I’m not sure when or where I first heard of this movie. I’m not even sure why I put it on my Netflix queue. It must have been way before I decided I was all Jane’d out. Hard to believe, but a person really can O.D. on Jane Austen.
Despite all that, I’m glad I popped it in my DVD player. At first it was confusing, but I finally settled into it. I enjoyed the movie — and I liked it way better than Becoming Jane –but I know I would not have appreciated Miss Austen Regrets as much if I was younger.
Which really isn’t a surprise since this movie is about Jane in her later years. I was pleased that they show Jane Austen as a flirt who treasures her independence. She struggles with her role in society (relying on her brothers to handle her publishing business but can’t ask for too much money or it would look as if the men in her family couldn’t provide for her), yet at same time her role in the family demands that she is the breadwinner. I think that makes her relatable to the modern woman.
DVD description: When her young niece (Imogen Poots) enlists her help in finding a husband, novelist Jane Austen (Olivia Williams) — who shunned marriage for life as a single woman — takes stock of her own romantic past. Greta Scacchi and Samuel Roukin also star in this made-for-television “Masterpiece Theatre” drama based on Austen’s life and her actual correspondence with friends, family and would-be suitors.
