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New York Times
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Jane Austen Wrecked My Life' Review: It's Not Me, It's Jane
Besides Shakespeare, no author may haunt the screen more than Jane Austen. Her novels, full of heroines who find love and usually a life lesson or two, practically spawned the romantic comedy. So no wonder filmmakers have tackled copious direct adaptations of Austen's novels — many of which are modern classics of cinema, like Ang Lee's 'Sense and Sensibility' and the six-part TV version of 'Pride and Prejudice,' with its indelible scene of Mr. Darcy emerging from a pond in a wet shirt, ensuring generations of crushes on Colin Firth. Yet Austen's novels are timeless, and thus lend themselves to modernized spins, like 'Bridget Jones's Diary,' 'Metropolitan,' 'Clueless,' 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' and dozens more. And there are the meta-Austen tales, stories about loving Austen's stories: 'Austenland,' for instance, and 'The Jane Austen Book Club.' The well of, and thirst for, Austenalia is seemingly bottomless. 'Jane Austen Wrecked My Life' is not quite like any of those — more of a cousin from out of town, a little different, a little more intriguing. Written and directed by Laura Piani, it's a rom-com laced lightly with 'Pride and Prejudice' overtones, and it's also a love letter to writing and reading, and to Austen, too. But there's plenty going on here that is, if not entirely original, at least not straight from Austen. Our heroine is the 30-something bookworm Agathe (a charming Camille Rutherford), who is French and lives in Paris, where she works at the storied English-language bookstore Shakespeare & Company, having learned English from her father during her childhood. (Early scenes are shot in the real bookshop, which is a fun nugget for fans of the store.) The setup has the ring of familiarity: Her best friend Felix (Pablo Pauly, suitably impish) also works at the store, and the two are chummy and inseparable. You can feel a romance coming on, but the movie isn't going to make it quite so easy for us or for them. Agathe also dreams of being a writer, but something psychological is holding her back, and she's at a bit of a standstill. The movie takes its time unpeeling those layers. Things suddenly lurch into gear for Agathe when a prank results in her acceptance to the Jane Austen Writing Residency, in England. Intimidated but also a little pleased, Agathe gathers up her courage and goes to the residency where, upon her arrival, she meets the dour and pompous Oliver (Charlie Anson). It's obvious to us he's modeled on Mr. Darcy. He's also, as it happens, Jane Austen's great-great-grandnephew, but a somewhat ungrateful one: He much prefers contemporary literature to his relative's work. Agathe and Oliver detest each other on sight, and also clearly feel a spark of mutual desire. The next few weeks will teach Agathe a lot about herself. Piani's screenplay for 'Jane Austen Wrecked My Life' walks a tricky line with mostly sure footing. It visibly fiddles with Austen's romantic and narrative conventions, the ones that have been replicated across romantic comedies for a couple of centuries: awkward encounters, declarations of love, secondary characters invented for levity, passionate glances across a crowded room. That the movie is partly in French and partly in English adds extra possibilities for comedy — always make sure the person you're complaining about on the phone doesn't understand the language you're speaking — and is a nice twist on the normally Anglophiliac subgenre. Piani's story also seems aware that the women Austen wrote about, with enough means to live fairly comfortably and take time for leisure pursuits, are going to encounter romance differently from their 21st-century compatriots. No matter how old-fashioned the heroine's tastes and preferences are, she isn't living, and can't live, in Austen's world. Fewer family and class obligations exist to throw seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the way of her happiness. She doesn't spend most of her time paying social calls in friends' parlors or preparing for a busy social calendar of balls and trips to Bath. She works, and she moves freely, and she can have sex with more or less whoever she wants. She has, in other words, choice. Yet a romantic comedy requires a choice-restricting hurdle or two to overcome. In Agathe's case, they're entirely in her head: her desire for one man or another, her ideas about romance and her self-sabotaging tendencies, as well as old hurts and traumas. Overcoming those takes work as well as some wise advice. Like many an Austen heroine, Agathe finds her moments of self-revelation to be tied up with emotional pain, but she's also ready to trek through it toward her happy ending. In the end, 'Jane Austen Wrecked My Life' is both pleasantly diverting and sneakily wise. Following in the footsteps of her beloved literary heroines, Agathe discovers a bit about real life outside of books — and not just romance, either. It is a universal truth: Sometimes to unwreck your own life, you've got to start acting like you're the protagonist.
