In order to take her friend's mind off the death of her beloved dog, Bernadette decides to form a book club. The six members are required to read six Jane Austen novels, then meet and discuss them over a six month period.
Based on the novel of the same name “The Jane Austen Book Club” explores the parallels between the club's members and the particular Austen novel they have chosen to read.
There are warnings and predictions hiding in the pages of Austen's narrative that mirror what is happening in the present.
Written and directed by Robin Swicord, ““The Jane Austen Book Club” is a light, romantic comedy. The characters are all suitably likeable and the pictures are pretty. The performances are uniformly good.
Amy Brenneman is effective as Sylvia, whose marriage suddenly collapses when her husband leaves her for another woman. Naturally her Austen novel was “Mansfield Park”. And Hugh Dancy is really delightful as the sci-fi reading, computer geek who is the club's only male member.
There are some enjoyable moments in the film and some lovely chuckles. Unfortunately the story itself felt a little too twee and convenient at times.
The placing of Austen in a modern day context is not a new thing. Clueless did it in '95 with an adaptation of Emma – but Clueless worked because it concentrated on one story rather than six.
You need an outstanding script to match Austen's own eloquence with words but the script here falls short. As this was about a book club I would have like to have spent more time with the characters in their monthly meetings, listening to them artfully discuss Austen.
It was a big task to try and cover six books in one film. In a novel it would be achievable but here it lacked the depth to make it really special. 3 stars. The Jane Austen Book Club is in cinemas now.
