Simple and warm emotional sketch

Krista 2022-01-28 08:23:36

The works of British female writer Jane Austen are the favorite of many readers, and have always been a hot spot for film and television adaptation. Although the styles of film and television reproduction are not the same, and the level of adaptation is also uneven, they cannot hold back the special liking of people in the industry. In the eyes of book fans, the film and television version is always unsatisfactory, and there are not a few people who modify the spirit of the original at will. Therefore, many people saw the film "Austin Book Club", young people who didn't read Austin very much before. When Allegra (Maggie Grace) "speaks wildly" about Austin and Pruddy (Emily Blunt), who loves the book, bluntly criticizes her for "not being able to understand the book in terms of the remake" , are all heartbroken. Of course, Allegra has a unique way of understanding her generation of young Americans. For example, as a "lesbian", she staggeringly believes that Elizabeth's friend Charlotte in "Pride and Prejudice" is a "lesbian" , but was forced to marry the funny Collins at that time.
Recently, not only Austen's works, but also her own has been favored by light and shadow, except for the guessed version of "Becoming Jane Austen" starring Anne Heather, this "Austen Book" released in September 2007. "Meeting" also takes Austen's six novels through time and space, making good use of them, and organically cultivated in the current United States. Several women in the film are more or less or mixed with the shadows of the heroines in the novels, their lives, love , The family also has the prototype and general appearance of the novel story.
For example, Bernadette, the book club sponsor and the oldest, is very good at listening. She is gentle and kind, and she will listen carefully to her friends' thoughts, become a support force for their friendship, and give reasonable and effective persuasion at critical moments. There are faint shadows of Jane ("Pride and Prejudice") and Elinor ("Sense and Sensibility"), but in her 50s, she is an irrational and contradictory complex, married six times and now Responded to being single; Jocelyn (Maria Bello), who likes to keep dogs, is passionate, proud and controlling, much like Emma ("Emma"), who likes to match friends with her friends and thinks she can understand her surroundings The needs of friends, but when love comes, she becomes blind and stubborn. As early as more than 20 years ago, she pushed her date Daniel to her friend Sylvia (played by Amy Brenneman) as her husband. Now when Daniel and Sylvia get divorced, she is wise and wishful thinking to introduce Greg (Hugh Dancy), who likes her, to Sylvia; high school French who is unhappy because of her unwillingness with her husband Dean Teacher Prudy and Sylvia, a divorced woman who works in the library, have a little bit of the shadow of Fanny in Mansfield Manor, while Prudy's character is more complicated and introverted. There is a drama performance that touches on the moral scope in "Field Manor", and Pruddy's handsome student secretly seduces the beautiful teacher when she asks the beautiful teacher to help her with the dialogue lines. Pruddy, who is like a deer, said in a daze: " … Jane Austen may be implying that the emotional performance of drama is dangerous.”
However, this kind of borrowing and appropriation is not annoying, probably because even hundreds of years have passed, even if Austen’s idyllic scenes and gentlemen Ladies are far from today's life. Even though people's values ​​and lifestyles have undergone earth-shaking changes, the emotional problems people face are still similar, nothing more than the fetters and entanglements of marriage, family, love, family, friendship, etc. , the range of life, the atmosphere and transformation of social circles, etc. Therefore, on the spiritual and emotional level, Austin and modern women have intersections.
Although I don't agree with Bernadette's statement that Austin's novels are "the healing medicine of life", revisiting Austin today seems to be a spiritual and emotional retrospective, re-feeling the freshness of the British countryside two centuries ago Simple, in the age of materialistic desires, this delicate, warm and full of wisdom and humor will quietly penetrate into the increasingly dry and solidified heart, if you really calm down and read it.
Based on Karen Joy Fowler's novel of the same name, the film focuses on a group of ordinary people who have encountered or are in trouble in their own lives. Work is a "temporary refuge" for the mind. At the beginning of the film, the constantly changing scenes show the embarrassment that human beings encounter at the moment when "technology changes life": the three-dimensional road cannot relieve traffic congestion, the mobile phone that does not leave the body accidentally falls into the toilet, and excessive dependence The computer suddenly crashed, the vending machine went on strike after swallowing coins, the ATM was out of order, the supermarket security check went wrong, the car refueling magnetic card didn't respond... The noisy and noisy city is full of exhaust, anxiety and the smell of money. Spinning like a top, and accumulating more and more psychological haze and dissatisfaction... This group of shots suddenly pulled the audience into a familiar fast-paced life. In this material-expanding reinforced concrete jungle, human beings are not cowboys. I'm too busy to look at my emotions and my family.
