10 Movies To Watch If You Love Jane Austen (2024)

Jane Austen set the standard for romantic fiction in the early 19th century. Her six masterpiece novels still sweep viewers off their feet and leave them breathless 200 years later, whether they read her words or hear them passionately acted out in one adaptation after another. Never have her stories and messages meant more, and while each adaptation has kept Austen's words intact, they also bring something new to the cinematic world of Austen. Fans are transported to grand places and fall in love again with beloved characters as a beautiful score lifts emotions higher.

Despite the number of Jane Austen adaptations fans have for viewing pleasure, she did produce only six stories. It's easy for die-hard Austen fans to repeatedly watch a different version of the same story, but it's also natural to want more. There are tons of romantic period dramas and even some modern films that contain the essence of Austen, whether they honor her and her work or are adaptations themselves. Either way, a film must have one essential aspect to remind viewers of the romantic fiction queen herself. It must have a juicy, almost fantastical romance interwoven in a complex story about family.

10 'Becoming Jane' (2007)

Director: Julian Jarrold

Becoming Jane is loosely based on Jane Austen's young adult life as she navigates her own romance. However, unlike her heroines, she doesn't get a happy ending with a dashing husband. Jane (Anne Hathaway) and Thomas Lefroy (James McAvoy) are enemies who become lovers, but Thomas' uncle and benefactor must give them his blessing before they can marry. When Judge Langlois (Ian Richardson) discovers Jane's family's social standing, he denies them. Thomas must marry for money because he's his family's sole earner. Still, the couple tries to run away together. After Jane finds a letter explaining that Thomas' family depends on him financially, she calls off their secret engagement. If their love destroys his family, their love will surely crumble under that weight. Twenty years later, Tom had a family while Jane has become a successful author.

Becoming Jane gives fans all the Austen-y vibes, but this time, it's about the author herself. There's romance, heartache, and tons of juicy drama, leaving viewers breathless. However, despite its fictional telling, this Regency love story is more realistic than anything Austen ever wrote. During Austen's life, women often had to marry for money, and it was rare for people to pair outside their station. Romance was hardly factored into marriages, and love sometimes didn't come. Becoming Jane reminds viewers that not all love stories end like Pride and Prejudice.

Becoming Jane

PG

Romance

Drama

Where to Watch

• stream
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*Availability in US

Release Date

March 2, 2007

Director

Julian Jarrold

Cast

Anne Hathaway , James McAvoy , Julie Walters , James Cromwell , Maggie Smith , Joe Anderson , Lucy Cohu , Laurence Fox , Ian Richardson , Anna Maxwell Martin , Leo Bill , Jessica Ashworth , Michael James Ford , Tom Vaughan-Lawlor , Chris McHallem , Helen McCrory , Michael Patric , Elaine Murphy

Runtime

120 minutes

Main Genre

Biography

9 'Howards End' (1992)

Director: James Ivory

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Set in Edwardian Britain, Howards End follows the entwinement of two families, the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes. Helen Schlegel (Helena Bonham Carter) and Paul Wilcox call off their engagement months before the two families become neighbors, and Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) resumes her friendship with Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave), patriarch Henry's (Anthony Hopkins) wife, who inherited Howards End. When Ruth dies, Margaret discovers Ruth bequeathed her beloved home to her, but the Wilcoxes refuse to believe it and burn the evidence. Later, Henry falls in love with Margaret, and they marry, but Helen causes trouble for the couple numerous times. Ultimately, Henry reveals that Margaret will inherit Howards End after his death, which Ruth had always intended.

Howards End might occur decades after the Regency era, but it still feels like something Austen would write. Austen rarely mentioned infidelity or passionate intimacy, but another aspect of Howards End makes it Austen-y. The story features a complex web of characters that either become romantically linked or involved in each other's lives in some other way. The Schlegels and the Wilcoxes are entwined and eventually become one family through marriage. Henry and Margaret's love endures after the drama settles between the two families, and, most importantly, the story finishes with a happy ending.

