Miss Austen Regrets (2008) (TV)

Director:

Jeremy Lovering

Writer:

Gwyneth Hughes (written by)

Release Date:

3 February 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

In the later years of her life, as she's approaching the age of forty, the novelist Jane Austen helps her niece find a husband. |

Plot Keywords:

Jane Austen | Marriage Ceremony | England | Courtship | Poverty

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Samuel Roukin	...	Harris Bigg
Olivia Williams	...	Jane Austen
Greta Scacchi	...	Cassandra Austen
Imogen Poots	...	Fanny Knight
Phyllida Law	...	Mrs. Austen
Pip Torrens	...	Edward Austen Knight
Harry Gostelow	...	Rev. Charles Papillon
Tom Hiddleston	...	Mr. John Plumptre
Hugh Bonneville	...	Rev. Brook Bridges
Tom Goodman-Hill	...	Mr. Lushington MP
Adrian Edmondson	...	Henry Austen
Sylvie Herbert	...	Mme. Bigeon
Jack Huston	...	Doctor Charles Haden
Jason Watkins	...	Rev. Clarke
Sally Tatum	...	Anna Lefroy

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:G | Netherlands:6

Filming Locations:

Elizabethan Maze, Chenies Manor House, Chenies, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

The red print dress Phyllida Law wears at the picnic is the same costume Wendy Hughes (Mrs. Worrall) wears in Princess Caraboo (1994), and Elizabeth Devonport wears in "The Regency House Party" (2004).

Quotes:

Mme. Bigeon: [late at night, both in nightgowns; strong French accent] My friend in Paris has read a wonderful new book called 'Raison and Sensibilite'
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility?
Mme. Bigeon: My friend says, whoever the woman is who wrote this book, she knows more about love than anyone else in the world
Jane Austen: Like someone who can't cook writing a recipe book
Mme. Bigeon: Passion is for the young. It fades so quickly.
Jane Austen: [wistfully] Not in our dreams
Mme. Bigeon: Comfort remains, friendship remains, if you are lucky as I was.
Jane Austen: Happiness in marriage remains a matter of chance
Mme. Bigeon: But the fuss we make about who to choose. And love still dies and money still vanishes. And, spinster, lover, wife, every woman has regrets. So we read about your heroines and feel young again. And in love. And full of hope. As if we can make that choice again.
Jane Austen: And do it right this time
[...]

Movie Connections:

Version of Becoming Jane (2007)

Soundtrack:

Drowsy Maggie

This film screwed up differently than Becoming Jane did

I SO wanted to absolutely love this movie. I did. Don't get me wrong -- it got a lot right. It was on Masterpiece Theater, for heaven's sake, and the script generally tried to stay closer to the few facts we have about Austen's life. It had decent direction and adept, credible Brits portraying Jane and her family. And yet, there was one huge flaw that I just couldn't ignore. Miss Austen Regrets would have us believe that Jane had several offers of marriage during her lifetime but knowingly and deliberately chose to remain single and focus on her work. This is a 20th to 21st century conceit awkwardly imposed on a 19th century situation.

The few facts we have show that Jane received only one marriage proposal during her life, and that was from someone with an irritating personality. Harris Bigg-Wither was described by Jane's niece Caroline Austen and by one of his own descendants, Reginald Bigg-Wither, as unattractive at best: he was plain, if not homely, stuttered, aggressive in conversation, and almost completely tactless. Those objectionable qualities, despite his comfortable financial position, would have put off many women, then *or* now. Had he had a more pleasing personality, Harris might have tried first for a fiancée from a more prosperous family instead of proposing to Jane.

Moreover, Jane had known Harris since childhood and probably knew full well what she'd be getting into if she decided to marry him. To endure Bigg-Wither every so often at social occasions was one thing, but to marry him and have to endure that personality day in and day out would have been quite another. The simplest explanation is that Austen initially agreed to his proposal in order to be less of a burden to and/or provide for her family, but she knew him too well not to immediately regret her decision the next morning -- and thus she reneged on her acceptance in less than a day, and remained single. She probably considered that the lesser of two evils.

The truth, then, is *not* that Jane Austen turned down acceptable proposals and made a conscious decision to put her writing first and stay independent, particularly given that she *never was* financially independent, but rather that no handsome, sweet-tempered, intelligent man, with or without means, ever asked her. She may have had such men as friends or acquaintances, but none of them ever proposed. If one had, remaining single would have been a much harder decision -- but that's moot, because such a man never did ask. Period. And that's a rude truth she had to suffer for all her adult life. It's not a truth that Miss Austen Regrets chose to address, however, and that is the film's greatest failing.