Miss Austen Regrets (BBC) [2008] [DVD]

Miss Austen Regrets finds the title character at a point where her writing career has already proved to be a success. However, there’s the small matter of romance, which throws up a key paradox: given that Austen’s books deal with the matter so well, how has she failed to properly address it in her personal life?

It’s an interesting dynamic for a drama, and it works particularly well. Miss Austen Regrets finds her considering some of her past choices, and whether she’s made the right choices along the way. And buoyed by the aforementioned Williams and Imogene Poots as her young niece, it makes for highly enjoyable and rewarding television.

Miss Austen Regrets sits happily alongside the recent film Becoming Jane as an interesting and well-measured dig into the author’s life. And with good production values matched by a fine cast, it proves worthy not just as a fine drama, but the kind that’ll be enjoyed time after time. Recommended. --Jon Foster

Beautifully shot and graced with a splendid performance by Olivia Williams, this Jane Austen biopic focuses on a relatively narrow window in the author’s life, serving as something of a companion to Becoming Jane, the 2007 film about a young Austen starring Anne Hathaway.

This drama depicts a passionate and emotional chapter of Jane Austen’s romantic life, inspired by the great writer’s own novels, letters and diaries.

As Jane Austen approaches her 40s, her success as a writer is assured and her witty and sharply observed romantic novels are widely admired. To her niece, Fanny Knight – a young, pretty girl desperate to fall in love – Jane is a favourite aunt who offers the wisdom and knowledge to help her in her own search for a happy marriage.

Yet, when asked by Fanny to help her vet potential husbands, Jane's usual confident composure is threatened. Surely the woman so capable of writing love on the page must have experienced love herself, so why did she never marry?

Protected by her wit, Jane has presented a front as dazzling as many of her novels' young heroines, but as she reflects on her own romantic encounters and affairs, we are drawn into the passions, suitors and choices of her life – the cruel flirting, the proposals spurned and the love that seemed to arrive too late.

As she recalls missed opportunities, the doubts arise. Did she make the right choice for herself and her family? Could the great romantic expert have been mistaken? And, could her principles about love and marriage possibly have been ill-judged?

Starring:
Jane Austen - Olivia Williams
Fanny Austen-Knight - Imogene Poots
Cassandra - Greta Scacchi
Harris Bigg - Samuel Roukin
Rev. Brook Bridges - Hugh Bonneville
Charles Haden - Jack Huston

Written by Gwyneth Hughes. Directed by Jeremy Lovering. Produced by Anne Pivcevic and Jamie Laurenson.