REWINE | DVD REVIEWS | JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB | DONNE TEMPO
The Jane Austen Book Club
(Sony Pictures Home Entertainment- $26.95 to $38.95 for Blu-ray compatible home entertainment centers)By Jacquie Kubin
The Jane Austen Book Club is a beautiful movie – not unlike the perfect English rose that blooms to reveal its core. In The Jane Austen Book Club the rose blooms to reveals the lives and loves of five woman and one man set against the words of Jane Austen’s six novels -- Persuasion, Emma, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey.
Director Robin Swicord brings writer Karen Joy Flower’s book to the screen with warmth, intelligence, humor and an obvious respect for a remarkable ensemble.
The novels reflect an acerbic wit that included biting social commentaries as to the dependence of woman on marriage to secure their social standing and financial security. The theme of the books is often a female character in search of a suitable, by 29th century standards, spouse.
Austen also speaks to the strict Victorian morality issues prevalent during the early 19th century. In the film, Bernadette (Kathy Baker), a fifty-something year old woman with multiple marriages in her past quips, “Jane liked to keep it zipped up, didn’t she.”
Much of the movies beauty comes from a true ensemble cast that quickly has you believing that their friendship is not a thing of fiction and skilled writing. Instead it is a real bond shared by Maria Bello as Jocelyn, Emily Blunt as Prudie, Amy Brenneman as Sylvia, Maggie Grace as Sylvia’s daughter Allegra and Hugh Dancy as Grigg.
These six characters would probably never have come together if it weren’t for the upset each felt in their lives because of love lost, or never realized, bolstered together by their communal fondness for Jane Austen.
“Jane Austen is the antidote for life,” says Bernadette, and in this movie, she provides the remedy this band needs to overcome what life has tossed their way.
The propellant of the tale is Sylvia who, after 25 years and three children, is told by her husband Daniel (Jimmy Smits) that he has “been seeing a woman at the office for the past six months” and that giving her up is non-negotiable.
Jocelyn, who has just lost the male love of her life, a Champion Rhodesian Ridgeback who is the sire of the dogs she so loving breeds on her country ranch decides that her friend, her best friend, requires a distraction while Bernadette has met Prudie, a young woman disillusioned with her marriage and her husband.
Prudie is one of the books most distinctive characters in that she is as she sees herself. She is a rather straight-laced Francophile, teaching French in the high school but having never gone there, her husband, Dean (Marc Blucas) is the jock next door whose idea of romance is the perfect basketball game, preferably at a bar that serves them cold.
Interestingly, Lynette Redgrave offers a brief, but incredible performance, as Prudie’s pot smoking, hippie mother Sky.
When at her mother’s funeral she sees her husband Dean speaking to, or from her perspective hitting on, her high school rival, she later bursts in to tears responding to Dean “But high school is never over,” referencing how the fears and slights of those four years continue to overshadow us as adults.
The book club members are completed by Allegra, the daughter of Sylvia and Danielle who is open about her lesbian sexual orientation, but hides her obsession with extreme sports such as skydiving and rock climbing, from her parents.
But that is only five. As the viewer becomes friends with the members of the Jane Austen Book Club and the books of Jane Austen, so does the sixth appendage of this group – Grigg (Hugh Dancy). Jocelyn picks up Grigg in a hotel bar, where the obvious age difference (she is older) is quickly dismissed. Grigg is attracted to Jocelyn’s athletic, blonde good looks, while Jocelyn, thinking of her friend Sylvia, sees Grigg as a needed distraction for a friend in the midst of a divorce.
So we have the book club. They have six books and they will meet once a month to discuss them, one at a time.
True to the format, this Blu Ray release features a variety of bonus material extras. The cast and crew commentary features director/screenwriter Robin Swicord, film editor Maryann Brandon, producer Julie Lynn alongside actors Hugh Dancy and Maggie Grace.
True to their on screen warmth, away from the sound stage these actors show the camaraderie that lead this to being a truly sensational ensemble movie as they discuss the film and characters, sharing stories from the set and plenty of real laughs with the viewer.
Another bonus feature is “Behind the Scenes of the Jane Austen Book Club” that brings out the various cast and crew members to discuss what was involved in the film’s making, how great it was to be a part of the film and how incredible it was for them, personally to work with director Robin Swicord, who in turn speaks highly of the cast.