New Statesman
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
The Bombing of Pan Am 103 is poignant and fascinating
Photo by BBC/World Productions It is a strange thing, to be moved by luggage; to be brought almost to tears by the sight of an unwieldy suitcase or a bulging holdall. But in The Bombing of Pan Am 103, the BBC's new drama about the Lockerbie air disaster, baggage does a lot of work, emotional and otherwise. Obviously, in the first instance it's a metaphor for lives cut brutally short at 31,000 feet. The crime scene on the ground below covered some 850 square miles, a radiating map of horror comprising bodies, fuselage and intimate possessions. Ten thousand pieces of evidence would eventually be gathered by investigators, among them the charred fragments of the suitcase that had contained the bomb that brought the plane down. Perhaps, though, there's more to it than this. So many were killed that night: 243 passengers and 16 crew; 11 souls in the small Scottish town of Lockerbie. How might a television series deal with such a number? In the first episode, we see people boarding the plane. They're excited. It's Christmas, and they're on their way to celebrate with those they love. But we don't get to know them, or to care about them: the demands of drama, as well as the complexity of this particular story, means there's too little time. It's here, then, that luggage steps in. Oh, the tenderness of packing! Clothes carefully folded, more precious things layered in-between. In 1988, the wheeled bag was not yet ubiquitous. These suitcases, brown and ugly, are made of nylon and pleather, and as a result, tear all the harder at the heart. People travelled less then, and they took more with them. In their sateen-lined compartments is the whole of ordinary life, precious and sweet. It smells of toothpaste and aftershave and home. I hadn't expected much of Jonathan Lee's series, maybe because Sky Atlantic's Lockerbie drama earlier this year – Colin Firth played Dr Jim Swire, who spent decades fighting for justice for his daughter, Flora, who was killed in the bombing – was so disappointing, bogged down in detail and oddly flavourless. But it turns out I was wrong: this is a superior telling of the story, poignant and fascinating in equal measure. Lee, it's clear, did a lot of research. His screenplay is attentive to the small things, as well as the big (for instance, to the determination of a group of Lockerbie women to return the victims' possessions to their families, a job for which the Dumfries and Galloway Police have no time). But it benefits, too, from being an ensemble piece rather than a star vehicle. The lens is wide-angle, and all the better for it. I'm not sure about the accent wielded by Tom Thurman (Eddie Marsan), an FBI explosives expert who lends his knowhow to the investigation; his vowels appear to be on a long-distance flight of their own, from Texas to Somerset and back again. The loaf-like wig worn by Moira Shearer (Phyllis Logan), who serves tea and pies to exhausted servicemen and women in a Lockerbie school hall, looks like it was filched from the wardrobe of a Seventies impressionist. But otherwise, I'm all in. If Peter Mullan is reliably proficient as DCS John Orr, the senior investigating officer at Lockerbie, Connor Swindells (yes, from SAS: Rogue Heroes) is even more dexterous as Ed McCusker, a sergeant who's one of the first on the scene. Partly, it's physiological: that magnificent forehead of his, deployed here to signal kindness and concentration. But you have the sense, too, of an actor who's always listening to his co-stars, responding to them rather than merely anticipating his own lines. He is pale, low key, entirely convincing. On the night of the bomb, he finds a Lockerbie boy, Stephen (Archie McCormack), desperately combing the rubble of his home. Later, he visits him, taking with him one of his jackets for a forthcoming memorial service, and a bag of old comics. It's such a delicate scene. What good are cartoons, or even a good jacket, in the face of such loss? Somehow, though, Swindells pulls it off, triteness dodged. The boy, understanding that this policeman is only doing his best, gives him a pass, and in that moment McCusker's sudden shame becomes a gratitude you see in his shoulders as well as in his smile. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The Bombing of Pan Am 103 BBC One [See also: Are the Blairites still the future?] Related
Glasgow Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Love Actually in concert coming to Glasgow in December
Love Actually in concert will be performed at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on December 8, featuring a full orchestra playing the film's score live-to-screen. Tickets go on sale May 23 at 10am via (Image: Supplied) READ MORE: Extra flights from Glasgow Airport to Rome announced for Six Nations clash READ MORE: Legendary artist to play Glasgow as 2-for-1 tickets go on sale The beloved romcom weaves together ten heartwarming stories of love at Christmas, with many of the characters' lives intertwining. The star-studded cast includes Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Martine McCutcheon, Keira Knightley, Rowan Atkinson, Martin Freeman, and more. (Image: Supplied) Part of a 16-date UK tour, the live concert kicks off in Poole on November 28 and wraps up on December 17, following a sold-out run last Christmas. The score, composed by BAFTA-winning Scottish composer Craig Armstrong, features one of the most iconic soundtracks in modern romantic cinema, including unforgettable moments set to Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Variety's FYC TV Fest Gets Deep on Drama With ‘Yellowjackets,' ‘Day of the Jackal,' ‘Matlock' and More
