Jane Austen Book Club

Natasha Percy | 12 February 2008

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Jane Austen Book Club
Sony Pictures
Rated M

Would you join a group of women – and one man – to read a Jane Austen book every month and then pick it apart, question, praise, compare, contrast, expound – with tea and cake on standby? I know I’d be in! It seems the Jane Austen card continues to be played in today’s entertainment marketplace, and for good reason. There are many Austen fans out there, and chances are, many of them will rock up to see what this Jane Austen Book Club is all about.

Set in California’s Sacramento Valley, the Jane Austen Book Club is made up of six readers, who are each responsible for hosting the discussion of one book. As the club moves through Austen’s six novels – Emma, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense & Sensibility, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey – each character brings a different romantic situation to these books, which feature some of world’s best loved heroes and heroines.

Bernadette (Kathy Baker) has been married six times, and wouldn’t mind one more saunter down the aisle. Jocelyn (Maria Bello) has never married and seems to have embraced singleness as her lifestyle, looking for partners for her friends instead. Sylvia (Amy Brenneman) is picking up the pieces after her husband’s announcement that he has been seeing someone at work after over 20 years of marriage. Her daughter Allegra (Maggie Grace) the youngest in the club, is in a lesbian relationship with a girl who is lying to her. Prudie (Emily Blunt) is struggling with a marriage on the rocks and a super crush on one of her students. And Grigg (Hugh Dancy) talks to his three older sisters more than any other woman.

This film, based on the book by Karen Joy Fowler, has all the makings of a good girly flick. A cast with just enough stars and a range of characters to get to know, each with their own complicated backgrounds. In particular, two-time Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actress Lynn Redgrave (Georgy Girl) is fantastic as Prudie’s dysfunctional mother, while Emily Blunt once again delivers well the stressed-out, uptight, stylish but inwardly fragile character very similar to Emily Charlton in The Devil Wears Prada. While there is no nudity in the film, Allegra’s lesbianism portrayed graphically in the film may make some viewers uncomfortable.

Watching the film brings back memories of Austen books read over the years – and maybe whets the appetite for those on the still-to-read list. As the members bring forth their opinions, you may even feel like chipping in yourself. See this one with a good friend, so you can continue the conversation afterwards. And watch out for some great lines such as “(Mansfield Park) is like The Empire Strikes Back but in reverse”, “I could use a little encounter in the woods with Mr Darcy right now”, “our mothers are timebombs, they tick away inside of us” and my favourite: “he looks at me like he’s the spoon and I’m the dish of icecream”.

While the group contains a mother and daughter and a group of three friends, no one in the group knows everyone, which lets you know the dynamic could be interesting. And it is. Combine these personalities and struggles, add a healthy helping of Austen and boom! You have fireworks as well as friendship. As group members weigh up Austen’s characters, they naturally decide which ones they like and don’t like according to their own personalities and feelings as they work through their own real-life dramas. When raw nerves are struck and voice levels rise, Jocelyn declares knowingly, “Reading Jane is a freakin’ minefield”.

Watch this film and ask yourself if the idea of a Jane Austen Book Club reminds you of anything. A group that gathers together regularly to discuss a common text respected by all, that brings their hurts, flaws and aspirations to the fore, and eventually guides them in making decisions about their own lives. Throw in the fact that the question they ask themselves in the middle of their decision-making is “What would Jane do?”. Ring any bells?

As the members are inspired by Austen’s sense of morality and the actions of her characters, so we, albeit on a much deeper level, are won over by the example of Jesus. And where better to see this in action than in the average Bible study group? While there are certainly differences, the elements of discussion, friendship and support, commitment, and sharing food are similar. But is reading the Bible a “freakin’ minefield” in our weekly gatherings? Does it shake us up, convict us of where we need to change, where we are weak and hurting? Does it really sink into our lives as Austen does in the lives of the members, enough to stop an unhappy wife diving into physical adultery, enough to move a betrayed wife to show grace to her repentant husband? If Austen does this for a group of fictional characters, at the very least, we can expect the Bible to do the same for us.