Photo Credit: Sony Pictures ClassicsÂ
BY SWATI SHARAN, TORONTO:
Starring Camille Rutherford as the film lead in the role of Agathe, the film rings more like a tribute than an interpretation of any of Jane Austen’s books.
Agathe (Rutherford) works at the bookstore Shakespeare & Co. in France. She lives with her sister and nephew but nurtures the secret dream of becoming a writer. She’s afraid of rejection so doesn’t do too much about it. She also yearns for a slow old style romance though everything in her urban set up is anything but with its brisk and casual pace.
The twist in the story comes when her colleague Felix (Pablo Pauly) applies on her behalf for a writer in residence program at Jane Austen’s residence. Upon getting accepted, she goes off to England though there’s a lot of nervousness surrounding this. As she arrives, she encounters Oliver who is a distant relative of Jane Austen’s.
Oliver is a cold and arrogant man ( read khadoos) standing in for his ever declining father to greet residents. Slowly, we come to learn of Oliver’s challenges and what we owe to the karela like nature of this man. He is suffering from a broken heart and dealing with his father’s alzheimer’s. Agathe and Oliver slowly start having feelings for each other but they are two of a kind and perhaps fearing to commit.
In comes Felix from France during a ballroom dance to profess his feelings for her. Agathe is now trying to understand what to do. Should she continue with Oliver in an old style chivalrous manner or should she go for her best friend however modern and historically non-committal he may be because of a familiar comfort?
For the desi in us that has come to see Jane Austen throughout the decades as DD’s Trishna, Aisha, Bride and Prejudice, Unmarriagable and Kandukondain Kandukondain, the film may or may not resonate with us if we are expecting to see things as they were in more conservative times and ethnic enclaves.
The film therefore needs to be viewed with different lenses. The value system in the west has changed since that time period. It is difficult to make a contemporary recreation.
The film also feels like an outright mini autobiography of its director Laura Piani minus the romance with a modern-day Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. The heroine is working at the bookstore Shakespeare & Co. and Piani did too in her younger days. Agathe is a French woman who goes to the English residence and Piani, a French woman, did too for this film to research and scriptwrite it. Agathe aspired to write and Piani did too. The only difference being that Piani went to film school and actualized as a scriptwriter. Agathe’s father was English speaking and so is Piani’s. The poetry reading in the film is taken from real life footage that Piani had which was inserted into the film.
The film also seems to be mimicking a journey of self-actualization on the part of an artist to go for their dreams. As desis, we want the tadka, masala, drama and histrionics very visibly expressed. This film has none of that.
That’s because nobody is there to oppose a match and no situational barrier exists to stop a person from doing what they want. Neither are there any class or financial barriers. How then may you try to recreate the Austenian heroine from that?
It’s just a frustrated person suffering from writer’s block and a broken heart afraid to go for their dreams or their partner. It’s internal. So no real drama. It’s therefore a cleverly stitched fan tribute borrowing from Jane Austenalia.
