Miss Austen Regrets

[proggrrl]

This week's Austen was quite good.  Unlike the 1999 film MANSFIELD PARK, which mashed up the novel with Austen biopic elements, MISS AUSTEN REGRETS is all biopic.  Even though a lot of Austen's bio is unknown...so there's a lot of imagining going on here.  All of Austen's main themes, and how Austen might have felt about them in real life, are covered.  Olivia Williams is great as Austen.  The scene I liked the most took place late one night while Austen is visiting her brother in London.  She has a fireside chat with her brother's middle-aged maid (a French woman) that is especially satisfying as it attempts to pin down the essence of Austen - and why women the world over adore her work.