There is a moment of classic romcom disharmony about a third of the way through this charming bilingual entertainment. Agathe Robinson, an aspiring writer who works in Paris’s famous Shakespeare and Company bookshop, has arrived in a leafy corner of England for a Jane Austen retreat. Oliver, a descendant of the Regency writer, reveals, minutes after picking Agathe up, that he has little time for his ancestor. Agathe scowls at this disrespect. The two settle into mutual hatred.
We know roughly how this will play out. Stories have been playing out that way since Rosalind Russell frowned towards Cary Grant. The same dynamics were at work when Meg Ryan later snapped at Billy Crystal. Laura Piani, making her feature debut, is, of course, also gesturing back to the 19th century. All those classic romcom plots, antipathy melting into affection, are deeply in debt to Austen herself.
It is to Piani’s great credit that her film rises above comparisons not just with Austen’s work and the trad romcom but also with attempts – we’re thinking of you, Bridget Jones – to weave those last two things together. No postmodern doublethink is required to sustain interest in the prickly love triangle at the core of Jane Austen Wrecked My Life. Sparky dialogue and hearty comedy keep the story aloft throughout. The actors juggle French and English with great dexterity.
Events begin with Agathe, played by a convincingly fretful Camille Rutherford, struggling with life, love and work in the French capital. An injection of energy comes her way when Félix (Pablo Pauly), colleague and occasional squeeze, sends her story to the Jane Austen retreat, only for the organisers to break into raves. Agathe travels. Oliver (Charlie Anson) intervenes. Soon she finds herself torn between old chum and new annoyance.
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The film does occasionally struggle with getting England right. We are always aware that this is a French film-maker looking through the window at the crumpets on their doilies. But there is a mischievous intelligence at work that complements the embrace of sometimes broad misunderstandings.
The film has a coolness that you find only in French comedy. It’s worth it alone to hear Agathe identify, in the most Gallic of vowels, one character with a particular work. He suggests, apparently, Mr Bertram in “Mahnsfeeld Perk”.
No offence intended. Lovely film.
In cinemas from Friday, June 13th
