Sony Pictures Classic Picks Up 'Jane Austen Wrecked My Life'

It’s tough sometimes for the TV and film industry when one of the world’s most famous British women authors only wrote six books. Jane Austen is so beloved by the British public and readers around the globe that her face is literally on the £10 note. But there are only so many movie or TV adaptations one can make and many years to wait between versions to be considered a “generational masterpiece.” Thankfully, fans of Austen tend to be on the creative side, which is how viewers end up with an entire subgenre of “About Austen” films, in which her writing, or the writer herself, is the star. 

For example, there may not be a new season of Sanditon for quite a while, but Masterpiece will debut Miss Austen, based on the novel of the same name and focused on Jane’s sister. Likewise, after 2020’s Emma with Anya Taylor-Joy, there probably won’t be a new one for several years. However, Sony Pictures Classic has picked up the French romantic comedy Jane Austen Wrecked My Life (Jane Austen a Gâché ma Vie), which will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2024. 

The story, which is an original idea from the mind of writer-director Laura Piani, will be familiar to just about anyone who’s ever loved Jane Austen. It’s about a clumsy single Parisian woman who spends her life in a bookshop, afraid of opening her heart in real life, preferring to dream of finding her Mr Darcy. But when the opportunity arises to attend the Jane Austen Writers’ Residency in England, and she takes the plunge, the man she meets might turn out to be more of a George Wickham than she bargained for.

The synopsis for the film reads:

As a clerk in the legendary British bookshop in Paris, Shakespeare & Co, Agathe  loves her job. But there are faint stirrings of discontentment when she realizes how long she has been surrounded by stories of others’ desires and adventures instead of chasing her own. Perpetually single, she hopes to find a romance like those in the novels of her favourite author, Jane Austen, in which love triangles, ardent admirers, and reckless unrequited crushes abound.

Agathe’s other dream is to become a novelist. She aspires to finally finish one of the many stories she starts but ultimately abandons when they risk falling short of her lofty expectations. Supported by her encouraging — and conspicuously rakish — best friend Felix, who has recently expressed an interest in her personal life, Agathe leaves for a Jane Austen writing residency. Upon arrival, she meets a distant relation of the author, the handsome — and haughty — Oliver Lowe. Between the writing obligations, realizing that she may miss Felix, and constantly running into the intriguing Mr. Lowe, Agathe’s life has taken a stressful, yet strangely familiar, turn….

Camille Rutherford (Anatomy of a Fall) plays Agathe, with Pablo Pauly (Three Nights a Week) co-starring as her BFF Felix and Charlie Anson (Downton Abbey) as Oliver Lowe. Annabelle Lengronne (Mother and Son) rounds out the lead ensemble. 

Piani wrote and directed the film, and Gabrielle Dumon produced it. In the press release, Sony Pictures Classics stated: “We have been interested in this project for some time. Jane Austen has become a bit of a rock star in the marketplace, and a new modern take as high in quality and warm and winning as Jane Austen’s Wrecked My Life, as directed by debut filmmaker Laura Piani, is sure to be embraced by theatrical audiences.” 

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life does not yet have a release date in the U.S., but Sony Pictures Classics tend to start in limited distribution and then widen during the holidays, so expect this one to hit theaters closer to the end of December 2024.