Becoming Jane (PG) Grade: C+

Misty hilltops, pigs mucking about, a hand and pen seen in soft focus -- these images promise sensual fare. However, "Becoming Jane," a fictionalized take on the love affair between Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) and Thomas Lefroy (James McAvoy), quickly devolves into a mundane love story that fatigues rather than inspires. \nAusten's novels detail the great wait for love and happy ending. And if abeyance is not done with delight, it is fulfilled with resignation and pose. But in "Becoming Jane," we see a young Austen, thrown into consistent tailspin by the antics of Lefroy and the general incursion of masculine society. The film almost leads us to believe that the young Ms. Austen was little more than a thirtysomething Carrie Bradshaw with, of course, a better vocabulary and longer hemline. \nA curious tension usually arises when adapting the life of a real person, not from the imagined dichotomy between fiction and documentary (factual truth and underlying truth can look one and the same on-screen), but from the varying agendas of filmmakers and screenwriters. In "Becoming Jane," Austen's literary genius is pinned on her thwarted affair with Lefroy. Rarely is the audience given the option to believe that Austen chose the pen out of principle, either social or artistic. We may never know the full truth, but relying on hackneyed tropes will do little to elucidate. \nFor his part, McAvoy again employs the sprightly gait that first charmed audiences in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." And if his Lefroy seems like a far cry from Mr. Darcy, his is an appropriate counterbalance to Hathaway's bright-eyed Austen. Nevertheless, the most interesting performance is that of Mr. Wisley, played with unexpected pitch by Laurence Fox, even as his character is dismissed as a "boobie." This, if anything, speaks to the Austenian sensibility.