Jane Austen is one of the most influential and known novelists of the English literature. Although she had a short life (she died at the age of 41), Jane Austen’s works have remained till now masterpieces of the English literature. “Sense and Sensibility”, “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma” are the three most known novels of the young author, who has expressed through these works her irony for the English society of the early 19^th century. Jane Austen also represented England’s first important woman novelist and her entire life and work have been studied by many biographers.

However, the English author would have been surely surprised by her current popularity. The new film “Becoming Jane” has marked once again the fact that the nowadays people have become real fans of the late 18^th – early 19^th century author. It was only last year that “Pride and Prejudice” was being screened in the theaters and now a movie featuring the life of the author herself is just to become a hit movie.

“Becoming Jane” is a fictional account of the events that gave Jane Austen the inspiration for writing “Pride and Prejudice”, one of her most popular novels. Directed by Julian Jarrold and starring actors Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen and James McAvoy as her supposed lover Tom Lefroy, “Becoming Jane” begins when Jane Austen was 20 years old (1795). This is a year before the young woman is to meet and flirt with Tom Lefroy, who is a younger relative of one of her friends.

“Becoming Jane” suggests that Jane Austen and the Irish lawyer Tom Lefroy had a relationship, and that Lefroy represented the love of her life. This idea has been shared by some of Jane Austen’s biographers too. Some of these biographers have even suggested that it was Lefroy who was in Austen’s mind when she created the character of Mr. Darcy from “Pride and Prejudice”.

Written by Sarah Williams and Kevin Hood, the movie manages to express Jane Austen’s time’s atmosphere. People are endlessly discussing about money, marriages by interest and inheritances and in the middle of this society Jane Austen has her own struggle between her pure self and the times’ principles and beliefs.

The fact that Anne Hathaway is an American trying to play a 19^th century English woman is perceptible in the movie, although she has a perfect English accent. She seems to be too tall and beautiful for the simple English author. However, she managed to be very good at showing Jane Austen’s constant inner struggle, which is in fact the most important part of the role. The fact that she’s too beautiful should only praise Jane Austen’s memory.