Thursday, January 29, 2009

Lost in Lost in Austen


Sorry for the lateness of the post Loyal readers but I have spent the most enjoyable morning watching "Lost in Austen", a must see for any fan of Jane Austen or "Pride and Prejudice".

It is the funny, quirky tale of Amanda Price, a modern day Brit who loves to read her Jane Austen novels and day dreams about what life was like in Austen's time. One day she finds the heroine of "Pride and Prejudice", Elizabeth Bennet, in her bathroom and her tub contains a doorway to Lizzy's world. But like Alice in Wonderland, Amanda finds that all that she knows from Jane Austen's book may not be correct after all. And Amanda turns the Bennet world upside down as well. Suddenly Jane is married to Mr. Collins, Charlotte Lucas is off to Africa, Caroline Bingley is a lesbian and Charles Bingley has run off with Lydia. Not to mention that the evil Mr. Wickham is really a good guy at heart. One thing never changes and that is Mr. Darcy. Infuriating, irritating and handsome as ever. Poor Amanda knows she has to make everything right even if it means heart break for herself.

As a fan of the BBC show "Hex", I was glad to see Jemima Rooper (who was the lesbian ghost Thelma on "Hex") playing Amanda. She's a hoot and such an every girl that you can't help but root for her even when you know that "Pride and Prejudice" ends with Darcy and Lizzy living happily ever after. She's not just a fish out of water but a fish out of time. Also from "Hex" is Christina Cole, who plays Caroline Bingley with the haughty aristocraticness we have come to know and hate. She's perfect and I loved the line when Amanda says "I never understood your character". I don't know much about Elliot Cowan, the actor who plays Darcy, and he's no Colin Firth (even Amanda admits that) but he's perfectly arrogant and a great sport, especially when Amanda asks him to get in the water so she can have the live moment when Darcy emerges from the lake. (Too perfect, I would have done the same.)

Apparently, "Lost in Austen" aired in Britain on ITV. It had a showing in America on Ovation, a channel unavailable in Las Vegas. So I watched "Lost in Austen" on YouKu which appears to be a Japanese You Tube. All four episodes (about 45 minutes each) are available on YouKu and don't worry, they are all in English. You'll have to watch it on your computer, but for fans of romance and Austen, this is a necessity to watch. And ITV, bring it on to America please!

2 comments:

Maura said...

I bookmarked the youku page. I'll let you know what I think when I get a chance to watch it. It sounds like a very interesting and fun concept.

I read Pride and Prejudice in high school and I know I didn't care for it much then - I just couldn't get into the prose at the time, I guess. But I just absolutely loved the BBC/A&E mini-series, the one with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. I have been meaning to re-read the book ever since I saw that but still haven't gotten around to it.

dyann hunter said...

Sounds interesting. Anything with Darcy would be fun :-)

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