Musings of a Virgin

I watched 2 DVDs this past weekend. Miss Potter and Becoming Jane. Both about female authors who did not have perfect lives. Miss Potter starring Renée Zellweger as Beatrix Potter, author of the highly successfully Peter Rabbit books, and Jane Austen, the highly acliamed author of English Literature with books like Pride and Prejudice.

Of the 2 movies, Becoming Jane was definately more tragic and heart wrenching. It was also a perfect role for Anne Hathaway and you also see similarities between her life and the main characters in Pride and Prejudice. Miss Potter was slightly more whimsical, Beatrix Potter played to perfection by Renée Zellweger and coupled with Ewan McGregor was fun to watch.

I highly recommend both films, they are fairly light and informative about both author's lives and also highlight the hardships women faced in those days. Entertainment with a dash of knowledge, what could be better.

Here's the Synopsis for both movies:
Miss Potter

Thirty years old and single, Beatrix Potter lives in London with her social-climbing parents, who are exasperated that she has turned down any number of eligible young men. Her only real friends are the animals which since childhood she has lovingly drawn and made up stories about. She finally succeeds in selling a book of the stories, and it becomes Norman Warne's first project. He quickly falls in love with both the book and Beatrix and together they carefully arrange publication. This proves the first of many successes, offering her the possibility of escaping from both her parents' way of life and London.

Becoming Jane

Jane Austen (Hathaway) is a young girl who wishes to be a writer while her mother (Walters) thinks otherwise. Although she is offered many marriage proposals she accepts none until the mischievous Thomas Lefroy (McAvoy) shows up and turns her world around. At first she finds him ignorant and self centered but as she gets to know him, they start to flirt and eventually fall in love. Lefroy became the inspiration for Mr. Darcy in one of Austen's most beloved novels, Pride and Prejudice. Lefroy's relatives disagree with the match and threaten to disinherit him if he marries her. Austen's mother also disagrees with the match for he will not be able to provide well for the family. As a result of this, Lefroy tries to convince his love to runaway with him. Instead, Jane stays with her family and ends her affair with Lefroy and begins to write some of her greatest works of all time.

Labels: Movies

Posted by emyln on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 9:17 AM | Permalink