A month ago, I watched the new PBS film "Miss Austen Regrets", and at last I have a chance to give my opinion!
I thought it was wonderful. The settings and costumes were impeccable to my eye. The period was fully realized and it appears now to be an enchanted world, though the struggles of people have not changed at all.
Jane Austen will now always be Olivia Williams to me. I thought she captured the edge that Miss Austen must have had, the slender brittle quality of tension, the qualified kindness and the keen intensity. The script gave Jane an authentic wit and a conversation full of enigmas and ambiguities.
The old romance with Brook Bridges was well done, if unexpected. Why not, after all? We really know very little about Jane's private life. We know her as sister and daughter, dutiful and conscientious. We think we know her very well, but we don't know her loves at all. This film offers a plausible view of those and of her state of mind toward the end of her life.
Her increasing frailty at the end of the film brought tears to my eyes, and I wept over her regrets. I'm looking forward to watching this film again and again, as I do the movies made from her books. I highly recommend this film to anyone with an interest in the author, the period or just a good story.
Hmmm, I think I need to add a Jane Austen page to my redesigned website. I'll add that to my to-do list. Do visit me at my new web address, www.lesleyannemcleod.com, and let me know what you think of the redesign!
Showing posts with label Miss Austen Regrets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miss Austen Regrets. Show all posts
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
A beginning...and The Complete Jane Austen
This seems like a particularly good time to begin a blog about the Regency period because of Public Television's showing of The Complete Jane Austen. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/austen/index.html
PBS' decision to commission new versions of Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park was timely--new editions have been needed in my opinion. I'm less convinced of the need for Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility to be redone. I was disappointed by the new version of Persuasion, but that is because I think the Amanda Root version is the definitive one. Root plays Anne Elliott with insight and sympathy, and Ciaran Hinds is a brilliant Captain Wentworth. The captain in the new version is altogether too gentlemanly, in dress, speech and deportment. I really can't imagine him on the bridge, barking out orders! And Sally Hawkins does not blossom as Amanda Root does in the realization that Anne Elliott's future will be happier than her past.
I have not had time to watch my tapes of NA and MP yet; I'll report when I do.
Miss Austen Regrets I watched immediately and I thought it was brilliant. I was in tears at the end. I thought Olivia Williams interpreted Jane Austen with great sensitivity. The writing by Gwenyth Hughes was excellent, and for me, Jane Austen came alive in a way that she never had before. The person behind the caustic wit of her letters, her position within her family, her dealings with her writing career and her final illness all became real. The hint of a relationship between Jane and Brook Bridges was particularly novel to me. His appearances in Jane's real life were not frequent and not auspicious, but the movie relationship was very enjoyable. I look forward to watching this video again and again.
I also thought Miss Austen Regrets was a believable extension of last summer's movie Becoming Jane--there was even a similarity in look between Olivia Williams and Anne Hathaway. I'm looking forward to watching this movie again; it had some interesting portrayals of the young Jane and the romance with Tom Lefroy was convincing.
Must get back to my new manuscript, The Education of Portia. This new full-length novel will be released by Uncial Press www.uncialpress.com in November of this year. They'll be releasing my latest short fiction 'Novel Byte' on March 14; it's titled Carolina's Walking Tour. I hope you'll watch for that.
PBS' decision to commission new versions of Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park was timely--new editions have been needed in my opinion. I'm less convinced of the need for Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility to be redone. I was disappointed by the new version of Persuasion, but that is because I think the Amanda Root version is the definitive one. Root plays Anne Elliott with insight and sympathy, and Ciaran Hinds is a brilliant Captain Wentworth. The captain in the new version is altogether too gentlemanly, in dress, speech and deportment. I really can't imagine him on the bridge, barking out orders! And Sally Hawkins does not blossom as Amanda Root does in the realization that Anne Elliott's future will be happier than her past.
I have not had time to watch my tapes of NA and MP yet; I'll report when I do.
Miss Austen Regrets I watched immediately and I thought it was brilliant. I was in tears at the end. I thought Olivia Williams interpreted Jane Austen with great sensitivity. The writing by Gwenyth Hughes was excellent, and for me, Jane Austen came alive in a way that she never had before. The person behind the caustic wit of her letters, her position within her family, her dealings with her writing career and her final illness all became real. The hint of a relationship between Jane and Brook Bridges was particularly novel to me. His appearances in Jane's real life were not frequent and not auspicious, but the movie relationship was very enjoyable. I look forward to watching this video again and again.
I also thought Miss Austen Regrets was a believable extension of last summer's movie Becoming Jane--there was even a similarity in look between Olivia Williams and Anne Hathaway. I'm looking forward to watching this movie again; it had some interesting portrayals of the young Jane and the romance with Tom Lefroy was convincing.
Must get back to my new manuscript, The Education of Portia. This new full-length novel will be released by Uncial Press www.uncialpress.com in November of this year. They'll be releasing my latest short fiction 'Novel Byte' on March 14; it's titled Carolina's Walking Tour. I hope you'll watch for that.
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