AFFFF25: Jane Austen Wrecked My Life

Australian Premiere

Agathe (Camille Rutherford) lives the rom-com dream: she works in the famous Shakespeare & Co bilingual bookstore where customers leave love letters on the mirror quoting Tolstoy, and there’s undeniable chemistry with her colleague, Félix (Pablo Pauly, Murder Party, AF FFF24). Beneath the glossy Notting Hill facade, however, she’s an unpublished romance author battling writer’s block, living with her sister and nephew. More akin to Persuasion’s Anne, a perpetual wallflower, than Pride and Prejudice’s confident Elizabeth, Agathe struggles to find her voice.

That all changes when Agathe is invited to a Jane Austen Residency in England. Spending two weeks in a manor full of creative nooks and wandering through forests and glades, Agathe struggles daily with imposter syndrome. That is, until she starts to become acquainted with the handsome yet prickly Oliver Lowe (Charlie Anson, Downton Abbey), Jane Austen’s living descendant. Grappling with her demons and her heart, Agathe must decide between what she’s always known, and something – or someone – new. 

This romantic comedy-drama from writer-director Laura Piani is a touching love letter to the Regency author who still shapes our conversations on love today. Wry, subtle, and with a big heart, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life asks, would you write the end to your own love story if you could?