying to explore the indie cinemas around me and began checking showtimes every now and then. For those unaware, I've been in a bit of a frenzy when it comes to Jane Austen. I've enjoyed Pride and Prejudice (2005) since I saw it about two years ago randomly; Joe Wright and Kiera Knightley have just an amazing set of works together. I went to the 20th anniversary showing of it, even purchased a collection of Jane Austen's novels due to it. I'd also picked up a copy of Emma (2020) from the library and thoroughly enjoyed it without knowing it was based off of one of her works. With that being said, I saw Jane Austen mentioned and had to see it.
I won't lie, it starts off a bit slow. A lot of it is introducing the main character, Agathe, and her current situation. She's a writer that's heavily invested in the romance genre and heavily enjoys Jane Austen. Due to an accident and overall disappointment with modern dating methods, Agathe just doesn't have much experience with with dating and has an awkward situationship with her best friend. She ends up receiving an invite a writer's retreat hosted by a Jane Austen foundation where she meets the male love interest and really faces a lot of internal struggles she's having.
One of the critiques I saw appear a lot with the film was the dry humor, I actually found this to be very reminiscent of some of Jane Austen's protagonists. Similarly to Agathe, these aren't perfect women within a fantastical context, they're average people in realistic settings for their respective time periods.
There are certain moments that I feel are a bit too on the nose, such as the ball hosted by the foundation and the direct parallels to Pride and Prejudice (2005). Although it's clearly a film for fans and I adore the 2005 film, it just didn't hit for me personally. What I appreciate from Jane Austen and adaptions of her works are specifically the personal development and journeys of these characters and the relationships, not necessarily romantic, between them, not the aesthetics of these time periods.
An element I enjoyed but am somewhat on the fence about would be that the film could be considered bilingual. I love languages and anything in or with a foreign language will always get bonus points from me. There are times when the Franglais is really natural, but other times the switching that happens just seems a bit out of nowhere, especially with Beth. She is an older woman who is essentially the main person behind the JA Foundation and uses French to seemingly make Agathe more comfortable, although she is fluent in English.
I personally wasn't too invested in the romance aspect of the film, despite it being a "romance-comedy". I just really enjoyed Agathe as a character, her being invited to this place that's essentially her dream, and just having those pivotal moments of realization, disappointment, and acceptance with herself.
Overall, it's a pleasant film if you don't go in with any crazy expectations.