Miss Austen Regrets (2008) [* * *]

(I'm reviewing this next because I think I echo her sentiments completely when she says in the movie, "The only way you can get a man like Darcy is to make him up.":)

The movie is about the last few years of Jane Austen's life, before she dies at 41. You're introduced to a quick and witty mind in a shy woman who takes on the responsibility of financially supporting her mother and sister at a time when women only had value if they were someone's wife (England 1802 = India 2010).

You meet her as a confident and happy single woman whose niece asks her to help choose a husband. This makes her look back on her own choices. And, when financial troubles hit their family, regrets not marrying for money. Because, as her mother rages at her, love is a choice, money is a necessity.

The movie is based on the surviving Jane Austen letters, though most of them were burnt by her sister, Cassandra, after her death to preserve privacy. Much as I liked the story, I felt my usual irritation at the british accent that swallows words in breathy unpredictability. Too many of their actors/esses have the problem makng their movies seem insular.