Amarinth and I were chatting on IM the other day and she mentioned her plan to get together with a fellow P&P fan to watch all the movie versions one after another – the BBC and the Keira Knightley, of course, but also Bride and Prejudice (a.k.a. "the Bollywood version) – which I, for one, like a lot – and “the Mormon one”. “Whazzat?” says I, “there’s a Mormon version?” Yes indeedy – although, alas, it’s not available on Netflix. Not to be deterred, I found a copy at Amazon and ordered it, and it came a couple of days ago – and I watched it tonight.
It’s not nearly as bad as I expected. The fact that (most of) the characters are Mormon is kind of background buzz – there’s one scene in a church, a couple of references to Bible study, and that’s it – well, that and the fact that Mormon Utah and Regency England share some expectations about the importance of a woman being married.
The plot is incredibly loosely based on the original – even more loosely than Bride and Prejudice, which, despite dumping one sister and several other characters and several strands of the plot, stayed pretty close to its source. So purists – stay away, it will drive you batshit.
The rest of you – if it strikes you as possibly amusing, well, I thought it was.
I saw it a couple of years ago–though I thought I got it from Netflix. It wasn’t great, and it wasn’t terrible. I wouldn’t bother with it again unless a friend wanted to see it or something. My favorite scene was the bit where she beans the guy with the hymnal. Heh.
Well, of anyone being married, male or female. Actually there are slightly fewer decent Mormon guys* than women, so there are more single LDS women than single LDS men. But Mormons share some of the behaviors about marriage and family that Austen dealt with (sans the fortunes), but that you would no longer find in most groups. So someone thought it would make a cute movie.
It was part of a wave of Mormon movies that started being made several years ago–most of them don’t need to show off the LDS aspect very blatantly, because it will be obvious to the intended audience. And there are probably a lot of little things that non-LDS folks won’t catch, but it won’t be that important either.
*That’s why the bizarro guy who gets beaned/Mr. Collins is as he is; single LDS girls will usually meet one at some point. He’s desperate, he’s weird (and not in a good way), and he’s still single at 30 for a reason. He homes in on the new 18-yo girls every year in hopes of finding someone who will go out with him. The moviemaker turned Mr. C. into a familiar type that everyone knows.
Weird. I returned my copy to Netflix in 1/06, according to their records, yet it is true you can’t rent it from them today. I didn’t scratch it, I promise!
I agree with your assessment, twickster. It’s a little bland, but not as bad as you’d think. (I also agree that Bride and Prejudice is great - thanks for the recommendation in another Jane thread.)
Well, I’m an Austen purist, but I kind of liked this one. I guess I don’t require the same strict accuracy in ‘reimaginings’ that I do in actual adaptations.
I’m not a Mormon, but I was raised in a town with a large LDS population and my sister married into a Mormon family and was a church member for years. She and her husband graduated from BYU and still live in the Provo area (Springville, actually) and I’ve visited them there many times. So when I watched the movie, I enjoyed picking out the Austen components and I was also on the lookout for Mormon stuff (look! It looks like a bible study class, but that girl is holding The Pearl of Great Price!). It was a cute movie, I thought.
I moved it off the “limbo” list when I ordered a copy – will go back now and rate it. (I’m starting to think I may up my Netflix account from “one at a time, two a month” to “one at a time, unlimited” – esp. with the writer’s strike and my recent enthusiasm for knitting, I may be watching more movies over the next few months…)
I like this version. But then again, I like almost every version of P&P I have seen (except for BJD, but that’s another story).
My major quibble with this version is the actor who played Bingley. That guy couldn’t act like he was falling if you pushed him off a cliff. His bizarre line delivery took me out of the movie a couple of times. But I liked the actors who played Elizabeth and Darcy.
I have almost no experience with Mormon culture, but it didn’t seem overt to me. There is a hidden version of the movie on the DVD with more of the Mormon elements left in. I watched both versions but really couldn’t tell the difference, aside from the mention of a “Temple divorce.”