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Becoming Jane

About Me


Jane Austen
Jane Austen was born on December 16th, 1775 to the local rector, Rev. George Austen (1731-1805), and Cassandra Leigh (1739-1827). She was the 7th child among 8 children. She had one older sister, Cassandra. In 1783 she went to Southampton to be taught by a relative, Mrs. Cawley, but was brought home due to a local outbreak of disease. Two years later she attended the Abbey Boarding School in Reading, reportedly wanting to follow her sister Cassandra, until 1786.
Jane was mostly educated at home, where she learned how to play the piano, draw and write creatively. She read frequently and later came to enjoy social events such as parties, dances and balls. She disliked the busy life of towns but preferred the country life where she took to long country walks.
In 1801 Jane, her parents, and sister moved to Bath, a year after her father's retirement, and the family frequented the coast. While on one of those coastal holidays she met a young man where apparently a romantic involvement occurred that ultimately ended in tragedy as the young man died. It is believed by many astute Austen fans that her novel, "Persuasion", was inspired by this incident.
Following her father's passing in January of 1805, which left his widow and daughters with financial problems, they moved several times until finally moving into a small house, in Chawton, Hampshire, owned by her brother Edward, which is reminiscent of "Sense and Sensibility". It was in this house that she wrote most of her works.
March of 1817 saw her health begin to decline and she was forced to abandon her current work of Sanditon, never completed. Jane had Addisons disease. In April she wrote out her will and then on May 24th moved with Cassandra to Winchester, to be near her physician. It was in Winchester where she died, in the arms of her sister, on Friday, the 18th of July 1817, at the age of only 41. She was buried the 24th of July at Winchester Cathedral. Jane never married.
During her formative years, Jane wrote plays and poems. At 14, she wrote her first novel, "Love and Freindship [sic]" and other juvenilia. Her first (unsuccessful) submission to a publisher, however, was in 1797 titled "First Impressions" (later "Pride and Prejudice"). In 1803 "Susan" (later "Northanger Abbey") was actually sold to a publisher for a mere £10 but was not published until 14 years later, posthumously. Her first accepted work was in 1811 titled "Sense and Sensibility", which was published anonymously as were all books published during her lifetime. She revised "First Impressions" and published it entitled "Pride and Prejudice" in 1813. "Mansfield Park" was published in 1814, followed by "Emma" in 1816, the same year she completed "Persuasion" and began "Sanditon", which was ultimately left unfinished. Both "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey" were published in 1818, after her death.
Jane goes to the ball and looks all around for Tom. He shows while Jane is dancing with WisleY
The scene in the Rose Garden.
A candle light kiss.
"This cannot work out, Jane"
Tom comes to talk to her.
Runaway Vs. Family Obligations.
TwentY Years Later

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 16/02/2008
Band Members:

Our First Impression of My. LeFroy

The two run into eachother in Selbourne Wood

Their FirsT Dance

A Game of CrickeT

The MOST WONDERFUL SCENE between the two in the LibrarY

They discuss the book he asked her to read

Laverton Fair and Tom Fights!

Memorable Quotes From the Movie
Sometimes affection is a shy flower that takes time to blosson. - Mr. Wisley
Swifts on a fine morning in May, flying this way, that way, sailing around at a great height perfectly happily. Then one leaps onto the back of another, grasps tightly, and forgetting to fly they both sink down and down in a great, dying fall. Fathom after fathom until the female utters a loud, piercing cry of ecstary. - Tom LeFroy
I know a great deal about the world. And I must say enough to know that your horizons must be... widened by an extraordinary young man. - Tom LeFroy
What value will there be in life if we are not together? - Tom Lefroy
As to fortune, a young woman might depend upon herself. - Jane Austen
My characters shall have, after a little trouble, all that they desire. - Jane Austen
A metropolitan mind may be less susceptible to extended juvenile self-regard. - Tom LeFroy
Tom Lefroy: I am yours, heart and soul. Much good that is. Jane Austen: Let me decide that.
Tom LeFroy: You dance with passion. Jane Austen: No sensible woman would demonstrate passion, if the purpose were to attract a husband. Tom LeFroy: As opposed to a lover?
Tom LeFroy: I think that you, Miss Austen, consider yourself a cut above the company. Jane Austen: Me? Tom LeFroy: You, ma'am. Secretly.
Tom LeFroy: How can you, of all people, dispose of yourself without affection? Jane Austen: How can I dispose of myself with it?

On The Movie
"Becoming Jane" is an unexpected cinematic treasure, and one which deserves attention not only from Jane Austen fans, but from a wider audience as well. Much to my amazement, this film is remarkably true to Jane Austen's spirit, portraying her as a thoughtful, willful, almost modern, woman.
I wasn't expecting a tour de force performance from Anne Hathaway, but she's absolutely perfect as Jane Austen, having successfully immersed herself in this role; perhaps her finest bit of film acting to date. James McAvoy has garnered some well-earned critical acclaim for his fine performances in "The Last King of Scotland" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". His portrayal of the young Irish barrister Tom Lefroy, who befriends Jane, is also right on the mark, that's a very compelling portrayal of someone who could have been Jane's intellectual and romantic soul mate for a brief time in the late 1790s.
While Hathaway's and McAvoy's performances are the best reasons to see "Becoming Jane", there's also excellent acting from the rest of the cast, most notably James Cromwell's Reverend Austen, Jane's father. If you're at all curious wondering why Jane Austen's fiction has endured, then "Becoming Jane" might offer some tantalizing cinematic answers.

On The SoundtracK
For Becoming Jane, Adrian Johnston delivers an elegant score that perfectly captures the poignant and bittersweet, utterly romantic tone of the film. Johnston was given permission to study the surviving music books that once belonged to the Austen family in preparation for scoring the film, and that study shows.
By weaving music from the period throughout the score, he gives this highly speculative "biopic" a genuinely authentic feel. Particularly notable is the inclusion of themes from "The Irishman" in the tracks "Bond Street Airs" and "A Letter." Also noteworthy are the tracks "The Basingstoke Assembly," featuring "The Recruiting Officer," and "Laverton Fair," featuring "Softly good Tummas" - both pieces of source music by Kynaston/Walsh and arranged by Johnston sparkle with energy. Track after track of the score features cues of music positively dripping with the sound of delicate strings and exquisite piano solos. This is music to think, to read, to write, to DREAM by - it encourages a quiet, reflective mood (perfectly suited to curling up with one of Austen's novels and a cup of tea).
In this respect Johnston's work follows in the tradition of scores for previous Austen pictures such as Pride & Prejudice, Emma: Music From The Miramax Motion Picture, and Sense and Sensibility: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1995 Film) - all of the aforementioned films feature music that perfectly compliments the on-screen action, but taken by themselves the scores stand on their own as polished, unforgettable musical works of art.

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