Austen

Nearly every line in the film’s ferociously hilarious first hour is like Jane Austen reborn as a shock jock, until Song runs out of material and starts repeating herself.

In the grip of a serious case of writer's block, her life takes a fortuitous turn when she is accepted at a Jane Austen retreat after Félix secretly submits an application on her behalf.

Good thing, then, that Felix, posing as her agent, sends off a few chapters of her fantasy-induced writing to the Jane Austen Residency.

The village of Little Nettlebed seems straight from Jane Austen, until its inhabitants start claiming that the five Mansfield sisters have more in common with Rachel Yoder’s “Nightbitch” than proper young Enlightenment ladies.

Still, that first ballot is very important, says Austen Ivereigh, a Catholic writer and commentator.