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8 'The Jane Austen Book Club' (2007)

Director: Robin Swicord

In The Jane Austen Book Club, Bernadette (Kathy Baker) starts a Jane Austen book club after meeting Prudie (Emily Blunt) at a Jane Austen film festival. She and five other members, including Prudie, Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), Allegra (Maggie Grace), Jocelyn (Maria Bello), and Grigg (Hugh Dancy), read and discuss all of Austen's six novels (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abbey). They soon realize that their lives parallel the book they've been given to discuss. Fortunately, that means all their stories have happy endings, even after some heartbreak.

There's, of course, something for Austen fans in The Jane Austen Book Club. Each book club member has their own story arc similar to the book they've chosen, and they even react to things in their lives similarly to their fictional counterparts. Discovering all the similarities is satisfying for those who know Austen's work. However, the film also creatively introduces Austen's works to a new audience through modern storytelling.

The Jane Austen Book Club

PG-13

Comedy

Romance

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 9, 2007

Director

Robin Swicord

Cast

Kathy Baker , Maria Bello , Emily Blunt , Amy Brenneman , Hugh Dancy , Maggie Grace , Lynn Redgrave , Jimmy Smits , Marc Blucas , Kevin Zegers , Parisa Fitz-Henley , Gwendoline Yeo , Nancy Travis , Jessie Anne Spence , Myndy Crist , Stephanie Denise Griffin

Runtime

106 minutes

Main Genre

Comedy

Writers

Robin Swicord

Tagline

Website

7 'Miss Austen Regrets' (2007)

Director: Jeremy Lovering

Although Miss Austen Regrets begins with a younger Jane Austen, it explores much of her later life and final years. Jane (Olivia Williams) begins guiding her niece Fanny (Imogen Poots), who is in love, but the Reverend Brook Bridges (Hugh Bonneville) is concerned about Jane filling Fanny's head with unrealistic prospects and doubts her as a role model. A year after Fanny loses out on a loving marriage due to Jane's advice, the famous author meets a handsome doctor, Charles Haden (Jack Huston), who helps her heal her brother and helps secure Emma's publication, but his attention soon turns to Fanny. As she becomes sick, Jane reflects on her life and regrets. If she'd married her rich suitor, her sister Cassandra (Greta Scacchi) would be financially secure after her death. At her wedding, Fanny realizes her aunt was always right about love.

While Becoming Jane explores Jane's early struggles with finding love, Miss Austen Regrets shows the aftermath of her choices as a young adult. While she doesn't regret much except leaving her sister without financial security, it's still sad she never finds love for herself despite championing it until her death. Jane doesn't get a happy ending like her characters, but she realizes her success as an author has brought her just as much happiness as marrying would've. Miss Austen Regrets reminds fans just how much Jane sacrificed for her craft.

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6 'Jane Eyre' (2011)

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Having been trampled on and shoved aside since childhood, Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) finally finds a suitable position as a governess for Mr. Edward Rochester's (Michael Fassbender) ward at Thornfield Hall. Though young and inexperienced, her intelligence and sharp mind attract Rochester's attention enough to make him fall in love with her. After making it seem like he's interested in Miss Ingram (Imogen Poots), Rochester professes his love to Jane and proposes. However, before they become husband and wife, a dreadful impediment is made known: Rochester already has a wife, and the violent woman has been locked up in the attic since she lost her sanity. Rochester pleads for Jane to stay, but she flees and starts a new life at Moor House. When St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell) proposes to her, Jane realizes she must return to Rochester and Thornfield Hall, but it's been destroyed in a fire set by Rochester's wife, who died in the blaze. Now, Jane and Rochester can begin their lives together.

Jane Eyre is a gothic romance and, therefore, slightly darker than most of Austen's stories (Northanger Abbey has its dark moments). Outside of Rochester's painful secret lurking in the attic, this is just another Regency romance set in a beautiful mansion in the English countryside. A penniless woman catches the eye of a rich landowner, and they fall in love and live happily ever after. Despite running away from reality with its almost fantastical romance, the story contains a certain amount of realism. Like many orphaned girls, Jane's life is hard, but Rochester's love miraculously saves her. That's very Austen-esque.

