I wasn’t thrilled with the movie, but was re-watching it with my ILs last night, and I noticed something. It seems like the director was trying to convey the idea of raw sexuality bubbling just under the surface (which I actually think is a kind of a cool juxtaposition with the ridiculously staid manners of Austen’s world). Tell me if I’m just crazy, but I noticed: [ul]as Mr. Bennet leads a pig, the camera lingers on the pig’s enormous balls, and it seems Mrs. Bennet takes notice of them too
[li]I swear Lizzy checks out Wickham’s butt in the ribbon shop[/li][li]Bingley visits Jane while she’s in bed sick (something I understand pissed Janeites right off)[/li][li]A good deal of time is given to Lizzy looking at the statues in Pemberly, with camera angles accentuating butts, etc. and again implying that her gaze lingers in the genital region of a male figure[/li][li]At the end, the Bennets are in bed, and it looks like Mr. Bennet is leaning over Mrs. Bennet amorously just as the camera pans away[/ul] [/li]And probably a couple other things I’ve already forgotten. So do I just have sex on the brain, or was the director making a statement, do you think?
You ain’t crazy.
Nope, you don’t have sex on the brain. In the novel, the two leads don’t even so much as kiss. In the BBC mini-series, which many consider the definitive version, they barely touch until
The closest you get to sex in most versions is the way Lydia runs off with Wickham to be scandously ruined.
. . . I finish my sentence. Lizzie and Darcy barely touch until they’re engaged in the mini-series, barring dancing. Then you see a rather chaste touching of the lips, and then it cuts to a double wedding between Jane and Bingley and Lizzie and Darcy, with I think one more very chaste kiss.
This latest (rather bad in some respects) version is the sexiest of them all. Especially that scene where Lizzie runs around in the rain for hours in an absolutely soaking dress.