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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 15 November 2007

Emily Blunt plays a teacher who seeks salvation at the Jane Austen Book Club

Book club uses Austen’s powers to restore pride

THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB
Directed by Robin Swicord
Certificate 12a

THEY are more literati than glitterati, these five women and lone token male who sit around in each other’s houses discussing the novels of Jane Austen, stories which we slowly come to realise bear an uncanny relevance to their own lives.
The “club” is founded by Bernadette (Kathy Baker), a woman in her 60s who has been divorced six times. She does it to console her friend Jocelyn (Maria Bello) who has just lost her pet dog – the film opens with the funeral – and from then on the club grows with a whole crop of emotionally vulnerable women.
First through the door is Prudie (Emily Blunt), an unhappy school teacher planning her first trip to France, only to have her errant (and much younger) husband (Marc Blucas) call it off for “business reasons”.
Her meddling mother (Lynn Redgrave) doesn’t help her state of mind either.
The next sad case is Sylvia (Amy Brenneman) who believes she has a happy marriage to Daniel (Jimmy Smits) until the divorce papers suddenly come through the letterbox.
Her lesbian daughter (Maggie Grace) is in some kind of crisis, too.
The lone wolf brave enough to put his head through the bars of this literary lionesses’ cage is Grigg (Hugh Dancy), so we know there must be something odd about him.
In fact he turns out merely to be a sci-fi freak who is happily oblivious to being totally out of place amid all the soul-searching.
Fanatical fans of Jane Austen will find depth for debate afterwards as the discussions are intercut with the private lives of the six characters.
Disjointed at times, indeed, but an interesting enough effort, particularly for those who loved Jane Austen’s six novels. There we go – that number again!

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