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5 'Little Women' (2019)

Director: Greta Gerwig

Following the Civil War, Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) becomes a teacher and aspiring writer, while her sister Amy (Florence Pugh) studies painting in Paris. Meanwhile, their oldest sibling, Meg (Emma Watson), is married to a schoolteacher. However, their sister Beth (Eliza Scanlen) develops an illness that brings them all back together. Years earlier, Amy, Jo, and Theodore (Timothée Chalamet) enter a messy web of love, heartbreak, and jealousy. However, Amy eventually wins Theodore's love, and they marry while Jo begins to write a novel based on her and her sisters' lives, which is eventually published. Following Aunt March's (Meryl Streep) death, Jo inherits her house and turns it into a school where Meg and Amy teach.

It's evident that Jane Austen heavily inspired the story of Little Women, despite it taking place in America and decades after England's Regency era. Of course, there's a love story, but like most of Austen's works, it's messy and doesn't end happily until after some heartbreak. A complex web of story arcs intertwines until every character's story wraps up nicely.

Little Women

PG

Drama

Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women, each determined to live life on her own terms.

Release Date

December 25, 2019

Director

Greta Gerwig

Cast

Eliza Scanlen , Emma Watson , Timothée Chalamet , Saoirse Ronan , Meryl Streep , Florence Pugh

Runtime

135

Main Genre

Drama

Writers

Louisa May Alcott , Greta Gerwig

Tagline

Own your story

Website

https://www.littlewomen.movie/

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4 'Atonement' (2007)

Director: Joe Wright​​​​

Atonement chronicles what happens when love and jealousy cloud judgment. The consequences trickle down throughout six decades. Young Briony (Saoirse Ronan) is infatuated with Robbie (James McAvoy), who is in love with her older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley). As jealousy consumes her, she starts misinterpreting Robbie's actions until she wrongly accuses him of assaulting her cousin Lola (Juno Temple), which lands him in jail, ultimately destroying his romance with Cecilia. They never get the chance to reunite, as both die during World War II. As she gets older, Briony weaves an intricate web of lies in her guilt. Cecilia and Robbie reunite in her fantasy, but in reality, she never atones for her mistakes.

Cecilia and Robbie's short-lived romance is very Austen-esque, but the roles are reversed. This time, a rich woman falls in love with a penniless man. Like most of Austen's work, Atonement realistically depicts life during a pivotal era, in this case World War II. However, despite each character's turmoil, romance doesn't win in the end, and the viewers are left wondering and fantasizing about what could've been just like Briony.

Atonement

R

Drama

Romance

War

Atonement is a romance and war drama released in 2007 by director Joe Wright. The film stars Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan, and Romola Garai. The film takes place in 1930s England, spanning multiple years afterward as a man is wrongfully incarcerated and then must face a war, all while wanting to get back to the girl he loves.

Release Date

September 7, 2007

Director

joe wright

Cast

Saoirse Ronan , Ailidh Mackay , Brenda Blethyn , Julia West , James McAvoy , Harriet Walter

Runtime

123 minutes

Main Genre

Drama

Writers

Ian McEwan , Christopher Hampton

Tagline

Torn apart by betrayal. Separated by war. Bound by love.

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3 'The Young Victoria' (2009)

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée

Young Victoria chronicles Queen Victoria's (Emily Blunt) early life, from her time as a Princess to her ascension to the throne. After being carefully watched by her mother (Miranda Richardson) and Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong) for much of her childhood, Victoria breaks free from control as she gets closer to her reign. After ascending the throne, she clarifies two things: she won't be controlled and will marry on her terms. Despite this, Prince Albert (Rupert Friend) is thrown at her, which makes her initially resist him. However, his sweetness, relatability, and authenticity make him more of an ideal suitor than most. They quickly fall in love long-distance and then marry, although there are some growing pains, especially since Victoria is Queen.

