City Cinema: Jane Austen Wrecked My Life

Romance, Drama.
14A. Moderate sexual content.
Dir: Laura Piani, France, 2025, 98 min.
Camille Rutherford, Pablo Pauly, Charlie Anson.
In English and French with English subtitles.

“Agathe Robinson is a quiet and intelligent bookseller with a strong love for literature, especially the classic works of Jane Austen… There’s tragedy in her past, she was in a car accident that killed her parents, but she survived. Keeping her father alive through her devotion to literature, Agathe aspires to be an author. When she gets accepted into a Jane Austen residency, Agathe finally has a chance to add some good excitement into her life. Old-fashioned with a heart that yearns for classic romance…Her romantic life lives only in her writing, which she anxiously tries to hide from the people around her. But something’s got to change, and the residency is a big chance for something different… Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is the debut feature from writer and director Laura Piani, following Agatha’s journey as writer and lover. Early on, she meets Jane Austen’s young descendant Oliver, a prickly literature professor on leave from his university… But despite his lineage, Oliver doesn’t have much respect for Austen as a writer, butting heads with Agathe and her deep respect for the legendary novels. Though it’s evident that these two are meant to fall in love, Piani smartly puts the focus on Agathe’s writing struggles, giving her ambitions just as much space as her romantic prospects. It’s a parallel journey of both artistic discovery and a romantic awakening… Austen made women the protagonists of her stories, taking their romantic and financial concerns seriously, lending weight to what was then considered frivolous and inconsequential. Who cares which man a woman marries? Well, obviously, the woman does. And she often had to live with that choice, right or wrong… Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is a romantic comedy for the quiet, thoughtful lovers who yearn for the sincerity of the past.” —Jourdain Searles, RogerEbert.com