Screenwriter Laura Piani makes her directorial debut with Jane Austen Wrecked My Life. Inspired by Piani's past experiences working in Paris's famed bookstore Shakespeare & Co, the film stars Camille Rutherford as Agathe, a clerk at the store who finds herself invited to the Jane Austen Writers' Residency in England. There she is encouraged to pursue both her writing ambitions and romantic desires.
Pablo Pauly, Charlie Anson and Annabelle Lengronne also star.
"Inspired not only by the many years that I myself spent working at Shakespeare & Co, this film was also fuelled by several stays in Chawton (where Jane Austen spent her last years) where I went to write my script," says Piani. "I wanted to draw the portrait of a young woman who believes so strongly that she doesn't fit into this society, that she wishes she was born centuries ago, in her favourite novels. But unlike most romantic comedies, she won't be ‘saved by the man’ but by her own efforts. Indeed, Agathe will only eventually fall in love with the right man after she has proved to herself that she was able to write, and to exist, by herself."
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is in UK/ROI cinemas from June 13th.
Check out the trailer and poster below.
The official synopsis reads:
Agathe, hopelessly clumsy yet charming, and full of contradictions, dreams of experiencing love akin to a Jane Austen novel. Instead she finds herself stuck in desperate singlehood, spending her days working in the legendary British bookshop, Shakespeare & Co in Paris, rather than pursuing her own ambitions of becoming a novelist. But when an unexpected invitation to the Jane Austen Writers' Residency in England lands in her lap, Agathe is in for an eye-opening and life-changing experience. Encouraged to confront her insecurities and explore her true romantic, sexual and creative nature, in part thanks to her eccentric co-residents, Agathe realises it’s time to stop wasting her sentimental life and take control - over both her writing aspirations, and her very own love story.
