It is a truth universally acknowledged that a classic novel of such fame as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice must be in want of a film adaptation. I have just finished watching Joe Wright’s attempt to bring what is one of my favorite stories to life, and I have to admit…I liked it. I long ago pledged my heart irrevocably to the Beeb’s 1996 miniseries where Colin Firth swims in the lake (siiiiigh) and Jennifer Ehle made the case for a smart and sarcastic romantic heroine. And while this film couldn’t possibly hope to do justice to Austen’s novel in two hours, it does a remarkably effective job of hitting the emotional highpoints and creating complicated, sympathetic characters in Lizzie (Keira Knightley) and Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen).
The emotional theme of Deborah Moggach's screenplay was secrets. The audience’s journey is to watch the emotional toll on Lizzie of the secrets she must keep: the real reason Jane is left jilted by Mr. Bingley, her infamous first proposal from Mr. Darcy, his later benevolence that saves her family from ruin, and her darkest secret of all, her growing feelings for Darcy. Darcy must learn, conversely, to reveal secrets in order to acquaint Lizzie with his true character, to show he is capable of loving, that her headlong rush into sympathy for Wickham was misguided, and to subtly shift her social perceptions about the “cold” upper class.
I really wanted to hate Keira Knightley in this role. She’s no Jennifer Ehle. Yet she portrays a more human Lizzie than Ehle, one who is headstrong but shows at times a lack of confidence, a raw sensitivity that is implied by Austen but never fully explored. At times she is full of laughter and impertinent remarks, at others socially awkward and agonizing around Darcy as she becomes fully aware of the impropriety of her family and the lack of generosity she showed him early in their acquaintance. MacFadyen is suitably hunky as Darcy. He’s less brooding and intense than Colin Firth, portraying Darcy as someone who is powerfully shy, stiffened by years of social training, but eager to love and to be open with someone he can trust with that vulnerability.
The cinematography of the movie is breathtaking, and the beautiful shots of Hertfordshire and Darbyshire made up, in my opinion, for the sin-against-Austen of portraying country life in all its gritty realism. I’m all for keeping Lizzie in filmy white dresses, showing her frolicking across the fields as a lush piano soundtrack plays. I’m of the opinion that if Ms. Austen wanted me to know that Lizzie and Darcy declare their love in the muddy pig pen of her father’s grimy country house, near the woodpile, with geese squawking at their feet, with Lizzie in the same dress she’d been wearing all week, she would have. My romantic sensibilities were a little offended by seeing the flighty Mrs. Bennett portrayed by Brenda Blethyn as an alcoholic. So, in this sense, I felt Wright let Austen down, in not preserving the golden sheen of her novels that portray country life in Georgian England as all carriages, empire-waisted frocks and parasols. But it’s a compelling movie nonetheless. Austen geeks like me should give it a chance and try not compare it to the miniseries. And, oh yeah, Judi Dench as Lady Catherine is something to see. Hearing her bark, “Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?!” is worth the admission alone.
The emotional theme of Deborah Moggach's screenplay was secrets. The audience’s journey is to watch the emotional toll on Lizzie of the secrets she must keep: the real reason Jane is left jilted by Mr. Bingley, her infamous first proposal from Mr. Darcy, his later benevolence that saves her family from ruin, and her darkest secret of all, her growing feelings for Darcy. Darcy must learn, conversely, to reveal secrets in order to acquaint Lizzie with his true character, to show he is capable of loving, that her headlong rush into sympathy for Wickham was misguided, and to subtly shift her social perceptions about the “cold” upper class.
I really wanted to hate Keira Knightley in this role. She’s no Jennifer Ehle. Yet she portrays a more human Lizzie than Ehle, one who is headstrong but shows at times a lack of confidence, a raw sensitivity that is implied by Austen but never fully explored. At times she is full of laughter and impertinent remarks, at others socially awkward and agonizing around Darcy as she becomes fully aware of the impropriety of her family and the lack of generosity she showed him early in their acquaintance. MacFadyen is suitably hunky as Darcy. He’s less brooding and intense than Colin Firth, portraying Darcy as someone who is powerfully shy, stiffened by years of social training, but eager to love and to be open with someone he can trust with that vulnerability.
The cinematography of the movie is breathtaking, and the beautiful shots of Hertfordshire and Darbyshire made up, in my opinion, for the sin-against-Austen of portraying country life in all its gritty realism. I’m all for keeping Lizzie in filmy white dresses, showing her frolicking across the fields as a lush piano soundtrack plays. I’m of the opinion that if Ms. Austen wanted me to know that Lizzie and Darcy declare their love in the muddy pig pen of her father’s grimy country house, near the woodpile, with geese squawking at their feet, with Lizzie in the same dress she’d been wearing all week, she would have. My romantic sensibilities were a little offended by seeing the flighty Mrs. Bennett portrayed by Brenda Blethyn as an alcoholic. So, in this sense, I felt Wright let Austen down, in not preserving the golden sheen of her novels that portray country life in Georgian England as all carriages, empire-waisted frocks and parasols. But it’s a compelling movie nonetheless. Austen geeks like me should give it a chance and try not compare it to the miniseries. And, oh yeah, Judi Dench as Lady Catherine is something to see. Hearing her bark, “Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?!” is worth the admission alone.