By Miv Evans
The film’s title is original and promises humor but, unfortunately, delivers neither. It’s formulaic to an extreme and feels old fashioned. The latter particularly jars as les Francois generally have an avant-garde attitude. It’s beautifully shot and every frame is worthy of a place in the Louvre, but that’s not why we go to the moves.
Agathe (Camille Rutherford) is single and has worked at Shakespeare & Co, a Parisian book shop, for 10 years. Her co-worker, Felix (Pablo Pauly), has been there just as long and is also single. While his aspirations are routed in carnal desire, Agathe dedicates herself to writing novels, none of which are finished. Her dream, of course, is to become an author but she completely lacks confidence. But when Felix reads the first few chapters of her latest novel, he submits them to the UK Jane Austen Writers’ Residency program.
Agathe is delighted when she gets accepted but leaves the familiarity of home with great trepidation. The film begins with Agathe and Felix at work. The two have a contrived conversation that details all their flaws, bad habits and lifestyle. It’s a lazy way to introduce characters and stops the audience from making up their own minds. Meet-and-greet scenes are there to invite viewers to step inside and take a look around. If they keep watching from the outside in, disengagement has begun.
When Agathe arrives in England (which looks suspiciously like France), she’s met by a Hugh Grant clone (Charlie Anson). He isn’t carrying an ‘I’m the one’ sign but, there again, he doesn’t need to. It really is that obvious. The two love interests plod through the obligatory misunderstanding and alienation stages but, astonishingly, the ‘getting together and falling in love’ milestone is skipped over. In retrospect, it must have been a series of quick shots of the ‘deux amours’ having a drunken night at a bar. This emotionless tryst takes lazy writing to a catastrophic level. As Jane Austen and every movie fan will tell you; you can’t montage love.
The idea for this film, which is the same as its title, becomes weakened during the telling of its tale. Agathe dreams about a life in a Jane Austen novel but she also has developed a neurosis from the trauma of a car accident. The neurosis is dismissed when convenient but it does do a great job of muddying the waters. With confusion reigning, it’s questionable whether being a wannabe novelist, who’s hoping Mr Darcy will show up, is wrecking anything.
Watch the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C7eJgzqIUo
Written and Directed by Laura Piani
Produced by Gabrielle Dumon
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics
Limited theatrical release May 23, 2025