Bonding with Books. Review on The Jane Austen Book Club Movie

The Jane Austen Book Club(2007) is a romantic drama directed by Robin Swicord. It is essentially a female-bonding movie, which is often called chick-flick - a pejorative that I abhor, with a special appeal of all those who have read and admired the classic novels by Jane Austen. Few novelists have conveyed the subtleties and nuances of their own social milieu with the wit and insight of Jane Austen and hence her depiction of English middle-class life(as the eighteenth century came to a close and the nineteenth century began) through her vivacious and spirited heroines and their circle of friends still holds interest for us readers. The film interestingly explores Austen's adage that general incivility is the essence of love, and the chaos that generates therof often has people, who are in and out of love, at their wit's end.

The film, set in California, almost takes off with Sylvia's husband dumping her for another woman. Bernadette and Jocelyn, her dear friends, organize a book club to distract her and to help her gather her wits again. They recruit Sylvia's daughter Allegra - who is a l*sbian, Prudie - a young teacher of French, whose marriage may be on the rocks, and Grigg - a sci-fi fan who joins out of attraction to Jocelyn. The six agree to read and discuss one Austen novel per month. The novels are: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey & Persuasion.

This is the outline of things that ensue thereafter: Jocelyn tries to interest Grigg in Sylvia; Allegra falls in love with a woman she meets while trying out skydiving; Prudie contemplates an affair with a dishy student; Sylvia's ex-husband keeps popping up; and Bernadette looks forward to add one more to her many marriages. The medley of characters make the movie colourful and vibrant. All of them reveal themselves in their comments, and their spontaneous responses. The unique thing is that the lives of these intersting characters - who constitute the book club - contain elements that echo Jane Austen's stories, so their choice of reading is very much appropriate.

After having written the screenplays for movies like Little Women, Matilda, Practical Magic and Memoirs of a Geisha, Robin Swicord has done a fine job of adapting the acclaimed novel by Karen Joy Fowler and directing this interesting film. The ensemble cast of the movie is marvellous. The cast includes Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman, Maria Bello, Maggie Grace, Emily Blunt and Hugh Dancy as the six members of the book club, and Lynn Redgrave, Marc Blucas, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Jimmy Smits & Kevin Zegers in supporting roles. John Toon is the Director of Cinematography, and Aaron Zigman has done the original musical score.

The film wasn't distributed for a worldwide release, though it was fairly appreciated when it played in the US theaters in the second half of 2007. I was lucky to catch it on home video, and I thought that I should make others know about this smallish film too. I must add, that though the film has at its core the novels of Jane Austen, which are discussed threadbare and deliberated upon, even someone who hasn't read the books can watch and enjoy the film. However, it will feel much better to have read the novels before seeing the film, or try reading them after having seen the film. The most romantic aspect to me was of course the premise of bonding with the help of books, book clubs can never be passe. And Jane Austen will never be forgotten. I sum up the buoyant spirit of the film with a verbal exchange from the film(there are plenty more to delight the viewers) where Bernadette, the organiser of the book club, quips'All Jane Austen all the time; it's the perfect antidote.'; Prudie asks:'To what?". And Bernadette replies: "To life."