And while this may seem a bit of fluff, after viewing the film one can easily believe that they truly do like each other and did like working together.
Featurettes continue to include the historical examination of the author, and her life, work and the themes found in her novels in “The Life of Jane Austen.” “The Book Club Deconstructed” questions if the movie characters are actually modern day versions of the characters presented in Austen’s novels while “Walking the Red Carpet” takes us back to the premier of the movie and includes interviews with the cast and crew.
But the shining glory of this release is the film. And the brilliance in this movie is that as each of the book club members takes their turn to lead the discussion we visit their homes where we see, very much, the difference between these people. Griggs’s suburban tract home, complete with Halloween inspired surprise for the visiting book club members, Jocelyn’s country ranch home and Sylvia’s family home located in town. Each residence shows the personality of it’s inhabitants, while the other two get-togethers are in the hospital, where Allegra recuperates after a skydiving accident and the Starbucks, where Bernadette chooses to live out parts of her daily life, in which she seems to be briskly moving from one spot to the next.
Austen is the tie that binds these friends and frames their lives as their individual stories play out, only to return to the warm center of the book club’s heart and a friendship that endures…as Jane Austen’s books have endured.
TALK AMONGST YOURSELVES ...
Have you read any of the Jane Austen Books and
what do you think of them?
The Jane Austen Book Club is not about the books, but about how the women in the movie live their lives as compared to the characters in Jane’s books. Do you ever compare your life or yourself to a character in a book?
In the film, which character are you most like, Jocelyn, Allegra, Prudie, Grigg, Bernadette or Sylvia? Which would most like to be like?
If you were in a position to “take a second chance” at life, either with your present spouse, a new love or on your own, what would you do with the opportunity?
If you haven’t read Jane Austen, do you want to now and why?
The Jane Austen Book Club is not about the books, but about how the women in the movie live their lives as compared to the characters in Jane’s books. Do you ever compare your life or yourself to a character in a book?
In the film, which character are you most like, Jocelyn, Allegra, Prudie, Grigg, Bernadette or Sylvia? Which would most like to be like?
If you were in a position to “take a second chance” at life, either with your present spouse, a new love or on your own, what would you do with the opportunity?
If you haven’t read Jane Austen, do you want to now and why?
EXTRAS ON THE DVD
In the Miriam M Collection for El Cid, there
are multiple stories told.
First and foremost, is the feature film, the legend of El Cid, or Rodrigo Diaz De Vivar. His story is epic and is brought to new life through this sweeping spectacle of filming.
Then, adding to the total package and speaking to The Miriam Collection’s dedication to bringing back the grand glories of yesterday filmmaking are the films extras. There is the context of the life and times of the filmmakers brought alive through a series of commentaries, production featurettes, movie still post cards and a reproduction of the Dell Comic Book “El Cid” (1961), based on the Bronston movie.
Through these DVD extras we are introduced to Samuel Bronston, a Romanian employed by the MGM Company. This young man, who seemingly did not know the meaning of limits, stepped out from the MGM lots to become a producer of independent films.
Bronston’s son, Bill joins in on a commentary discussion with Nel M. Rosendorf, historian and Bronston biographer, to provide a clear picture of the foibles and frames of moviemaking at the turn of the 1960s.
The El Cid package extras offer remarkable historical insights into Bronston’s rise to independent producer and the remarkable feat of bring El Cid’s saga to romantic life.
He acquired two of the day’s heaviest stars, Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren and took the cast and crew to exotic locations from the shores of Spain to her ages old castles.
The extras also relate the story of director Anthony Mann’s composition of the story, framing it with historical accuracy, that highlights Mann’s professional acumen to create a film that so ably stands to the test of time.
Which leads to the story of Harvey and Bob Weinstein and their dedication and passion for film preservation. The digital treatment of Bronston and Mann’s El Cid leads to an amazing visual paradise of filmmaking.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix brings composer’s Dr. Miklos Roaza’s score to breathtaking audible life.
In addition to all this, there is a booklet, filled with a capsulization of the film story, historical facts, bios on Bronston, Mann, Rozas and others responsible for the films technical creation. There are also modern day photos of the castles, and a bit of history for the armchair traveler.
