Austenland

Jane Hayes is a single woman in her thirties whose devotion to Fitzwilliam Darcy—the hero of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation—has made every flesh-and-blood man in her life seem inadequate and has repeatedly derailed her romances. Hoping to indulge her obsession without judgment, she spends her savings on a trip to an English resort built around Austen's world, where guests dress in period costume and live out Regency-era fantasies. There she finds that her money stretches only so far, and her dream of inhabiting the role of a fine lady collides with the more modest part the place has assigned her.

The film is Jerusha Hess's directorial debut; she wrote the screenplay with Shannon Hale, and Stephenie Meyer produced. It is set largely in the fictional Austenland resort. Keri Russell leads a cast that includes JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, James Callis and Georgia King, among 44 credited performers and 45 credited crew members.

Released in 2013, the film runs 97 minutes and blends comedy with romance. Made for about 5 million dollars, it returned roughly 2 million at the worldwide box office. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from about 25,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.4 out of 10 from roughly 489 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 4.8 out of 10 from 109 reviews, a notably cooler response than that of general audiences. Hess's next directing credit, Ninety-Five Senses, followed in 2022.