“Lost in Austen“, a TV miniseries from 2008 starring Jemima Rooper, really tests your ability to ignore reality and buy into a premise. But if you manage to do so, you will probably enjoy this cute little movie about Jane Austen. Well it’s not actually about Jane Austen, it’s more about a Jane Austen fanatic. Either way, it’s enjoyable.
Amanda, an ardent Jane Austen fan, lives in present day London with her boyfriend Michael, until she finds she’s swapped places with Austen’s fictional creation Elizabeth Bennet.
It is a truth generally acknowledged that we are all longing to escape. I escape always to my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice. I’ve read it so many times now, the words just say themselves in my head, and it’s like a window opening. It’s like I’m actually there. It’s become a place I know so intimately. I can see that world. I can touch it. I can see Darcy.
And so begins “Lost in Austen”, starring Jemima Rooper as Jane Austen fan Amanda Price. She is bored with her life and escapes into Austen, especially Pride and Prejudice.
I have no right to complain about my life. I mean, it’s the same for everybody. I do what we all do. I take it on the chin and patch myself up with Jane Austen. I know I sound like a terrible loser. I do actually have a boyfriend. Sometimes I’d rather stay in with Elizabeth Bennet.
And stay in she does, drinking wine and reading P&P, until her boyfriend comes by, drunkenly proposes (with a beer tab) and then passes out on her sofa.
She tries to explain her love of Austen to her mother, “I love the love story. I love Elizabeth. I love the manners, and and the language and the courtesy. It’s become part of who I am and what I want. I’m saying, mum, that I have standards.”
Amanda hears some noises coming from her bathroom and discovers a stranger in her bathtub. The stranger introduces herself as Elizabeth Bennet – and then promptly disappears. She later finds Elizabeth Bennet (played by Gemma Arterton) turning her bathroom light on and off. “You see, I am a real person and you are a pretend person…You are a character in a book.” But then she is curious enough to go through the little door in her bathroom….which leads to the upstairs of a house. The door of course closes behind her and she can’t get back to her own apartment. And thus Amanda Price is suddenly a guest in the Bennet household.
This movie is quite entertaining, provided you buy into the premise. If you can suspend your doubt for a bit, you’ll enjoy Hugh Bonneville, who plays Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham on Downton Abbey as well as Captain Avery in Doctor Who. Bonneville portrays Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Bennet is played by the amazing Alex Kingston (River Song of Doctor Who).
Mr. Bennet: Large gatherings of society bring me out in hives. As do small gatherings.
Bonneville as Mr. Bennet
Kingston as Mrs. Bennet
We also meet Mr. Bingley who apparently is a “pleasant enough fellow, not strong on brains” as well as the other Bennet daughters, Jane, Lydia, Kitty and the (predictably) bespectacled Mary. The portrayal of the Bennet daughters is spot on – each one looks exactly how I think she should. And that’s all that really matters, isn’t it? Tom Mison who portrays Mr. Bingley is also quite accurate.
Elliot Cowan, who plays Mr. Darcy, looks the part and has all the arrogance we’d expect. Mrs. Bingley does not take to the new girl as she is taking attention away from her daughters, who she needs to marry off. And because Elizabeth Bennet is not present, she cannot meet Mr. Darcy, which of course ruins all the events of the novel.
Arterton, Rooper and Cowan as Elizabeth, Amanda and Darcy
One of my favorite actresses, Lindsay Duncan, plays Lady Catherine de Bourgh, one of my favorite characters ever. Lindsay Duncan has been in: Doctor Who as Adelaide Brooke, in Mansfield Price as Lady Bertram and Mrs. Price and in Sherlock as Lady Smallwood. In 2009, she was appointed CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for services to drama.
Duncan as Lady Catherine
I won’t tell you any more of the plot. You’ll have to watch the movie yourself. I will share some of the lines I found enjoyable. If you can imagine a 21st century woman immersed in Pride and Prejudice, you will realize that there are many options for laughs.
Amanda Price: I’d quite like to clean my teeth. Is that possible?
Jane: Of course. The instruments are already before you. See, I brought birch twigs, powdered salt and a fresh block of chalk.
Amanda: Right. Thank you. Splendid.
Kitty: Do you have a Psalter, Miss Price?
Amanda Price: Is that like a picnic thing for seasoning sandwiches?
Kitty: More for the recitation of psalms.
If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, you should definitely give this miniseries a try. If you’re not (yet), well what’s wrong with you? If you do watch Lost in Austen, please let me know what you thought.
My English Obsession 