Director Robin Swycord once expressed his creative ideas: "The fast pace of life and fast food culture have turned us into people who are good at words and habitually hide our true self, even at home. There's no way to fully relax because for many of us, home has become a workplace. We chat online, check emails, browse the web, read online novels, and even while eating, we don't forget to text Voting in talent shows. In today's information age, we are less and less exploring each other. This is really absurd. In this era of egoism, we can only face the reality and live in our own small circle. I don't want to take it lightly..."
Through the establishment of the "Austin Forever" book club, one of Austin's books is seriously reviewed or read and discussed every month. After half a year, the lives of everyone in the film have undergone subtle changes, and I found a gentle and effective way to solve the problem, put aside the noise and aggressiveness, and solve what has happened in a way that is not anxious, not worried, not angry, not urban epidemic, rather than complaining and abusing it or making it worse , which seems to be what every adult should do, but sadly the ones who get caught up in it often fail to do it.
With the deepening of reading, the film gradually analyzes the stories of the six book club members and their families. At the end of the film, every couple finds the answers and happiness they need, which is consistent with the consistent happy ending in Austen's novels. . "Persuasion" was the last novel they discussed, the lost Daniel in Bernadette "Austen's men are willing to explain their hearts, such as Darcy's letter to Elizabeth... Don't underestimate a good letter Under the persuasion of her ex-wife Sylvia, she wrote a sincere letter to her ex-wife, Sylvia finally made a reconciliation call; Jocelyn also put down her figure and desire for control like Emma, ​​and faced the It belongs to her own feelings; and on the way to the motel, Pruddy, who originally planned to cheat, seemed to see a string of words in front of the street light - "If it was Jane, what would she do?", so she realized Austin. The "second chance" she agreed with, when she returned home, despite the objections of her husband Dean, who was playing games, she put forward a request to "recite a page of Austin text" for him. The warm and witty words moved me, and I couldn't stop it. The couple who lost their way of getting along finally found a way to regain their love...
However, I can't agree with Dean's final transformation, which is unlikely to happen in reality. , no matter how charming Austin's words are, for a person who doesn't like reading books, thinks Austin is just a place name in Texas, would rather accompany his boss to watch the NBA than his wife on vacation, loves video games, and even reads a few words is just a typical example of browsing the web Can an American professional man and his wife's tearful recitation turn him into an Austin fan? It seems a bit silly.
The film is permeated with the comfort and warmth of a warm winter sun or a spring afternoon from beginning to end, and the actors' performances are as natural and real as the breeze, especially Emily Blunt, who played Pruddy, whose acting skills are better than last year's performance in "" The performances in films such as "Fashion Devil" and "Irresistible" are much more mature. Personally, I don't really appreciate Sylvia played by Amy Brenneman, which seems to be interpreted as a bit of a charade.
Objectively speaking, the film is an emotional sketch with some meaning and flavor. It has American-style simplified events and the common problem of the complexity of people's hearts. It also has an idealistic happy ending. It has a certain degree of viewing, but its depth and strength.

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Extended Reading
  • Shaina 2022-03-15 09:01:11

    Just watch this movie for that lovely Grigg!

  • Ashlynn 2022-01-28 08:23:36

    The plot and the book are combined well

The Jane Austen Book Club quotes

  • Jocelyn: If we stay in this lane, we're going to be late.

    Grigg Harris: Given that I have to convert donut grease into biofuel every time I fill up the tank, I try not to drive very fast.

    Jocelyn: We're barely moving... Why are you getting off here?

    Grigg Harris: I enjoy seeing the river.

    Jocelyn: What are you, Mark Twain? Now we're gonna get stuck at every light.

  • Grigg Harris: What about me? Am I your friend? Or am I just some... some widget to help you make Sylvia feel better about herself? Why did you invite me to be part of your book club? No, what went through your mind the first time you saw me? "There's a man who is *dying* to read every book Jane Austen ever wrote." Is that what you thought?

    Jocelyn: No.

    Grigg Harris: But I thought, "What a beautiful woman. I hope she looks over at me." I thought if I read your favorite books that you would read mine. But no... no, no. You just want to be obeyed. That's why you have dogs.