An American in Austen starring Eliza Bennett? OMG, the starring role is played by an actress named after Pride and Prejudice‘s (P&P) heroine. What a coincidence! Well, the latest Hallmark Loveuary film must be about P&P. Oh, yes!
After last week’s film (Love & Jane, which I blogged about already) where a character named Lilly summons Jane Austen from wherever Austen was (was she hanging out in Heaven?), I didn’t expect to find another film working in the other direction.
Instead of Austen going forward in time, a character named Harriet goes back in time. She is of course an Austen fan. As in the previous Hallmark film, she has received a marriage proposal. And like Love & Jane, the heroine of this film is also not sure she’s into the guy who proposed to her because all she can think about is the leading man from an Austen novel. (Pick your novel.) After an awkward proposal where Harriet says “maybe,” she falls asleep in a cab and finds herself in Austen’s world–P&P to be exact.
While the idea of an American in Austen’s world might sound novel, the truly new thing here is that the person who goes back in time is an American. Lost in Austen, a one-season ITV series from 2008, already did that. In the series a character named Amanda Price (makes me think of Mansfield Park‘s Fanny Price) finds that a person from 1813 is hanging out in her bathroom and has entered from a mysterious door that never existed before (behind the shower). This person is actually a character–Elizabeth Bennet–who has found her way into Hammersmith. Unfortunately for Amanda, Elizabeth decides to stay in 2008 while Amanda is stuck in 1813.
In the Hallmark film, Harriet also finds herself stuck in 1813. Day after day she awakes like its Groundhog Day and she bemoans being stuck in this other world, even though it is the one she always wanted to be in. The same goes for Lost in Austen, so one wonders what is new about An American in Austen? It is the American thing and the fact that the actress playing Harriet (whose name must be a reference to Emma‘s Harriet Smith I guess) is named Eliza Bennett in real life. There’s one more thing: in Lost in Austen Elizabeth Bennet isn’t in the plot because she isn’t there at all. In An American in Austen, Elizabeth Bennet the character is present throughout the film.
That said, I have to say that I enjoyed watching An American in Austen. I liked the acting, except for the actress playing Elizabeth. I liked the way the film, like Lost in Austen, had the 21st-century character have enough insight from having reading P&P to know who the figures are but finds herself in a weird position where her mere presence alters the novel’s plot.
Everyone is fascinated by Harriet, but especially Darcy. One problem is that if he is into Harriet, he might not end up with Elizabeth. The other problem is that Harriet is not into Darcy because she is not Elizabeth. She is not a character written by Austen, so she finds herself flummoxed by the attention she receives from Darcy, who, out of character, is forward with Harriet way too soon. The dialogue, as well, is fun, and thank god this film is so much better than Love & Jane. The acting felt natural, and the language, too–even if that bit with Darcy coming on to Harriet was weird.
As the rules of time travel espoused by Doctor Who have taught me, any time anyone time travels they run the risk of affecting history (and the future). This is kind of what happens in Lost in Austen and An American in Austen. After all, it wasn’t only Elizabeth whose trajectory began to change in An American in Austen. It happened to Mary, whom Collins asked to marry. Harriet could have really messed things up! Luckily she works very hard to get Elizabeth and Darcy together, and it all goes according to plan.
But there’s one more thing I have to share and laugh at. The actress, Eliza Bennett, is British! She’s not an American in Austen, but a British actress playing an American Austen fan who winds up in England through some weird sense of fate that will teach Harriet a lesson about life and love.
As it turns out, Harriet’s boyfriend Ethan is a good guy who really loves her, and Harriet realizes that by the end of the film. And it is this realization helps her wake up from her dream in the taxi and get back to 2024 so that she can turn her “maybe” into a “yes.” It all works out, and we’re all happy.
Watching this film was a night well spent (that’s an Austen reference from her teenage writing “The beautifull Cassandra”).
Speaking of references….there’s a Taylor Swift easter egg: Harriet says, “It’s me. Hi,” laughs at herself, and then finishes the line from Swift’s song, “Anti-Hero.” “I’m the problem, it’s me.”
True, Harriet is the problem for Austen’s Bennet girls, but at the same time she is not. She does her best to be true to Austen’s book and make sure everyone ends up where Austen would have them. Harriet is not the anti-hero of this film but a true protagonist, and I liked her a lot. And not knowing if you want to marry a guy because he’s not your fantasy is kinda normal, I’d say. All the books we have read and loved have taught us not to settle, and Harriet needed to deal with her Darcy obsession to know that he’s not her true love. He’s a character. True love does happen in real life, but with real people.
Did you watch An American in Austen? If yes, did you enjoy it?
Misty Krueger 
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