A couple of days ago marked the 200th publication anniversary of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, so we thought it proper for us, as a little tribute, to look back at the 2007 biopic featuring the English novelist. Today's midweek movie is none other than Becoming Jane, which starred Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy.
Image via Fanpop
It’s a common perception that authors derive inspiration from their own experiences to shape their literary masterpieces. Our featured film for this week explores this idea and attempts to tell the untold romance between Jane Austen and Thomas “Tom” Lefroy. Many believe that her love story, albeit a doomed one, served as the inspiration for the renowned English novelist and her romantic classics.
History has it that Jane was 20 when she met Tom, a neighbor’s nephew, when he came for a visit in Steventon, Hampshire on December 1795. He had just obtained a university degree and was set to move and establish a legal career in London. Tom and Jane were most likely introduced to each other during a ball or some other social gathering in the neighborhood.
The two could have well been in love with each other, but they also knew that marriage was impractical; neither of them could afford it and Tom was still depending on his great-uncle in Ireland to finance his education and help establish his legal career. Needless to say, the Lefroys came between the two and sent Tom away at the end of January 1796. Jane never saw him again.
More than two centuries later, Jane and Tom’s love story was adapted for the silver screen in the 2007 British biopic Becoming Jane, which starred Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen and James McAvoy as Thomas Lefroy.
Watch the trailer for Becoming Jane below:
All information for this article were sourced from Jane Austen on Wikipedia and Becoming Jane on Wikipedia.
No comments yet, be the first