The Best of the Jane Austen Cinematic Universe

Plus: the gay hockey romance that everyone should be watching

This week marked Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. All year, fans around the world have been celebrating the milestone with balls, exhibits, festivals, and other events dedicated to the author, who died at the age of forty-one.

Though she never became famous in her lifetime, Austen’s work has found new fans in each successive generation, inspiring more adaptations and reinterpretations than any writer in the English language not named Dickens or Shakespeare.

If anything, Austen’s cultural influence has only grown with time, perhaps because of her ironic voice and sharp commentary on class and gender. This year’s birthday frenzy feels like the latest spike in an extended period of Austenmania that has persisted for three decades.

The modern Austen era clearly began in 1995, the watershed year that brought the release of Clueless, a Gen X reimagining of Emma; the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice, a six-episode cultural phenomenon; Ang Lee’s swoon-worthy Sense and Sensibility ,with an Oscar-winning script by Emma Thompson; and a faithful film version of Persuasion directed by Roger Michell for BBC Two.

The following year, things got even crazier, with a film adaptation of Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow (then at the height of her ‘90s It Girl glory), plus the publication of Bridget Jones’ Diary, the bestselling book inspired by Pride and Prejudice.

Every few years brings another wave of adaptations, contemporary updates, speculative sequels, and mash-ups both onscreen and in print. By now, Austen-inspired fiction practically constitutes an entire literary subgenre.

We are in the midst of another surge that only seems partially tied to her birthday festivities.

Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice (a.k.a. the one starring Keira Knightley and Tom Wambsgans from Succession), was re-released in theaters this spring and is a favorite on TikTok.

Netflix recently began production on its own version of Pride and Prejudice, written by novelist Dolly Alderton and starring Emma Corrin (who played young Princess Diana in The Crown) as Elizabeth and Jack Lowden as Darcy (the Scottish actor has joked about breaking barriers as a “ginger Darcy,” and he may have a point). Frankly, the streaming service does not have a great track record when it comes to Austen (the less said about the version of Persuasion starring Dakota Johnson, the better), but true Janeites never give up hope in something better.

As we await this series and more (including The Other Bennet Sister, about Mary, the family killjoy), I’ve compiled some of my favorite Austen adaptations (I use the term loosely) from TV and film.

Clueless (2005)

This extremely ‘90s spin on Emma reimagines the titular character as Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), a popular Beverly Hills teenager who falls for her ex-stepbrother, Josh (Paul Rudd). Somehow it’s not icky at all, a testament to writer-director Amy Heckerling, the auteur behind Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Despite being remarkably faithful to the spirit of Austen’s fifth novel, Clueless is also very much its own thing, full of memorable dialogue (the cold dig: “You’re a virgin who can’t drive”) and distinctive costumes that helped make it perhaps the most beloved teen comedy of the ‘90s. (Stream on Britbox.)

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

This gorgeous adaptation stars a pre-Titanic Kate Winslet as the foolishly romantic Marianne Dashwood and Emma Thompson as her level-headed sister Elinor. Hugh Grant, a newly minted romantic lead fresh off the success of Four Weddings and Funeral, is at his bumbling best as Elinor’s love interest, Edward Ferrars, while Alan Rickman is so lovely as the reserved Colonel Brandon, you never question why Marianne falls for him. Thompson’s witty writing and Lee’s elegant direction combine to make this an exceptional Austen adaptation. (Stream for free on Pluto TV.)

@netflixthe hand flex!!!!! #prideandprejudice is on #netflix #mrdarcy #elizabethbennet #handflex

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Pride and Prejudice (1995); Pride & Prejudice (2005)

There’s possibly no debate that will get period drama enthusiasts more riled up than the respective merits of these adaptations, released a decade apart. Am I copping out by refusing to pick a favorite? Maybe! But both have plenty to offer, no matter how you feel about Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, or ampersands. Joe Wright’s 2005 film is visually stunning and cinematic, and I controversially believe that Matthew Macfadyen makes a superior, more emotionally complex Darcy. Meanwhile, the BBC series is far more comprehensive and faithful to Austen’s novel, capturing the social strictures of Regency England and the complicated dynamics of the Bennet family. Plus—and this is important—it has Colin Firth emerging from a lake wearing a soaking wet shirt. (The 1995 version is free on Tubi. The 2005 version is free on The Roku Channel.)

