Quickly, Miss Austen -- to the TARDIS!
There are numerous reasons why I’ve found myself watching PBS and Masterpiece Theater’s The Complete Jane Austen over the past few months. As a writer, I admire the author’s keen observation of subtle, vicious social combat. As a great big romantic wuss at heart, I can’t resist happy endings, and I love how all her ruggedly handsome heroes are secretly awkward, stammering nerds. As a heterosexual male, I wholeheartedly applaud Victorian England’s penchant for decking out attractive young women in magnificently bosomy dresses. And as a fan of The X-Files, I find it difficult to resist the siren call of new Masterpiece Classic host Gillian Anderson. (Time has only improved the erstwhile Agent Scully.)
Best of all, PBS and British co-producer ITV have wisely festooned these quick-but-engaging adaptations with all sorts of high-quality nerd bait. The ladies, I should mention, notably get Spooks/MI-5’s Rupert Penry-Jones as the handsome male lead in Persuasion. (Not to mention Colin Firth as the Darciest Darcy ever to brood his way across a drawing room, in the infamous 1995 miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice. With his strategically mussed hair and wounded-puppy look, one can practically feel every eligible female in the viewing audience reaching out to straighten Firth’s collar and give him a reassuring hug — at the very least.) But any guys with manlier tastes than mine who find themselves haplessly dragged to the couch should find plenty of reasons to remain there.
If there were any way to get me to sit through 90 minutes of anything entitled Mansfield Park, for instance, casting both Doctor Who’s Billie Piper and Bionic Woman and Jekyll’s Michelle Ryan was definitely it. The parade of British hotness continues in many of the other Austen offerings. Olivia Williams of Rushmore stars as the author herself in Miss Austen Regrets, accompanied by the hilariously-named-but-lovely Imogen Poots of 28 Weeks Later. And an upcoming broadcast of an previously filmed version of Emma promises Williams, Samantha Morton, and a pre-shooting-werewolves-while-wearing-tight-rubber-outfits Kate Beckinsale in the title role. Beat that, Clueless!
All droolery aside, the Austen offerings I’ve seen thus far are handsome, diverting entertainment, even at their weakest. They may truncate Austen’s complex, napkin-intensive plots — more mercifully in some cases than others — but they seem to capture her signature razor-edged wit. I particularly liked the clever, claustrophobic camerawork in Persuasion, which puts you right inside the head of the story’s long-suffering, socially suffocating heroine. As for Mansfield Park, Ryan has little to do but look hot and be comparatively wanton, about which I have precisely zero complaints. And Piper displays the same winning charisma that served her well on Who — a crucial virtue, given her character’s slightly queasy goal of getting hitched to her own cousin. (Insert the Arkansas joke of your choice here.)
When they aim for more than mere entertainment, these productions can be spellbinding — for reasons unrelated to the actresses’ necklines, even. Rather than offering up a frothy biopic for the costume-drama set, Miss Austen Regrets is a blisteringly harsh look at the cruel constraints that hemmed in Austen’s horribly brief life. Williams’ prickly, bratty, fully realized performance places Austen’s flaws front and center, but makes us root for her all the same. (Shockingly, for a viewer used to heavily airbrushed actresses of a certain age, the film makes a point of showing off Williams’ laugh lines and crows’ feet. Unshockingly, she still looks pretty damn gorgeous.) As the script delivers Austen one vicious gut-punch after another, Williams’ ability to convey graceful suffering and wounded pride is jaw-dropping. It’s one of the best performances I’ve seen on TV this past year — on The Wire, on Battlestar Galactica, anywhere — and I can only hope the Emmys took notice.
Also? I give the screenwriter major points for having a male admirer note to Austen that Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth Bennett only falls for Mr. Darcy after she gets a look at his gargantuan house. I’ve been saying that for years.
So there, I admit it — I like Jane Austen adaptations. Laugh if you must. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself equally engaged by PBS’s offerings, should you give them a chance. (Keenly sensing an ability to more or less print money, the network is rapidly releasing the newly filmed adaptations onto DVD shortly after they air.) Austen’s work can be all frills and lace on the outside, but underneath, man, these ladies have some serious knives out. And when they look like Michelle Ryan, Olivia Williams, or (to a lesser extent) Billie Piper, that’s never a bad thing.
A moment of pedantry: Jane Austen was not a Victorian. She died two years before Victoria was born, and twenty years before she became queen and precipitated the Victorian period. The period in which Austen's novels are set is generally called the regency period. Also, by the time Victoria became queen, the 'lift and display' style of dress, also known as the empire waist, was no longer in fashion, and Victorian women tended to wear dresses with more defined waistlines and less décolletage.
I knew I was getting that detail wrong. My apologies -- I was distracted by the hotness.