The morning kicked off with a pair of powerful dramas from executive producers Nigel Marchant and Gareth Neame of Carnival Films, the company responsible for such hits as 'Downton Abbey' and 'The Gilded Age.' Marchant noted that if their projects had a common theme, it was world-building. 'I think that's what we're really good at — really looking at what entertains us is going to entertain an audience.'Both 'Jackal' and 'Lockerbie' are currently streaming on Peacock and feature standout lead performances from Oscar-winning actors. In 'Jackal,' Eddie Redmayne plays the titular assassin, who takes on many disguises. 'He's such a meticulous actor,' said Marchant. 'He had to learn different languages, he [worked] with movement coaches, he had to have all of the prosthetics [work] and he really embraced all of that.''Lockerbie' finds Colin Firth portraying Jim Swire, who spent decades investigating the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 after his daughter was killed in the crash. Asked how they are able to continually attract A-list talent and Neame quipped, 'We pay well.' Marchant, more seriously, added, 'I think it's always the script.'Neame went on to say that they pursue close relationships with the show's writers, such as they did with 'Downton Abbey' creator Julian Fellowes. 'The show was a concept I had wanted to make for years and years but just didn't know who could write that show until I got to know Julian. I pitched him the topline idea.' He said it was similar with 'Jackal' showrunner Ronan Bennett and 'Lockerbie' scribe David Harrower. 'We come up with the ideas, but we love to work with these brilliant writers, whether they're highly established or younger writers. And then just supporting them and their vision.' During Variety's 'Meet the Makers: Yellowjackets, actor Melanie Lynskey told the audience she likes having a conversation with showrunners and executive producers Ashley Lyle, Jonathan Lisco and Bart Nickerson about her overall character's arc. More from Variety Ellen Pompeo, Elisabeth Moss, Niecy Nash-Betts and More Female TV Standouts on Tapping Into Intense Roles and Watching Comfort Shows After Work: 'I Turn to True Crime to Relax' 'The Traitors,' 'Drag Race' and 'The Challenge' Winners Take a Victory Lap, Reflect on Reality TV at Variety's FYC TV Fest: 'It's Like a Sleepover on Steroids' Comedy Stars From 'Animal Control,' 'Going Dutch,' 'Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage' and More Bring the Laughs to Variety's FYC TV Fest Lynskey told Variety's senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay, 'I don't hear too much about what's happening with other characters. It's more Shauna's journey, so I'm still surprised as the season goes on.' In the present-day timeline of the show, Shauna (Lynskey) finds out that Melissa (Hilary Swank) is not only alive — she had faked her death years before — but is married to Hannah's daughter, who has no idea who she really is. When their characters begin fighting, Shauna ultimately bites Melissa's arm before force-feeding her a piece of it. Lyle says that was something that came up early in the writer's room, and the shorthand was 'Shauna eats her hand.' Lyle went on to say they eventually got to the point where they couldn't make the character eat an entire hand. 'We knew that we wanted to have a really brutal, vicious moment for Shauna that is the unlocking of everything that she's been holding back for three seasons.' Lyle also talked about killing off major characters this season and the decision-making process. 'These are characters who've been living in our brains for years, and then they are actors who are our friends and colleagues,' Lyle explained. She went on to say, 'If we've done our jobs right, it should hurt. If it doesn't hurt, then we have failed.' Lisco added, 'Unfortunately, because the show is about trauma, that must have consequences. And if it didn't, I think the audience would rebel because it would start feeling like melodrama and artificial. But because we wanted to keep it as real and as poignant as possible, unfortunately, the characters that you come to love may have to slough off this mortal coil.' 'Matlock' creator Jennie Snyder Urman admits she's still shocked she landed Kathy Bates for the starring role. 'And my mom is still surprised that she knows my name!' joked Urman as Bates laughed was joined by cast members Bates, Skye P. Marshall, David Del Rio, Leah Lewis and Jason Ritter to discuss CBS' hit legal drama in which the Oscar-winning plays a lawyer coming out of retirement to work at a big legal firm. Because she's older, few people suspect that the sweet Mattie Matlock is actually undercover, investigating who destroyed evidence.'When we get to a certain age, we do become invisible,' Bates acknowledged. 