‘Jane Austen Wrecked My Life:’ A Chat With Filmmaker Laura Piani, Star Camille Rutherford [VIDEO]

Agathe (Camille Rutherford) is an awkward but witty and charming young woman who works at the iconic Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris. Her dream is to become an acclaimed author. Oh, and she wouldn’t mind finding the kind of love that the heroines in Jane Austen novels have experienced. But, alas, she can’t seem to write and Mr. Right doesn’t appear to be anywhere on her horizon. That is until her bestie, Félix (Pablo Pauly), submits a piece of her unfinished book to the Jane Austen Writer’s Residency in the UK. She apprehensively accepts and, despited a tragic event that makes traveling difficult, embarks on a journey that will be life-altering and that includes not one, but, two suitors. Charlie Anson co-stars as the initially blasé Oliver. 

With Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, writer-director Laura Piani has fashioned a delightful, bilingual, genre-blend first feature that will absolutely delight Austen fans but also enchant those unfamiliar with her oeuvre who simply want to enjoy a female empowering movie that also happens to be a throwback rom-com.

Rutherford is enchanting in the central role of Agathe, a woman whose past trauma has stopped her from soaring, yet she still dreams of writing a great novel and having a wonderful romance, in that order.

The actress’s first lead role was in Nicolas Knotz’s Low Life in 2011. She then played the titular role in Thomas Imbach’s Mary, Queen of Scots (2013). Subsequent screen credits include, Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013), Justine Triet’s Oscar-winning Anatomy of a Fall (2023) and the second part of Martin Bourboulon’s epic, The Three Musketeers: Milady (2023).

Piani has worked on numerous theatrical and TV feature scripts and series. In 2022, she made her first fiction short, Prudence Ledoux a le Vent en Poupe.

Sony Pictures Classics is releasing Jane Austen Wrecked My Life on May 23, 2025, in select cities, and on May 30, 2025, nationwide.

The Contending had the pleasure of video chatting with both filmmaker, Piani, and lead actress, Rutherford.