Jane, Jane and more Jane…

So I went to see “The Jane Austen Book Club” last night.  Having read the novel again recently, I was eager to see how it adapted to film.  Would the characters be how I’d imagined them?  How would they handle the characters telling stories from their past?  Would I end up loving the characters on film as much as I loved them in print?

To answer the last question, yes I did.  On paper, the characters are lovable, quirky but fairly typical human beings.  Their personalities and mannerisms jump out at you until you wish they were standing in front of you and you could give them a big hug.  On screen, I wasn’t disappointed.  The characters are totally lovable in their own ways.  Bernadette, the gregarious, slightly eccentric older woman with a huge heart and a passionate love of Jane Austen; Sylvia, who begins the film as a deliriously happy wife and mother, only to suffer a cruel disappointment, but comes out better at the other end; Allegra, her gorgeous lesbian daughter who learns the hard way about trust; Jocelyn the stubborn, but adorable dog breeder who - in the words of another character - “works with dogs because she needs to be obeyed”; Prudie, the cute-as-can-be French teacher who learns that you can get a man to read Jane Austen, and Grigg, the male of the group who provides lots of laughs and finally works out which woman is right for him.

In the novel there are many instances of events which happened in the past.  In the film they are re-told as quick stories between characters; a technique which brings the stories vividly to life.  Who could forget the story of Billy and his basketball, or Prudie’s mother and her imaginary birthday parties?

This was the best film I’ve seen in a long time.   There are so many uplifting moments, and so many that are just plain funny; from the looks of horror and disgust on everyone’s face when Prudie refers to Austen as “Jane”, to the hilarity of Grigg carrying a “Complete Works of Jane Austen” and believing them all to be sequels.

My one disappointment was that during their discussion of “Persuasion” Bernadette said that Captain Wentworth and Anne Eliot hated each other.  As a true Janeite, let me tell you, they never hated each other.  They just didn’t realise that they still loved each other.

Four and half stars!