I promised a review of the newest version of Jane Austen's classic Pride & Prejudice and I'm nothing if not a lady of my word. I went to see a four o'clock show this afternoon and the theatre was packed and not just with women but with men as well. It was gratifying to see so many people choose to see Pride & Prejudice as opposed to the 50 Cent movie that just opened.
So what did I think? Well I'm kind of thumbs up and thumbs down on this adaptation. For one thing, unlike the 1995 mini-series, the movie is only two hours long, so most of the Wickham plot line is lost. We barely see him with Elizabeth before he disappears only to reappear married to Lydia.
Keira Knightly is a splendid Elizabeth. In fact I much preferred her to Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth in the 1995 mini-series. She's spirited and fun, although I'm not quite sure if Elizabeth is as much of a hoyden as they make her in this movie. She spends alot of time not wearing a bonnet, which wasn't at all period, and I can't imagine Mrs. Bennet allowing it. The NYTimes was accurate when they said how radiant and beautiful she was. I do give Jennifer Ehle points for being more handsome than beautiful. Matthew MacFadyen is not quite as dashing as Colin Firth, in fact he has a most unfortunate haircut during the movie, but he's much more accessible a character. You can feel his attraction to Lizzie, in fact during the proposal scene there was a moment when I thought he was going to grab her and have his way with her, the sexual tension was so palpable.
The one thing that really bothered me about the movie was that the Bennetts seem to live in genteel poverty in this film. Most of the time, I wanted to get a comb and brush their hair. The house was shabby in the extreme, as were the clothes. Now the Bennetts while not rich, are certainly not as bad off as this. At one point, you could see a pig wandering through the house. Even the attendees at the first assembly looked the worst for wear. It did however make a contrast when the Bingleys and Mr. Darcy showed up. Bingley in this version, seems to be a bit of a bumbling idiot, and Caroline and out and out shrew. I did however adore Tom Hollander as Mr. Collins, and Judi Dench stole every scene that she was in as Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Rosamund Pike was pretty as Jane but that's about it.
The scenes at the first assembly and at the ball at Netherfields, you really got a sense of what a crush was like back then. There's a wonderful moment during the Netherfield ball when Lizzie and Mr. Darcy are dancing and it's like they are the only people in the room, and then the camera pulls back and you see the rest of the people at the ball.
There were some strange moments in the film that made no sense. Darcy proposing to Elizabeth in the rain, Lady Catherine de Burgh showing up at the Bennetts in the middle of the night, Darcy and Elizabeth meeting again in their bedclothes when she tells him that she loves him. The scenes at Pemberly where Elizabeth wanders around a room full of half naked sculptures until she comes up on Darcy's head. It was just a little too obvious for words.
So if I had to give this adaptation a grade I would give it a B+. It's definitely worth a look without waiting for the DVD.
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