A slight little romance and reflection on the struggles of establishing oneself as an artist, writer-director Laura Piani’s Jane Austen Wrecked My Life entertains in the moment, but doesn’t leave a lasting impression. It’s a film that gives the viewer enough, but invariably leaves them wanting more. What could’ve gone a few extra miles instead gives the viewer a bare minimum, and while the least Jane Austen Wrecked My Life has to offer is still adequate, there’s a frustration that sets in by the end, knowing that this could’ve been more than simple matinee fodder.
Parisian bookseller and fledgling novelist Agathe Robinson (Camille Rutherford) is stuck in a rut, creatively and emotionally. She’s single and feels out of touch with the modern dating scene, preferring to meet someone under organic conditions rather than through apps, websites, or casual hookups. After a car accident claimed the lives of her parents, she has been living with her sister Mona (Alice Butaud) and six year old nephew Tom (Roman Angel). Her only close friend is workplace Casanova Félix (Pablo Pault), a man she has great chemistry with, but not so much of the sexual kind. She’s also suffering from a perpetual case of writer’s block. She can come up with an idea for a story – usually a romance of some sort – but can never follow through and finish anything. One night while out to dinner by herself, Agathe begins a new romantic tale, and once he sees it, Félix thinks the story has a lot of potential. He submits Agathe’s new work for a chance to get a two week writing retreat at the Jane Austen Writers’ Residency in the English countryside. It takes a lot of convincing to get Agathe to go, including a steamy kiss for luck from Félix that makes her reconsider her feelings towards him. Upon arrival, she immediately butts heads with Oliver (Charlie Anson), a distant relation of Austen whose parents (Liz Crowther, Alan Fairbairn) run the residency. He’s a stuck up professor of contemporary literature who thinks her beloved Austen is overrated. She initially thinks he’s a shortsighted, sexist pig. But over the course of the next several days, Agathe and Oliver get to know each other better and develop feelings, something that becomes complicated when Félix stops by for an unexpected visit.
With her first feature, Piani has fun pulling references and allusions from her titular author, especially when it comes to weaving a complicated love triangle without any easy answers, but Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is more compelling when it focuses on Agathe’s struggles outside of her romances. As a character, Agathe is well worth rooting for and believing in, even if she has a perpetual case of imposter syndrome. She’s a passionate believer in the power of a good story and strong characters plunked down into a world of writers who seem to believe everything has to be politically loaded or blatantly subtextual. It spells out Piani’s motivations for Jane Austen Wrecked My Life in refreshingly honest terms, but also allows Robinson to play a different breed of tortured poet: someone who has been led to believe by stronger personalities that her work has little value.
That wrinkle makes the interplay between Agathe and Félix compelling, as he appears to be the only person in her life (next to her supportive, but skeptical sister) that believes in their writing wholeheartedly. The decision to make the friends-to-lovers thread in Jane Austen Wrecked My Life a professionally loaded one and not just another romance gives some heft to Piani’s material, which could use a lot more weight in other areas. Once Oliver enters the picture, the romantic lens shifts in a less engaging direction. Part of this comes from the desire on the parts of Piani and Anson to play Oliver as the epitome of a Mr. Darcy character in true Austen fashion, but also because the narrative itself loses some of its spark.
What’s missing from Agathe as a character is a deeper form of inner life, something Austen’s women possessed in great amounts. We know Agathe has traumas and insecurities, but her creative process – the reason most of the story exists in the first place – is curiously missing. Instead of portraying a person coming into their own via the power of the written word, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life goes all in on a romantic angle that’s believable only on a surface level. We don’t know enough about Agathe to know what she’s really attracted to, just that she’s another person who insists they were born in the wrong generation who really loves books. The film reduces itself to a battle of ill formed ideals, when delving deeper into its protagonist’s true desires would’ve been more helpful.
Piani delivers a stately looking movie that makes great use of both French and English locations, and there’s a tightness to the pacing that can’t be denied, but all of this is a bit too buttoned up to fully take root with a viewer. In the moment, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is breezy, true to life romance, but just as things start to get going, the whole thing ends with jarring abruptness, suggesting that Piani, like their protagonist, didn’t know how to end the story. The characters and concept are strong, but there’s not much follow through. Instead of getting to know a person that has trouble finishing what they’ve started, the film gives into those same impulses. It might be a choice, but getting to know a person who can’t finish what they’ve started is more compelling that following their lead.
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life opens in Toronto (at TIFF Lightbox), Vancouver (at Cineplex International Village), Quebec City (at Cinéma Le Clap), Trois-Rivières (at Cinéma Le Tapis Rouge), and several Montreal theatres on Friday, May 23, 2025. It expands to additional cities throughout the spring and early summer.
