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CS Weekly Archive> DVD > 2/22/08
Sex and Sensibility
by peter clines
Becoming Jane
Kevin Hood and Sarah Williams
 
 
Despite the best efforts of her parents to marry her off to a dull but wealthy gentleman (Laurence Fox), young Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) has no real desires in life past writing her essays and perhaps someday supporting herself as a novelist. Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), a young lawyer exiled to the country by his uncle, finds Jane's writing boring beyond words and the woman herself in desperate need of "having her horizons broadened." Becoming Jane is all about language and subtlety. While the attraction and eventual love between Jane and Tom is almost never spoken of or expressed physically (shy of a few stolen kisses), it's almost always present onscreen. The film is the romance of two clever people who use words in ways that are just as clever, and their dueling wits and sharp flirtations are every bit as titillating as the skin and sex scenes that comprise many modern film romances. The DVD has a few special features, but the best is the commentary track with screenwriter Kevin Hood, director Julian Jarrold, and producer Robert Bernstein, where the three men have an ongoing discussion of where (and why) the script deviated from actual history. Smart and flirtatious in a way that's rarely seen anymore, Becoming Jane shows us that love isn't just an after-affect of sex; it's something that develops during arguments, cricket games, and book discussions.
 Becoming Jane
Miramax Home Entertainment
Rated PG; 120 min.
$29.99
Buy it now
Peter Clines has had a lifelong love affair with the movies. He grew up in New England, where he studied English literature and education, and now lives and writes somewhere in Southern California. If anyone knows exactly where, he would appreciate a few hints.
Becoming Jane
courtesy Miramax Home Entertainment
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