Becoming Jane

With my dear friend Elizabeth and my new friend Virgie, I rode down 29 to Silver Spring to see this lovely little gem of a film about the life of Jane Austen at the American Film Institute Silver Theater. I had never been there, so that was a fun adventure in and of itself. The film was playing in the large, beautiful, art-deco themed main theater. We sat in the back box seats where each seat had a convenient little table between. It felt quite luxurious. As for the film, I really enjoyed it. It portrayed Jane almost as if she were a character in one of her books in order to show how her real life influenced her work. The scholars are having a field day pointing out the historical flaws in the screenplay, but within the construct of a work of cinematic art aimed at all of us who love her, the romanticizing of Jane's life a little was fine with me. It was exquisitely filmed and the acting was really, really good. James McAvoy is quite yummy. My only complaint, if you decide to go down there and see it before the wide release on Friday, is that the sound was not good. There was an echo or something that swallowed much of the dialogue. In fact, I will see it again as soon as I can just to hear the rest of the words. As a perfect touch to the evening, Elizabeth gave me this. She will definitely have a place of honor on my desk as my new muse.