Anne Hathaway stars as a young Jane Austen, an author and independent thinker in 1795, an era when women are expected to keep to their place. She also refuses an arranged marriage that could save her parents from poverty, and intends to marry for love. Also with James Cromwell, Maggie Smith, Julie Waters, Jessica Ashworth, Anna Maxwell Martin, Laurence Fox, Ian Richardson, and Joe Anderson. Directed by Julian Jarrold. [1:52]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - We see a middle-aged husband and wife lying side-by-side on their backs in bed, under covers and fully clothed in long nightshirts and sleeping caps; the husband moves under the covers with his head and arms below the wife's waist, we see some movement, and the wife smiles as the scene ends (oral sex is implied).
► Two young men run out of a house, remove their jackets and vests as they run, we see them from a distance later and their bare buttocks and backs are visible as they jump into a river (two young women hiding behind a tree see the young men, and then smile as they run back to the house).
► At a formal ball, a young woman and young man are shown kissing (we she only their silhouettes). A young man kisses a young woman and asks her to elope; she agrees, kisses his hands, they embrace, and the scene ends. A young man and a young woman begin to kiss on a staircase in candlelight, but are interrupted and go their separate ways. A young man briefly kisses a young woman on the mouth and they depart in different directions. A young husband and wife kiss as they leave the church after their wedding. A young man and a young woman kiss.
► In a boxing scene, a young woman wearing a low-cut dress bends forward over a young man who has been knocked down by a punch and is lying face-up on the floor; as more of her cleavage is revealed the young man smiles at her, gets up and the scene ends. In a boxing scene, a fighter is knocked down, gets back up, kisses the nearest woman and returns to boxing.
► Women wear low-cut gowns and long gowns with deeply cut necklines that reveal little to large amounts of cleavage in several scenes. There are three separate boxing matches where contestants are bare-chested during the bouts. Two women are shown briefly in long underwear-type gowns that cover them except for a portion of shoulders and a little cleavage. A woman unbuttons the suit coat of a man, he looks embarrassed and re-buttons it, and then another young woman approaches him, tickles his chest with a feather and moves on.
► A man and a woman stare into each another's eyes meaningfully and later as the woman reads from a book the man watches her from across the room with tears in his eyes. A young man and young woman run out of their individual bedrooms, they meet in the hallway, stop, look each other up and down, run back to their rooms, slam the doors and we see each of them smile as the scene ends.
► At a gathering of family and friends a young woman reads her essay about the love and courtship between another young woman and her fiancé; one phrase states that the fiancé's attentions were, "violent, but no boundaries were crossed." A young woman and a young man dance together at a formal ball, flirting with staring and smiles. A young woman states, "Flirting is a woman's trade. One must keep in practice" and "Experience can recommend a man..." A young woman reads a book and we hear a voiceover of a few passages that suggest romance and sexual intimacy. An older woman suggests to a young woman that she should date her rich nephew.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - There are three boxing matches in which young men are punched in the face and kicked in the side and stomach: Twice, a man is knocked unconscious, another time, a man is shown with blood on his face after having been kicked, and a man is shown with bloody lips after he is knocked out.
► A young man examines a rifle in a cottage and it goes off accidentally sending flames out and we hear a loud bang (no one is injured).
► A man receives a letter stating that his future son-in-law has died in the war, he grieves, and his daughter bursts into tears and is inconsolable.
► A fire-eater is shown in close-up blowing large flames out of his mouth, while torch jugglers juggle fire and wave several torches around themselves; a young woman nearly steps into a torch, but draws back just in time. A man at a formal ball accidentally stomps on a woman's foot, she cries out, but she is not injured.
► A young couple disagrees and argues. At dinner a man and a young woman argue. A judge sentences a man to be executed by hanging (we hear a groan from the courtroom). A judge growls very loudly when he receives a letter about the young woman, and argues loudly with his nephew. A young woman and her mother argue about her refusal of a marriage proposal, and the mother curses and stabs a shovel into the dirt strongly. A young woman gets up to bat in a men's cricket match, and the female spectators yell loudly at her to stop. A man states that crimes and criminals are cankers and, "cankers are cut out." A young woman tears an essay to pieces and tosses it away angrily, she then opens a trunk, looks through more of her writings and throws them down in frustrated anger.

LANGUAGE 1 - 1 mild obscenity, name-calling (canker, impertinent man, wench, wild people, husband-trencher, whoremonger, old maid), one sarcastic remark about a "mere woman."

SUBSTANCE USE - At several dinner parties there are glasses of wine and ale on the tables and some diners drink from them, wine and ale are consumed in a tavern by men and women watching a boxing match, two women drink wine, wine is sipped by several individuals in several scenes, and wine is poured for a man, but he is not shown drinking it.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Social status/class and duty, income differences, arranged marriage, love, romance, independent thought, women's rights, writing, educational inequities, relationships, disappointment, family, faith, integrity, steadfastness, success.

MESSAGE - Despite bitter disappointment, one can still succeed with integrity, faith in oneself, and family support.