Film Review: JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE (2024): A Unique Modern-Day Love Story with a Fondness For Classic Literature

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life Review

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life (2024) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Laura Piani and starring Camille Rutherford, Pablo Pauly, Charlie Anson, Annabelle Lengronne, Alan Fairbairn, Alice Butaud, Laurence Pierre and Frederick Wiseman.

Camille Rutherford stars in Jane Austen Wrecked My Life which is writer/director Laura Piani’s sweet-natured spin on a modern-day version of Pride & Prejudice. Rutherford plays Agathe Robinson, a French bookstore seller who recommends Jane Austen books to her customers. Agathe is single and clearly has nobody to go to bed with at night as her family is certainly well aware of. Agathe is friends with the charming but woman-hungry Félix (Pablo Pauly). If Félix was Agathe’s Mr. Right, there’d be no movie though. When she’s invited to a Jane Austen-themed writers’ residency, Agathe temporarily leaves her mundane life behind. However, she must confront her talents as a writer and what she’s really looking for in a romantic partner as the pieces of the plot coalesce to form a charming comic drama.

Stepping into the Mr. Darcy-inspired role of Oliver is actor Charlie Anson. Agathe and Oliver get off to a shaky start as the car Oliver comes with to pick Agathe up in breaks down in the middle of the road which leaves the pair stranded as they try to make attempts at small talk which fall flat. Oliver is supposed to be Jane Austen’s great, great, great cousin and Agathe is fascinated by Austen’s work which Oliver seems to not be too fond of himself. Agathe states her case regarding the importance of Austen’s literature and could make Oliver respect her enough to give them a shot at a romantic relationship before the end credits roll.

There’s just one problem, though: Félix arrives on the scene and takes to having sex with Agathe who is certainly not pleased by their chemistry together in the bedroom. All bets are off after Agathe and Oliver steam up the screen with their interaction at a ball which is clearly inspired by those dance scenes from Pride & Prejudice, the 2005 film which I just had the pleasure of revisiting recently.

While Agathe takes issues with the fact that she cannot finish one of her stories, the residency may give her the opportunity to polish her work if she can come to terms with what she really wants to do with her life which is supposedly write. Maybe she wants to fall in love, too, even though it takes the whole movie for her to realize that Oliver could be a better companion for her than anyone else.

Also involved in the story line is Oliver’s aging dad, Todd (Alan Faibairn), who could be on borrowed time judging from his recent attempts at challenging physical activities. It is the development of Agathe as a character, though, that drives the movie and makes it successful as a whole. There are a couple of scenes which don’t ring true such as when Félix doesn’t piece together the fact that his relationship with Agathe will most likely be platonic and, also, the fact that Agathe ends up at the residency in the first place seems a bit like the filmmakers are stretching it. Agathe’s writing, we’re told, is good, but with all the competition in the world, it seems unlikely they’d bestow an invite upon her, especially considering the fact she has writer’s block and can’t finish anything she starts from a writing standpoint.

With that said, Camille Rutherford is certainly appealing as Agathe. Early in the film, when the character takes her clothes off and accidentally walks in on Oliver instead of the bathroom (her original destination), it’s charming. Rutherford gives Agathe a rough edge that makes us believe she is single despite being young and attractive. A few people in the movie comment that Agathe is younger than they expected her to be and, to the film’s credit, Agathe is very mature as a woman while Rutherford plays her insecurities to perfection.

Pauly, as Félix, is a good character actor who has a solid rapport with Rutherford on-screen. It is the connection between Oliver and Agathe that makes the movie work, however, and gives it the pizzazz it needs to differentiate itself from other love stories about people who can’t tell they’re made for each other until a given film’s very last moments. Anson is just fine as Oliver and he and Rutherford form an on-screen romance that will ultimately compare and contrast to that of the one in Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. Fairbairn, as the struggling dad, Todd, has some heartfelt moments of sincerity that will help viewers relate to the new picture’s story line.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life has nicely shot interior scenes and outdoor imagery as Agathe tries to find her way in her life under glorious, yet complicated, circumstances. If only she could muster up the strength to finish a story of hers, things would be so much better for her. I’ll leave it to you to see how she does with her writing, but it’s clear where this love story is headed right from the outset in terms of a romantic standpoint. It’s still an enjoyable rendering of the search for true love and how finding the right one may be an effort worth pursuing all in the name of romance and happiness.

Rating: 7/10

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