In the end we get a pristine clear, visual and audible production of one of film’s greatest epics as well as a complete history, not only of the film, but the men behind the magic.
We can only hope for more of Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s devotion to film preservation along with their almost magical touch and dexterity to giving us, the viewers, all that we could want, and more.
First and foremost, is the feature film, the legend of El Cid, or Rodrigo Diaz De Vivar. His story is epic and is brought to new life through this sweeping spectacle of filming.
Then, adding to the total package and speaking to The Miriam Collection’s dedication to bringing back the grand glories of yesterday filmmaking are the films extras. There is the context of the life and times of the filmmakers brought alive through a series of commentaries, production featurettes, movie still post cards and a reproduction of the Dell Comic Book “El Cid” (1961), based on the Bronston movie.
Through these DVD extras we are introduced to Samuel Bronston, a Romanian employed by the MGM Company. This young man, who seemingly did not know the meaning of limits, stepped out from the MGM lots to become a producer of independent films.
Bronston’s son, Bill joins in on a commentary discussion with Nel M. Rosendorf, historian and Bronston biographer, to provide a clear picture of the foibles and frames of moviemaking at the turn of the 1960s.
The El Cid package extras offer remarkable historical insights into Bronston’s rise to independent producer and the remarkable feat of bring El Cid’s saga to romantic life.
He acquired two of the day’s heaviest stars, Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren and took the cast and crew to exotic locations from the shores of Spain to her ages old castles.
The extras also relate the story of director Anthony Mann’s composition of the story, framing it with historical accuracy, that highlights Mann’s professional acumen to create a film that so ably stands to the test of time.
Which leads to the story of Harvey and Bob Weinstein and their dedication and passion for film preservation. The digital treatment of Bronston and Mann’s El Cid leads to an amazing visual paradise of filmmaking.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix brings composer’s Dr. Miklos Roaza’s score to breathtaking audible life.
In addition to all this, there is a booklet, filled with a capsulization of the film story, historical facts, bios on Bronston, Mann, Rozas and others responsible for the films technical creation. There are also modern day photos of the castles, and a bit of history for the armchair traveler.
In the end we get a pristine clear, visual and audible production of one of film’s greatest epics as well as a complete history, not only of the film, but the men behind the magic.
We can only hope for more of Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s devotion to film preservation along with their almost magical touch and dexterity to giving us, the viewers, all that we could want, and more.
(VIDEO EXTRA) The Actors in Action
FOOD TO VIEW BY - Tea and Tiny Sandwich Time
Tea Time
by Jacquie KubinHigh tea, or full tea, is not really tea. It is dinner.
Served later in the day, etiquette says between 5:30 and 7:00pm. Well, etiquette be damned. This tea is for the 21st century book club, and while we are talking Jane Austen, we are celebrating ourselves,
And of course, Tea. My favorite is always a nice fresh cut whole leaf tea. Whether you choose to purchase tea in bags or use an infuser, choose teas that will be aromatic and flavorful and serve with honey, sugar cubes and cream. How you serve, traditionally on a tea tray or more informally offering a steaming cup of water with a selection of packaged teas is up to you.
When planning your tea menu, allow for four to six cut sandwich servings for each person. When buying your ingredients, purchase the best quality white and/or wheat bread you can and toss the end slices, and the crusts – always remove the bread crusts - to the birds.
One trick is to freeze the bread and assembling the sandwiches, leaving time for the bread to defrost before serving. Though I would suggest you try this ahead of time with the bread you plan on using to ensure it will stand up to the freezing/thawing without drying out or getting soggy.
It is important to butter each slice of bread, but every so lightly. Unsalted butter (not margarine) acts as a barrier between the filling and the bread, again warding against soggy sandwiches. When you cut the finished sandwich into halves, or quarters, use a long, sharp knife for a clean cut. Cookie cutters can be used to make decorative shapes.
Tea Sandwiches can be made up in advance and stored in an airtight container, however take care that they are kept refrigerated but are not allowed to freeze.
Following are some failsafe recipes to create the perfect “tea” at home. All you need to add is the primrose, lavender or green tea and you will have a perfectly sensible get together served with pride.
