Jane Austen Wrecked My Life

Agathe is a French bookseller who works at Shakespeare and Company in Paris and lives with her sister and her sister’s young son. She cycles everywhere, as she has been nervous in cars since her parents were killed in a car accident in which she was injured. She is very close to her co-worker and best friend Félix.

One evening, Agathe is inspired to write the beginning of a romance novel in English, after seeing a man’s face at the bottom of her sake cup in a Chinese restaurant. Félix reads her work and secretly sends it to the Jane Austen Residency, a two-week writing retreat held in England. When they accept her, Agathe reluctantly lets Félix drive her to the Channel ferry. As she is about to board, they kiss and she departs….

Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, “At a time when practically the entire rom-com genre has gravitated to streaming, this bilingual theatrical offering from Sony Pictures Classics feels like the best kind of throwback.”

Jourdain Searles of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is a romantic comedy for the quiet, thoughtful lovers who yearn for the sincerity of the past.”