“The Jane Austen Book Club” fails to captivate as film adaptation

Honorable Mention

Division 1

“The Jane Austen Book Club” fails to captivate as film adaptation

Taylor Bundy

Grade 11

Intelligencer Journal- Freestyle

Adviser: Claudia Esbenshade

Prudie Drummond’s husband cancels the couple’s trip to Paris for a basketball game with his boss. During a romantic dinner date, Sylvia Avila’s husband announces his departure from the family. Meanwhile, her lesbian daughter Allegra muddles through a breakup with girlfriend Corinne.

The Jane Austen Book Club sways between these multiple story lines throughout the span of the film.

Jocelyn (Maria Bello), a breeder of Rhodesian Ridgebacks, rounds up some of her closest friends, and new acquaintance Prudie (Emily Blunt), whom she meets at a Jane Austen film festival, to form a book club. The book club will read six Jane Austen novels over the next six months.

Among the book club members are the cynical, the heartbroken, and the lonely. And then there is avid biker and Silicon Valley technology aficionado Grigg Harris (Hugh Dancy), whose upbeat mannerisms may in fact be the only thing responsible for the movie’s seldom-evident liveliness.

From the monthly readings, the Jane Austen Book Club is born. Of course, this is a rebirth. The film is based on Karen Joy Fowler’s 2004 novel, a fictional work which follows the struggles and experiences of six Austen readers, all of whom find aspects of Austen within themselves.

Fowler’s novel is a book about a book, or rather, a book about many books; Book Club’s characters collectively explore six of Austen’s novels-about-novels idea may have succeeded, a move adaptation is not a winning idea.

The central reason why “The Jane Austen Book Club” falls short is because it fails, as a film, to captivate the viewer. As a novel, the plot is fantastic. But onscreen, I felt as if I were still reading. This film adaptation needs a pinch more action, and a heavy dousing of reality.

Yes, the film maybe strikes emotional chords; but these chords are mot melodic enough in the composition fo an entire plot. Also, the direction strives too much toward harmony. Expected conclusions and clean-cut resolutions should be used sparingly.

The first half of the 110-minute picture is spent introducing all six complicated characters and their respective dilemmas. This is necessary, but overdone with a few anecdotes that could have been neatly filed away under the DVD’s deleted scenes menu.

Sylvia (Amy Brenneman) is overcome with martial distress; her husband decides that 25 years of marriage is his limit. He bailes, and Sylvia’s daughter Allegra (Maggie Grade) is introduced. The petty nit-picking banter between Allegra and Prudie is almost too much to bear in its feebleness, but perhaps it is the on source of conflict, now that all those pesky men are conveniently out of the picture.

However, this is not necessarily the case. There existsd Grigg, who endures minor taunting from the all-female organization. His morale never sinks, but he does have a slightly ulterior motive. Although Jocelyn welcomed him aboard with hopes to light up a romance between the biker and suffering Sylvia, Grigg has different plans in mind, and they involve a certain Austen enthusiast dog-breeder. Young and sophisticated, Prudie is at odds with her uncommunicative husband. The reserved high school French teacher is attracted to a student, or at any rate, repelled by her husband’s neglectful lack of affection. In facing her own personal demons, as well as coping with a visit from her eccentric, perhaps insane mother, Prudie finds herself asking, “What would Jane do?”

It seems that Jocelyn has formed the book club around this very question. All the invitees are romantically challenged, whether facing breakups, affairs, or unrequited love. Even the club’s founder, as accused by Grigg, takes to dog-breeding to postpone her own search for a soul mate.

And then there is Bernadette (Kathy Baker), whose name is rarely mentioned in the film. In a way she really is a behind-the-scenes character; the six-time bride is seldom seen anywhere other than at the book club meetings. Despite her infrequent appearances, Bernadette’s situation speaks volumes. In fact, everyone’s does. The film screams, “Love isn’t perfect, traditional or expected.”

This message is clear throughout he majority of he move, yet the conclusion contradicts the original mantra. Jocelyn, Bernadette, Prudie, Grigg, Allegra, and Sylvia turn to Jane Austen novels as common ground upon which to build self understanding, but, like a satisfying book, the film relies too heavily on conflict resolution.

Sure a heartwarming ending is sometimes uplifting, but it depends on how it is executed. In this case, I believe that less is really more, and a film cannot always be treated like a book.