Miss Austen Regrets (2008)

In the later years of her life, as she's approaching the age of forty, the novelist Jane Austen helps her niece find a husband.

Director:

Jeremy Lovering

Writer:

Gwyneth Hughes

Stars:

Samuel Roukin, Olivia Williams, Greta Scacchi

2 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Samuel Roukin	...	Harris Bigg
Olivia Williams	...	Jane Austen
Greta Scacchi	...	Cassandra Austen
Imogen Poots	...	Fanny Knight
Phyllida Law	...	Mrs. Austen
Pip Torrens	...	Edward Austen Knight
Harry Gostelow	...	Rev. Charles Papillon
Tom Hiddleston	...	Mr. John Plumptre
Hugh Bonneville	...	Rev. Brook Bridges
Tom Goodman-Hill	...	Mr. Lushington MP
Adrian Edmondson	...	Henry Austen
Sylvie Herbert	...	Mme. Bigeon
Jack Huston	...	Doctor Charles Haden
Jason Watkins	...	Rev. Clarke
Sally Tatum	...	Anna Lefroy

Storyline

In the later years of her life, as she's approaching the age of forty, the novelist Jane Austen helps her niece find a husband.

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Plot Keywords:

jane austen | empire fashion | london england | writer | sister sister relationship | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Official Sites:

PBS [United States]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 February 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Miss Austen Regrets

Filming Locations:

Elizabethan Maze, Chenies Manor House, Chenies, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), WGBH

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The dark empire-waist coat Phyllida Law (Mrs. Austen) wears to the christening is the same costume worn by a mourner in the opening scene of David Copperfield (1999), by Alex Kingston (Mrs. Bennet) in Lost in Austen (2008), and by Maxine Peake (Miss Wade) in Little Dorrit (2008).

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Quotes

Jane Austen: [Reads to Cassandra from first draft of Persuasion] More than seven years were gone since this little history of sorrowful interest had reached its close;
Jane Austen: She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.She had used him ill, deserted and disappointed him; and worse, she had shewn a feebleness of character in doing so, which his own decided, confident temper could not endure. She had given him up to oblige others.
Jane Austen:
Harris Bigg:
Jane Austen:

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Connections

Version of Becoming Jane (2007)

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Soundtracks

Drowsy Maggie
(uncredited)
Traditional

User Reviews

Less Austen than life story

I have watched this movie because I love Jane Austen's books, and because I have seen "Becoming Jane", and because I have read a TLS review of it. But, somewhat to my surprise, it is not Austen's biographical details – true or false – that were my main attraction. The point is, the movie tells an important truth (apart from delivering a series of trite statements on men-women relationships, which are all trite because they are so true…) about life stories, or the ways people think – and talk – about their lives. They oscillate – at least Jane did, as many of us do – between regrets (in spite of the title, the movie is NOT about regrets) and the idea that one could have made a "better" decision, and the feeling that the decision was absolutely right ("I have won my freedom"), and yet another feeling, that there was no decision at all, just a coincidence, which (Freud would have said) expressed the true longings and desires, or (some other people would have said), ended up as it did ("things turn out for the best", the movie says). I would hate to think that people see that movie as "just about Jane Austen" – much as I admire her, it is about all of us, and importantly so...