Anne Hathaway makes a fine Jane Austen.
Austen wrote comedies of manners, and if there's one thing that most relegates this film to good-but-not-exceptional status, it's that there aren't as many subtle, humorous attacks on society as Austen launched in her books. There are some exchanges that hold up. "Well, I'm a sensible woman" is followed by "Thank God I am not, by your description." Or, when an older woman is chided for her behavior, she remarks, "Flirting is a woman's trait. One must keep in practice." Later, this one: "I am a lawyer. Justice plays no part in the law." And my personal favorite, "What's she doing? "Writing." "Can anything be done about it?"
No. Thank goodness. Though Spence picked up some criticism for a biography that tries to reconstruct so much from so few letters and traditional "evidence," he gives Austen fans a pleasant fiction that does indeed help to explain how she became the novelist we now know and revere.
Video:
The 1080p picture is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and the transfer has just one really noticeable problem. At the 13-minute mark or so, there's some pixellation and what appears to be a brief compression problem that resolves itself quickly. Other than that, the colors look slightly (yet appropriately, given the tone) undersaturated, and there's the slightest touch of grain that's especially noticeable on bright exterior scenes. There may not be as much of a sense of 3-dimensionality as in some of the better Blu-rays, and the detail doesn't leap out at you as in the best Blu-rays, but the "soft" look again seems compatible with the period film. Maybe it was a director's decision.
Audio:
An English PCM 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) uncompressed audio delivers a full, round-toned sound at both ends of the register, with a nice spread across the front speakers. I didn't notice a great deal of rear-speaker activity, though, apart from the music and several up-tempo action scenes--as when Jane follows after two men and catches a glimpse of them stripping down. Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
Extras:
For a change, there's a nice, quiet, easy-to-navigate menu. Blu-rays have been going a bit nuts with the "bonk" "bleep" "boop" noises to where you almost flinch every time you press "enter." Not so here, with a board that matches the tone of the film. It's also convenient that the time is shown for each feature so you know if you have the time to watch it.
On the negative side, I thought we had gotten past the DVD/Blu-ray divide when it came to bonus features, but Blu-ray comes up short again. In addition to a commentary track, the DVD has 13 deleted scenes which are here, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a dance featurette, a make-up and costume design featurette, and a featurette on filming the boxing and cricket scenes. The Blu-ray includes the commentary, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, and a pop-up trivia track for the Blu-ray exclusive.
The audio commentary with directory Jarrold, writer Kevin Hood, and producer Robert Bernstein is interesting enough, with the trio explaining all that Hathaway did to get the part she really wanted, including learning how to play piano especially for the film and developing the same style handwriting as Austen. The commentary covers the usual ground, from why they filmed in Ireland (tax breaks!) to how certain shots were filmed. The pop-up trivia track is above average, and the boxes themselves aren't all that obtrusive. The pop-up menu takes you to the main menu and plays the movie in a tiny, tiny box, so you're able to hear but not really see what's going on. The deleted scenes (19.33 minutes) are worth watching, as is the 16:57-minute featurette. But three short features and a photomontage turn up missing on the Blu-ray version.
Bottom Line:
Though "Becoming Jane" lacks the magic of "Finding Neverland" and "Shakespeare in Love," it's still a strong period film and an engaging, speculative account of how Jane Austen may have found her voice and her subject matter.
No. Thank goodness. Though Spence picked up some criticism for a biography that tries to reconstruct so much from so few letters and traditional "evidence," he gives Austen fans a pleasant fiction that does indeed help to explain how she became the novelist we now know and revere.
Video:
The 1080p picture is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and the transfer has just one really noticeable problem. At the 13-minute mark or so, there's some pixellation and what appears to be a brief compression problem that resolves itself quickly. Other than that, the colors look slightly (yet appropriately, given the tone) undersaturated, and there's the slightest touch of grain that's especially noticeable on bright exterior scenes. There may not be as much of a sense of 3-dimensionality as in some of the better Blu-rays, and the detail doesn't leap out at you as in the best Blu-rays, but the "soft" look again seems compatible with the period film. Maybe it was a director's decision.
Audio:
An English PCM 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) uncompressed audio delivers a full, round-toned sound at both ends of the register, with a nice spread across the front speakers. I didn't notice a great deal of rear-speaker activity, though, apart from the music and several up-tempo action scenes--as when Jane follows after two men and catches a glimpse of them stripping down. Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
Extras:
For a change, there's a nice, quiet, easy-to-navigate menu. Blu-rays have been going a bit nuts with the "bonk" "bleep" "boop" noises to where you almost flinch every time you press "enter." Not so here, with a board that matches the tone of the film. It's also convenient that the time is shown for each feature so you know if you have the time to watch it.
On the negative side, I thought we had gotten past the DVD/Blu-ray divide when it came to bonus features, but Blu-ray comes up short again. In addition to a commentary track, the DVD has 13 deleted scenes which are here, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a dance featurette, a make-up and costume design featurette, and a featurette on filming the boxing and cricket scenes. The Blu-ray includes the commentary, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, and a pop-up trivia track for the Blu-ray exclusive.
The audio commentary with directory Jarrold, writer Kevin Hood, and producer Robert Bernstein is interesting enough, with the trio explaining all that Hathaway did to get the part she really wanted, including learning how to play piano especially for the film and developing the same style handwriting as Austen. The commentary covers the usual ground, from why they filmed in Ireland (tax breaks!) to how certain shots were filmed. The pop-up trivia track is above average, and the boxes themselves aren't all that obtrusive. The pop-up menu takes you to the main menu and plays the movie in a tiny, tiny box, so you're able to hear but not really see what's going on. The deleted scenes (19.33 minutes) are worth watching, as is the 16:57-minute featurette. But three short features and a photomontage turn up missing on the Blu-ray version.
Bottom Line:
Though "Becoming Jane" lacks the magic of "Finding Neverland" and "Shakespeare in Love," it's still a strong period film and an engaging, speculative account of how Jane Austen may have found her voice and her subject matter.
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[release]22616[/release]