‘Jane Austen Wrecked My Life’: Austen-Inspired Dreams in Our Modern World

Sandra Miska

For her first feature film, Laura Piani pulls from the highs and lows of being a writer, and the sometimes unrealistic expectations our favorite novels set us up for, to tell “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life,” a charming modern-day romantic comedy that does the “Pride and Prejudice” author proud. Camille Rutherford stars as Agathe Robinson, a Paris bookseller and aspiring writer who gets a much-needed push after her best friend, Félix (Pablo Pauly), goes behind her back to get her accepted to a Jane Austen literary residency in England. The English countryside might be the perfect setting for Agathe to help get her juices flowing, creative and otherwise, but her imposter syndrome and past traumas threaten her chance to make her Regency dreams a reality.

Agathe does not work at just any ordinary bookstore, but at Shakespeare and Company, the famed shop located along the river Seine in the heart of Paris. Many aspiring writers and artists have passed through its doors since it opened in 1951, and writer-director Laura Piani herself was once an employee, so it comes as no surprise that the independent store provided fertile ground for inspiration, as it was there where Piani first conceived of the idea for “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.”

Piani, who recently sat down with Rutherford for an interview with Entertainment Voice, spoke of her time at Shakespeare and Company, where she worked alongside other artists. “We were spending our evenings talking about literature, and it was a beautiful moment in my life, but it was also interesting to reflect on the fact that we were all feeling that we were [sort of] weirdos, actually, that couldn’t fit in the world that was going too fast, that was too cynical. We were weirdos and dreamers, and when I started to think about doing a rom-com, it was clear for me that I wanted to have this like bookshop as a starting point, and make it the portrait of a bookseller who was going through this huge block in her life because of grief [and other reasons].”

Agathe’s grief stems from a family tragedy that occurred a few years prior to the story, something that is holding her back in different parts of her life. She lives with her sister, Mona (Alice Butaud), and her nephew, and gets around on her bicycle. While parts of her life may sound romantic, she has been single for a while, something Félix, a bit of a womanizer, gives her grief about. In a sensual scene that would probably make Miss Austen blush, she finds herself fantasizing about a man whose picture she sees in the bottom of a shot glass at a Chinese restaurant, a fantasy that inspires her to get back to writing. Soon, her acceptance letter comes for the Jane Austen writer’s residency, and after some debate, she decides to brave the English Channel to see what awaits her in Austenland.

As an actress, Rutherford reveals she is no stranger to imposter syndrome. “We all have moments in life where we feel that we’re not intelligent, not interesting, not cool, not funny enough, not worth anything. I feel like that whenever I start a new job. I feel like everybody’s gonna be pissed at me, so I can relate to that.”

Rutherford knows a little about the journey of a writer going into playing Agathe, as her sister is a published author. “My sister was really struggling to finish her novel, and she wasn’t happy with it. She still isn’t, actually, now that it’s out.” Rutherford can also relate to Mona, who encourages Agathe to ignore her negative inner voices and write, write, write. Shooting inside Shakespeare and Company helped enhance Rutherford’s performance, as she got to live out her “Beauty and the Beast” fantasies, exploring the seemingly endless stock of books and swinging from a ladder like bookworm Belle.

Budget restraints prevented Piani from filming in England, but she lucked out when it came to her second major shooting location, as she found an Austen-era house in France, a manor that seemed almost frozen in time. She explained, “When we entered the house, everything that you see in the film was almost there, the old wallpapers, the stairs that are a bit dirty, a bit broken. Everything was not perfect, not renovated, so it had this poetic charm, somehow.”

At the writer’s residency, Agathe and her fellow participants still find themselves dealing with some very modern problems. However, our heroine gets to know a handsome Englishman, Oliver (Charlie Anson), the great, great, great, great, great, great nephew of Austen, a professor who has little interest in his famous relative’s works. But Oliver is drawn to Agathe, and it is up to her to figure out if he is her real-life Mr. Darcy or just a cynical dud. Soon, a love triangle pulled straight from a novel ensues, as Félix busts out of the friend zone and makes it to England just in time for the big ball, this film’s enchanting pièce de résistance.

“The love triangle, for me, is one of the most exciting dramaturgical structures to explore,” said Piani. Again, inspired by Austen, the filmmaker set out to give Agathe a choice between something safe and comfortable with Félix, and something more mysterious and unknown with Oliver. The latter is not just a handsome face and brains, as he and Agathe are able to bond on an emotional level. The pain of her losing her parents is still fresh, while he is coming to terms with his own father’s illness. But Agathe’s perfect match is not that obvious, as Félix truly does care for her and believe in her. 

At the end of the day, it is up to Agathe to be her biggest champion, and all of this leads to her much-needed breakthrough to finally free herself from her writer’s block. Courtships, empire waist gowns with cap sleeves, and enchanting evening balls may mostly be a thing of the past, but Paini’s film proves that the spirit of Austen, as well of the lot of her values, do have a place in our modern world. Fashions may go out of style, texting may have replaced love letters, but the kind of personal fulfillment and romantic love Agathe seeks, like the Austen heroines before her, will always be important to artists, dreamers and “weirdos.”

“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” releases May 23 in select theaters and May 30 in theaters nationwide.