Milwaukee Film chose JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE to close out this year’s film festival. And it’s easy to see why they chose a relative crowd pleaser like this. But, does its amiability substitute for some story deficiencies?
In JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE, Agathe (Camille Rutherford) works at the famed Shakespeare and Company bookstore by day and aspires to become a writer. Trouble is, still recovering from a traumatic car accident which occurred years prior, Agathe can’t finish any of the stories she’s started. But her best friend Félix (Pablo Pauly) submits the first few chapters of a new story, behind her back, and soon Agathe finds herself invited to the Jane Austen Writers’ Residency in England where she is given the opportunity to confront her fears and prove she’s not an impostor, while clashing with Oliver (Charlie Anson), a distant relative of Jane Austen herself.
You can probably see all the outlines of where the story is going from there. JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE doesn’t really stray from formula and you have most of the usual beats. Oliver and Agathe spend an uncomfortable night in close proximity when Oliver’s car breaks down, there’s a joke where Agathe walks naked into Oliver’s room thinking it’s the bathroom, Agathe has the usually stumbles and pratfalls on unfamiliar ground, the residency is filled with eccentrics with their own stories going on, there’s a running set of gags with Agathe running into some rude llamas, Oliver and Agathe eventually strike sparks, and Felix comes chasing after Agathe at the most inopportune time forcing her to make some choices. This is some pretty time tested stuff.
Fortunately for the film, and first time feature director Laura Piani, Camille Rutherford has enough charm and gumption to be game for everything and mostly pull it off. Agathe is neither naive’ nor a hopeless romantic in Rutherford’s portrayal. She’s just suffered real trauma and is trying her best to overcome it. Perhaps she’s hoping for all the stars aligning in a perfect scenario to fix her, but she also knows things don’t happen like that naturally and sometimes you just have to put in the work in non-ideal scenarios. Combined by a good eye by Piani to the warm world around Agathe, and not a cruel bone in Piani’s script, it won me over enough with its charm and character empathy.
That said, charm will only get you so far. I know directing a film is a lot different than being a novelist, but the film presents close to zero evidence that Agathe has any talent at writing. And it barely engages with Jane Austen as a writer and source of inspiration. Which is fine in and of itself, but it presents the promise of ideas without following through. It’s something of the equivalent of “stolen valor” and getting credibility from Jane Austen. I tend to think if you’re not going to really engage with Jane Austen, you’d be best off in just making it a generic writing residency. Couple that and that Agathe’s flirtations with Oliver are very superficial and there’s hardly a great love triangle at the center of the film.
That left me having had a pleasant and charming experience, but not a particularly deep one. Which is perfectly fine. Just a little disappointing because I firmly believe the elements were there for a much deeper one.
The 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival ran from April 24, 2025 until May 8, 2025. However, Milwaukee Film runs its theaters 365 days a year and tickets to many upcoming films can be purchased at MKEFILM.ORG.
