The merit of these films themselves is in their attention to character, setting, and story. In comparison, recent movie versions of Austen's enduring novels succumb to the cinematic in presenting their dazzling settings and lush photographic imagery, trade-offs preferred to development and intricacy of character and story.
Exception: Who couldn’t enjoy the performance
by Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen herself in the 2007 film Becoming Jane? I make
no assumptions about the verite of
this coming of age story, and it did seem a "lite" rendition also in part miscast. But Hathaway charms as the young writer whose
prospects for marriage and family fall apart in the very paradigm of societal
class structure and prejudice that provide context for Jane Austen's actual novels.