Questions/confusion.. .

The man Fanny married had been a friend of the family (I believe possibly a distant relative through her mother). It does seem Fanny may have married out of a sense of duty to her family and an obligation to marry well. There may have been some affection, but it was not a love marriage. Fanny's later life had a lot of heartache (most of her stepchildren and children died before her).

No one knows if Austen loved any of them or anyone else. She seemed to have liked Harris Bigg-Wither as a friend but that is all. The relationship with Thomas Lefroy is nearly all speculation and conjecture. She does mention flirting with him in her letters; but most of the references about him in the letters are tongue in cheek, so it's hard to know how serious she was about him. There certainly wasn't any aborted elopement attempts, and she probably did not stay at Lefroy's uncle's. It does appear that Rev Bridges was interested in Austen, possibly enough to propose; but if he did actually propose, she turned him down for reasons not really clear except that she didn't choose to accept. My own opinion is that Austen knew marriage and children would curtail her writing and freedom and she didn't want that, especially not without love. And I don't think she found that in the men who proposed to her.

No Cassandra never married, and seemed to consider herself a widow the rest of her life. Jane died 3 years before Fanny married.

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.

I think everybody else is answering about the widower with six children who became Fanny's husband, but if I am reading correctly, you are asking about the reference of Mr. Papillon in relation to JA.

As I have replied in the other thread, the reference to Mr. Papillon was a joke, but a joke that JA herself even included in her correspondence, not as a real intention to marry him.

My estimation of both films are opposite to you. Becoming Jane rates very low IMO, not endearing at all and quite forgettable, it is even offensive the suggested idea that Lefroy -as portrayed in the film- helped to make her a true writer. In the wise words of Cher (the main character in Clueless) "As if". Hmphh. That film is fiction, whereas Miss Austen Regrets is more fact-fundamented and even some quotes and references can be recognized and traced from her works and letters.