'And yet it's at the time of our lives when we know more things, we can accomplish more things. But for some reason in our society — and especially in our industry — they're not interested in that.' Bates noted that Urman has 'flipped the script' on that idea and that the show manages to appeal to people of all ages. 'What I love is when people say, 'Oh I watched it with my 16-year-old son, I watched it with my mother.' It's just cool.' Robert and Michelle King have been responsible for several acclaimed shows, including 'The Good Wife' and it's spin-off 'The Good Fight' and were on hand to speak about two of their most recent four seasons, the supernatural thriller 'Evil' signed off the air and even the creators admitted even they can't believe with what the show got away with. But it wasn't evil chatbots or haunted elevators they expected the most resistance to. 'We did a silent episode and I was surprised they didn't read the script and go, 'Wait a minute, where is the dialogue?'' said Robert King. He also praised the production values the show had, particularly an episode where they built a particle accelerator to try and determine the weight of the human Kings were then joined by 'Elsbeth' showrunner Jonathan Tolins and actors Carrie Preston and Wendell Pierce to discuss the CBS hit featuring the lovable attorney character Preston originated on 'The Good Wife' 15 years had previously worked with the Kings on several shows, including the short-lived 2015 sci-fi dram 'Brain Dead,' which was set in Washington D.C. and centered on people whose brains were taken over by alien insects. Tolins jokingly referred to that show as a 'documentary.' Noting that the show was ahead of its time, Robert King added, 'Robert F. Kennedy had a worm in his head. I mean, he stole from us!'Asked about the enduring appeal of the character, Preston spoke of 'her positivity, her joyousness, her ability to be curious. Even when she's feeling hurt or vulnerable, she always willfully makes herself see the good – even in the murderers. That's how she solves the crimes, she has the empathy and compassion to see why they did it.' Echoed Tolin, 'People always say the character is so quirky, but a lot of that comes from the fact that she's willing to say the truth.' The third season of AMC's 'Dark Winds' examines more of Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn's (Zahn McClarnon) past. As he faces new mysteries and 'monsters,' Leaphorn is forced to face his traumatic past. Episode 6 of the latest season delves into the moral gray areas behind some choices. Speaking with Variety's senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay, McClarnon said it was fun as an actor to explore that. 'I find it cathartic to tap into some of that stuff that I went through as a kid, which was very similar. I enjoy that process as an actor and that's why I wanted to be an actor.' Writer and director Steven Paul Judd joined McClarnon and discussed how the writer's room was filled with Native storytellers. Judd said, 'You're really pulling from past experiences from yourself, too. So you got a room of people, it's like therapy. Everyone's crying in the room because you're telling personal stories, and because you want the stories to be as true as they can be. So it was cathartic.' Being as authentic as possible is important to the creative team on the show. And that meant McClarnon having to learn Dine, the Navajo language for certain scenes. Cultural consultants on helped ensure each syllable was correct, but it wasn't easy. McClarnon told the audience that it would often take a few weeks 'to learn a couple of lines.' Next season, McClarnon will direct his first episode. He revealed that stepping into prep was the most difficult aspect of the role and having shot lists. 'I relied on everybody around me to hold me up and guide me.' Judd joked that on the first day of shooting, McClarnon showed up with a megaphone wearing boots and a beret. 'He said, 'This is how I saw it in the movie.' As it turns out, McClarnon was inspired by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich's style. While he's not done with the show yet and would like to explore more of Leaphorn's complexities, McClarnon eventually hopes to play other roles. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
The Bombing of Pan Am 103 review — a respectful telling of a complex atrocity
If you watched Sky's harrowing, horrifying drama Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, starring Colin Firth, then, only five months on, you may not feel like putting yourself through this heartache again. The timing of BBC1's The Bombing of Pan Am 103 does seem unfortunate and, some may think, random, given that it has been 37 years since the terrorist atrocity that killed 270 people, rather than the round number of 40, as is usually the way. But interest has been renewed because the May 12 trial in Washington of Abu Agila Mohammed Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi — a Libyan national accused of building the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 — has been delayed. But this drama does differ. Sky's was from the
