YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollectionsJane Austen  Jane Austen's
life, the romanticized version  'Becoming Jane' weaves fact,
conjecture and falsehoods about the novelist. But some ardent
fans don't mind.  August 06, 2007|Lisa Rosen | Special to The
Times  When writing about Jane Austen, it takes enormous
restraint not to open with "It is a truth universally
acknowledged," the words with which she so famously began "Pride
and Prejudice." When making a biopic about Jane Austen, it takes
enormous daring to take universally acknowledged truths about
the great author and stand them on their heads in an effort to
convey her spirit.  "Becoming Jane," starring Anne Hathaway as
the author and James McAvoy as her romantic interest Tom Lefroy,
starts with the few known facts about Austen's life, adds a bit
of academic conjecture and weaves in some outright invention.
For Austen aficionados, the first question would be: Wait a
minute, what romantic interest? They would likely know of a few
sentences in two letters from Aust