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

Adapted from Helen Fielding’s enormously popular novel, which was in turn inspired by Pride and Prejudice, this romantic comedy, like Clueless, works as both an Austen tribute and its own thing. Texas-bred Renëe Zellweger was an extremely controversial casting choice at the time, but she not only nails the accent; she also captures Bridget’s endearing flightiness. In a brilliant bit of stunt casting, Colin Firth plays the brooding Mr. Darcy stand-in, Mark Darcy, while Hugh Grant embraces his bad side as the caddish Daniel Cleaver (modeled on the villainous Wickham). The only part of the movie that feels even slightly dated after a quarter century are the constant references to Bridget’s supposed chubbiness. Oh, the 2000s — what a time for women! (Stream for free on PlutoTV.)

Fire Island (2022)

Yet another modern take on Pride and Prejudice, this one reimagines Austen’s most celebrated novel through a queer lens. It follows a group of friends over the course of a weeklong vacation on the barrier island, long known as a gay hotspot. The “Elizabeth” in this retelling is the witty and observant Noah (Joel Kim Booster, who also wrote the screenplay), who is determined to get his reserved best friend Howie (Bowen Yang, the “Charlotte” stand-in) laid. His mission gets derailed when he finds himself attracted to Will (Conrad Ricamora), an aloof lawyer who runs with a wealthier crowd in the Pines. Directed by Andrew Ahn, the film also offers a clear-eyed look at queer life, and confronts issues like classism, racism, and body-shaming in the gay community. (Stream on Hulu and Disney+.)

Miss Austen

This series, which aired on Masterpiece this year, is a literary mystery about Jane Austen’s older sister, Cassandra (played by the always fabulous Keeley Hawes). Though she was close to Jane and provided essential support for her writing, Cassandra also committed one of the most vexing crimes in literary history when she destroyed most of her late sister’s correspondence, a vast collection including thousands of letters that might have shed light on the author’s inner world. This series, based on Gill Hornby’s book, casts Cassandra in a sympathetic light, as a woman devoted to preserving her family’s privacy. (Stream on PBS Passport)

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Current Obsession: Heated Rivalry

Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie in Heated Rivalry ((Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max)

I have no idea how Jane Austen would feel about the gay hockey romance Heated Rivalry. (“What’s hockey?” she might wonder.)

I like to think she’d be a fan, given how the drama, currently streaming on HBO Max, shares many of the ingredients that make her novels so irresistible: sharply drawn characters with rich interior lives, insightful social commentary, sardonic humor, lots of unstated emotions, and even more illicit sex.

Ok…so maybe not that last part.

When I got a press release announcing that HBO Max was going to stream a Canadian series about two professional hockey players who meet as rookies and embark on a secret fling that “evolves into a years-long journey of love, denial, and self-discovery,” I thought, “Sounds trashy. I can’t wait!”

I was right in one regard: the series is compulsively watchable. I gobbled up five episodes in a few days, and it provided an ideal distraction from the soul-crushingly awful headlines of the past week.

As for the trashy part, I was only half right. Heated Rivalry is both smutty and incredibly sweet. Created by Jacob Tierney, it’s a well-crafted, surprisingly tender story about outwardly macho young men wrestling with their sexuality and trying to understand their feelings for each other. The basic premise makes it sound like porn. But a more apt comparison would be Brokeback Mountain, only with hockey players instead of sheepherders (and way less tragedy).

Based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers books, the series follows Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), a shy, straitlaced Canadian and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), the cocky Russian perceived as his nemesis. The truth is different: after a few brief encounters full of palpable attraction, Ilya and Shane begin to secretly hook up whenever they’re in the same city (and sext each other when they’re not).

Their situationship continues for years, as their trysts become more passionate and their feelings become frighteningly real. (Some have joked that the series should have been called Puck Buddies.) For various reasons, neither Ilya nor Shane is fully ready to come out of the closet or go public with their romance. Without coming off as preachy or moralizing, the show acknowledges the prevalence of homophobia in professional sports and the plight of queer people in Putin’s Russia.

Heated Rivalry works for the same reason that any romance works: because the audience desperately wants to see these two people together. A lot of that has to do with the lead actors: Both Storrie (who does a thoroughly convincing Russian accent) and Williams are excellent, able to convey a complicated blend of emotions through their expressions. Their chemistry is also astonishing, even when they’re not having sex, which they often are. (The show is most definitely NSFW.)

Heated Rivalry, which was developed for the Canadian streaming service Crave but picked up by HBO Max, has already been renewed for a second season. Like the books on which it’s based, it is popular not just with gay men but also with women, and it’s a major hit on social media.

The Season 1 finale drops next week, the day after Christmas, which should give you just enough time to catch up. In trying times, there’s nothing like some well-made smut to lift the spirits.

Meredith Blake is the culture columnist for The Contrarian