“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” (2024), the original title is Jane Austen a gâché ma vie,” is set in contemporary times and follows the fictional Parisian Agathe Robinson (Camille Rutherford), who works at the real-life Shakespeare and Company bookstore and is living in the threshold of life, but it is a lovely threshold. She bikes and rides to work. She works and flirts with her best friend, Félix (Pablo Pauly), who may also live with her, her sister, Mona (Alice Butaud), and Mona’s six-year-old son, Tom (Roman Angel). The Jane Austen Residency accepts her for a two-week residency to develop her writing, which forces Agathe out of her comfort zone. When she crosses the Channel to attend, Oliver (Charlie Anson), Austen’s great x 4 nephew, gives her a brusque reception, and her residency is off to a rough start. Will she get out of her rut and start living again?
The title sounds like a throwback to the golden era of chick lit and evokes an image that does not match the story but is not exactly false advertising either. What bookish girl or woman has not fantasized about working in a bookstore and becoming a writer, but “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” is more rigorous than that dream. For Agathe, the point of literature is the story and the human experience, which girl, same. It could explain why she has writer’s block. Even though she appears to live a full life, there are invisible walls and fences keeping her apart from certain experiences, and writer and director Laura Piani wisely waits to reveal that there is even an issue. Rutherford is a natural presence who feels organic in a stylized movie that strays just enough from the formula to feel fresh.
Make no mistake. “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” is still a fantasy. How many people can afford her city life and work in a bookstore? Does she own the bookstore? It is not relevant. Remember when you were young and imagined a life constantly with the people that you love surrounding you and a part of your daily routine. Some people have that life, but it is declining. Naturally her best friend may also be her potential love interest. It is a very French movie because her sister can have a social life and a kid. Even though Félix is allegedly a ladies’ man, it is never shown. He seems to only have eyes for Agathe and supports her creative life. Agathe is part of a healthy community that encourages her growth and believes in her talent.
The romance and impending love triangle are not the driving force of “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life,” but the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. The goal is the challenge of trying to make her dreams come true under ideal conditions, a concept explored in one of my favorite movies of the year, “Not an Artist” (2023), and in this case, is specifically referring to writing. During her residency, the environment and people challenge her, specifically Oliver. Even in this idyllic atmosphere where her every need is met, she is still at sea, playing with her cell phone and diving into diversions instead of her work. If Austen’s descendants have troubles, then instead of mistakenly helping them with theirs, Agathe begins to stop running away from hers. Oliver has work and relationship issues. Dad, Todd (Alan Fairbairn), has a mysterious ailment. Fellow resident, Olympia (Lola Peploe), suffers from health issues, which eventually emerges at the retreat. The idea of an ideal environment is a fiction constantly punctured throughout the film.
Anson and Rutherford’s silent and intense attraction pulses through the screen. Everything that came before pales in comparison so even if Oliver is not the right man for Agathe, the actors sell the idea that anything else seems ridiculous. If Oliver was the key to Agathe’s growth, then their meeting and connection would resolve the story. While Agathe gets treated as a whole person with ambitions, fears and desires, the other women characters do not get the same treatment. If “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” does adhere to the rom com drama, it is male-centered. If Agathe is uninterested in a man, he does not exist. There are four residents, which includes Sybil (Rodrigue Pouvin), who is introduced typing on his laptop outdoors and is the first person that Agathe sees. Will you see him again? How many times? Would you know his name? There are not that many people in the house.
Jane Austen as an author explicitly symbolizes the writer’s willingness to treat women like people, which Piani occasionally fails to do in her own work. Supporting women characters are sidelined. The depiction of more prominent women supporting characters was limiting. Olympia has villain moments against Agathe and physically gets shut down. You can tell it’s a French movie because Olympia is the villain for demanding a safe environment, not to be physically assaulted or exposed to criminal acts regardless of the lack of criminal intent. Oliver’s mom, Beth (Liz Crowther), is the opposite and the perfect mother whom anyone would want in their life. She lives for people and only wants her son to meet the right woman. Ignore the fact that she does not spend as much time on the man that she married and obviously needs some help. Ailing dad becomes a Rorschach test to determine how good women are depending on how they treat him. I would have failed though I would not be mean.
While watching “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life,” ask yourself if you would know the characters’ names without looking at IMDb. Probably not. Living with people means a certain level of intimacy that speeds up the process of becoming close to people and knowing everything about them. Olympia only gets treated sympathetically when she most identifies as a woman, which is fine if she was not punished for being strident, opinionated and unlikeable. Would you know her name while watching the movie? No. Chéryl (Annabelle Lengronne) is stunning, well-traveled and mysterious so even though she is a three-dimensional character, she functions as the best friend. Again, the part of her history that stands out relates to her sexuality-a lover in another country. Mona gets a name, but her leading characteristic is her love life. Sexuality is an essential part of the human experience, but it is what singularly defines the other women in Agathe’s life at a writing retreat. Agathe’s true destiny is to clear her writer’s block, but there is no sense of a similar objective for the others except perhaps Olympia. Very French and a very limited way of defining people. Did it ruin the movie? No, and it is a nonissue unless you have a habit of running the Bechdel test algorithm in your head.
If you can turn off your brain, “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” is charming. It is easy to drool over these warm, well decorated spaces and live vicariously through people walking through the woods. The “Ally McBeal” moments of self-effacing humor are so hilarious. It is a romantic movie on a visual level and entering that world is so appealing. Piani’s directorial debut would make even the biggest romantic scrooge and humorous liberal feminist stay.