Years after the fictional Elizabeth Bennet married Mr. Darcy, the love story of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert intrigued romantics. Their love story is Austen-esque because, like many of her heroines, Victoria wrestled with her attraction to Albert and struggled to see a future with him before accepting his proposal on her own terms. History fans know that Victoria and Albert became one of the most powerful royal couples in the world. However, they fought for their love despite the public's scrutiny. That was what drew Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, into their story. According to The New York Times, Ferguson conceived the idea for the film, believing there were parallels between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's marriage and her own with Prince Andrew.

The Young Victoria

PG

Biography

Drama

History

Romance

As the only legitimate heir of England's King William, teenage Victoria gets caught up in the political machinations of her own family. Victoria's mother wants her to sign a regency order, while her Belgian uncle schemes to arrange a marriage between the future monarch and Prince Albert, the man who will become the love of her life.

Where to Watch

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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

March 4, 2009

Director

Jean-Marc Vallee

Cast

Emily Blunt , Rupert Friend , Paul Bettany , Miranda Richardson , Jim Broadbent , Thomas Kretschmann

Runtime

104 minutes

Main Genre

Biography

Writers

Julian Fellowes

Tagline

Love rules all.

Website

http://www.theyoungvictoria.co.uk/

2 'Anna Karenina' (2012)

Director: Joe Wright

Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley), a socialite living in Saint Petersburg, has a loveless marriage with her husband, Count Alexei Karenin (Jude Law). While visiting her brother, Stiva (Matthew Macfadyen), who recently cheated on his wife, she meets Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a wealthy young officer. They fall in love and begin an affair, while Princess Kitty (Alicia Vikander) warms to Stiva's friend Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) after turning him down for Vronsky. Things get messy for Anna once she becomes pregnant with Vronsky's baby, and Karenin finds out. He tells her she must leave Vronsky, or he will divorce her, and she'll never see her son again. Continuing to bear the brunt of her highly public affair, Anna becomes paranoid about Vronsky's fidelity. It ultimately clouds her judgment enough to contribute to her dreadful demise.

Like most of the films on this list, Anna Karenina follows a complicated web of love and affairs that end in disaster. As mentioned, Austen rarely mentions infidelity and passionate intimacy, but Anna Karenina still bursts with romance and love. However, this time, they often come at the character's expense. Love doesn't bring happy ever afters; it brings heartache and even death.

Anna Karenina

pg

Drama

Romance

Keira Knightley stars as Anna Karenina in the 2012 movie adaptation of the 1877 novel by Leo Tolstoy. Directed by Joe Wright, the period film follows a tragic love affair between the title character and cavalry officer Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Jude Law appears as Karenin, Anna's distant husband.

Release Date

October 6, 2012

Director

joe wright

Cast

Keira Knightley , Jude Law , Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Runtime

130minutes

Main Genre

Drama

Writers

joe wright

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1 'The Duchess' (2008)

Director: Saul Dibb

The Duchess is based on the life of 18th-century English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish (Keira Knightley), Duchess of Devonshire, a distant relative of Princess Diana. Georgiana has just as much charisma and rebelliousness as her great-great-great-great niece, which are unusual traits for a wealthy lady. She is forced to marry William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), who puts her through unspeakable things. He allows his illegitimate child to live with them, cheats on her with her friend Bess (Hayley Atwell), and assaults her, all while demanding she give him an heir. Unsurprisingly, Georgiana begins a passionate affair with Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper), which almost ruins her reputation and cuts her off from her kids. Eventually, though, Georgiana and William come to an understanding and continue their lives with Bess.

Unfortunately, The Duchess doesn't have a happy ending like Austen's works. However, it is similar to the other films on this list in that it follows a passionate love affair between a rich woman and a man of lower rank that ends badly. Georgiana deserves to be with Charles and find happiness after everything she endures, but despite her romance being ripped from her, she does get to continue to be in her children's lives. There's something Austen-y about that. Like the famous author, Georgiana gave up her chance at love for duty and a successful life.

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Next: The 15 Best Jane Austen Movies, Ranked