How dare you tease us like this? I thought there was a NEW new P&P coming.
It was… different, but fine. The Bennets were poorer than I think they were meant to be. The girls are farm girls who clean up really well. Mrs. Bennet was more realistic and more depressing.
Colin Firth is still the champ as Mr. Darcy, though.
And how will it compare with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?
We also have Bride and Prejudice and Lost in Austen retelling Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s story: the Jane Austen industry is still going strong!
I thought it was okay, but really prefer the Colin Firth / Jennifer Ehle. The miniseries “felt” much more like the book, more like the feel and pace of life in the early 19th century. Of course, having more time in a miniseries format helps. The movie may have looked a bit more authentic in some ways, but I feel the miniseries was more how JA would have seen it through her eyes, not seeing the dim lighting, smokieness unsanitary living. The movie is probably more like the period would look to modern eyes used to bright artificial light and chemical colors.
Also, while Kiera Knightly may be the latest darling of period pieces, she does not look remotely attractive in a period sense - the casting in the miniseries with soft, rounded features and bodies was more correct for gentlewomen. The starved dingy look sported by Ms. Knightly would work better for a factory girl or very low-level servant.
I have a good friend who loves Jane Austin as well as who disagrees with me entirely and vastly prefers the movie to the miniseries, so obviously YMMV.
Of the four versions I’m acquainted with, it is my least favorite (and that includes the Garson/Olivier one). Too much is excised, Wickham is watered down, and the main characters do not behave in an Austen-like manner, especially at the end where they run around the countryside half-dressed.
I much prefer the Ehle/Firth and Rintoul/Garvie versions–the latter has fine performances from the leads, but the low-budget production values that a lot of early 1980s BBC & ITV series.
It’s not bad. I prefer the Ehle/Firth version, but if I want a two-hour P&P fix then this movie will do.
The movie has some really nice shots in it - I particularly like the party scenes. I like the more sympathetic portrayal of Mr. Collins, but I’m not sure if the depiction of Mr. & Mrs. Bennett as a loving couple is nice, or if it ruins Austen’s point about being “unable to respect your partner in life”.
I don’t much like Macfadyen’s characterization of the pre-proposal Mr. Darcy, but he’s great at the end of the movie. Knightly doesn’t look right for the part, but I think she does well enough.
Yes, and the absence of hats and bonnets on the women is jarring.
I loved the movie version. Colin Firth’s ok as Darcy, but I still much prefer the film with Knightley and McFadyen. I’m sure that consigns to me to the outer realm of heathens, but who cares.
By the way, I took two teenagers (typical, into hip-hop and everything current) to see it while it was still at the theatre and they loved it. were on the edge of their seats wondering what would happen next.
I bet Darcy is really tricky to play. He’s a very subtle character. He doesn’t say much, he doesn’t even move very much. He’s always staring out of a window. He’s often not even around. But then when he starts expressing interest in Lizzy at Lady Catherine’s he’s really interesting. It’s really romantic when a man moves outside his comfort zone to go talk to a pretty girl. And then when he meets Lizzy and the Gardiners visiting Pemberley, he really kicks into high gear: he’s been humbled by Lizzy’s rejection and he knows he hasn’t got much time to make a good impression on her and her relations.
I’d never seen any Austen adaptations at all before seeing the 2005 version, and I loved it. Funny, witty, with great acting, beautiful cinematography and a particularly good (Oscar-nominated) soundtrack. I’ve since read the book and seen both the Olivier and the Firth/Ehle versions, and liked them too, but I still have a soft spot for the 2005 film. The fact that I have a huge crush on Keira Knightley has nothing to do with it, dammit!
I have a confession.
I have watched the Kiera Knightley version at least…um…100 times and find her performance perfect. I love everyone in it, but too me the true battle is not of the Lizzies but the battle of who is the better Mr Collins’. They are both superb in the interpretation that I adore both of them in their toady ways.
Fun fact: David Bamber, who played Mr. Collins in the Firth/Ehle version, plays Hitler in the Tom Cruise WWII movie Valkyrie, and Tom Hollander, who played Mr. Collins in the Macfadyen/Knightley version, plays Col. Brandt, a top aide of der Fuhrer’s.
Heh. I love this movie. The scruffy Bennet place, the way Elizabeth regards the artwork in Darcy’s mansion, all the nervousness and stammering and misunderstanding. It’s great. Haven’t seen the other ones.
I didn’t like Mr. Darcy portrayed as a Bronte character.
I love Jennifer Ehle, but she was really too old to be Elizabeth. And Jane was not pretty enough.
I think Knightley did okay as Elizabeth. There were a lot of things I didn’t like about the movie, but the casting was okay. The thing that bothered me most were all the Bronte-esque touches (like the proposal scene in the thunderstorm).
Which is completey awesome by its title, which makes this tread…er…easily explainable. Sorry, ladies. I will leave now.