Prudie’s Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwich
This classic Tea Sandwich meets Prudie’s approval of Sense and Sensibility!
1/2 seedless cucumber.
Peeled and very thinly sliced (about 32 slices)
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, rinsed, spun dry, and chopped fine. Can be cut with scissors.
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup cream cheese, room temperature
16 slices best-quality white bread
Salt to taste
If a seedless cucumber is not available, slice a seeded one in half lengthways, and remove the seeds with a spoon and then thinly slice resting the slices between layers of paper towels to remove excess moisture. You really want them to be dry in order to not make the sandwich soggy.
In a small bowl, combine mint, butter, and cream cheese; spread on one side of each slice of bread. Lay cucumber slices onto the buttered side of 8 slices of bread. Sprinkle with salt. Top with the remaining slices of bread, buttered side down.
Cut the sandwiches in half diagonally and then cut in half again.
Yields 8 whole sandwiches or 16 halves or 32 fourths.
Smoked Salmon Sandwiches on Pumpernickel ala Allegra
Allegra is the story’s risk taker and white bread would never do!
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon minced green onion
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill weed
1 tablespoon capers, drained
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
Pepper to taste
2 teaspoons butter, room temperature
8 slices pumpernickel bread
4 pieces smoked salmon
12 cucumber slices, sliced thin
In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, green onion, dill weed, capers, horseradish, and pepper; set aside.
Spread butter thinly over pumpernickel bread slices; spread mayonnaise mixture on each bread slice. Divide salmon and cucumber slices evenly over 4 slices of bread; top with remaining bread slices. Cut each sandwich in half diagonally.
Transfer to individual serving plate and serve.
Makes 4 sandwiches.
Grigg’s Goat Cheese & Watercress Tea Sandwich
The newest member of the book club group, Grigg’s Goat Cheese and Watercress sandwich are sweet and fragrant, like Grigg!
16 thin slices cinnamon-raisin bread, crusts trimmed
2 (5 1/2-ounce) logs soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet), room temperature
1/2 cup chopped watercress leaves
Salt to taste
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup finely chopped toasted pecans*
Watercress sprigs (for garnish)
Place the pecans in a shallow baking pan and bake at 350*F for 15 to 20 minutes or until nuts are lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Cool. Can be done the day before and saved, once cool, in a zip lock bag or sealed container. Chop the pecans after cooling.
In a medium-size bowl, mix fresh goat cheese and chopped watercress; season with salt. Spread mixture evenly over 8 bread slices. Top with remaining bread.
Cut the sandwiches in half diagonally and then cut in half again. Roll cut edges of each sandwiches in the softened butter.
Place chopped pecans on plate. Dip buttered edges of sandwiches into pecans, gently pressing the pecans into the butter.
Arrange sandwiches on platter. Garnish with watercress sprigs.
Yields 8 whole sandwiches or 16 halves or 32 fourths.
Scones are a traditional Scottish “quick bread” that was made not only for its flavor, but also its portability. Wrapped up and tucked inside a traveling hamper, scones offered a satisfying repast for those on the road before them!
INGREDIENTS
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup half and half (or heavy cream)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and lightly grease a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, or food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter. Butter can be frozen and then roughly grated before adding. Mix the egg and milk in a small bowl, and stir into flour mixture until moistened.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Do not over handle as this will cause the scones to be tough. Roll dough out into a 1/2 inch thick round. Cut into 8 wedges, and place on the prepared baking sheet.
Variations to scones include whatever you can imagine. Substitute buttermilk for the milk or add chocolate chips, blueberries, cranberries, cherries or raisins. Add a few drops of flavored extract or a generous teaspoon of orange or lemon zest or combine a few favorites to create your own Tea or breakfast scone.
Scones should be lightly heated before serving with Devonshire clotted cream, lemon curd, jams and jellies and butter for spreading.
Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.
Can be made a day ahead stored cooled in an airtight container.
Pastries for this soiree are probably just as easily purchased from the bakery or, I find that Harry and David (www.harryanddavid.com) carries a lovely selection of frozen Petite Fours and Cheese Cakes that, can be ordered via the internet or picked up at a local retail store, along with a few store bought or bakery cookies, and you have the pastries for your tea taken care of easily.