MartinPh Review of Pride & Prejudice

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Not as authentic as the series, but thoroughly excellent in its own right!

[9/10 · 26 September 2005]

I went to see this film with a friend who, like me, is a confirmed addict of the BBc 1995 version of P&P. We were utterly prepared to dislike this new version (talk about prejudice...). And we both came out raving. Given the limitations inherent in a 2 hour running time, I find it hard to imagine a more enticing, entrancing way of bringing P&P to the screen. Authenticity is no option in such a time span - if you want close adherence to the book, stick with the series. The movie is not nearly as meticulously researched and takes ample liberties with the sense of propriety and etiquette that governed Austen's genteel circles. In fact, the approach taken in the film is contrasted to the TV-series in almost every aspect, but this has it own rewards. Whereas the series sticks to an authentically early 19th century idiom, and the intimate and provincial feel that is pure Austen, the movie inserts modern day phrases and emotions in Austen's text, and is altogether more worldly, cosmopolitan even. The people are more beautiful by our standards, even though I'm sure the BBC Lizzy and Jane are far closer to the type of woman that would have been considered very beautiful in Austen's days (just look at portraits from that time period). In the series the Bennet's are a seriously dysfunctional family with an aloof father and a hysterical mother, but with a sense of standing intact (as they are in the book); in the film they are a scruffy, chaotic, but lovable and, actually, loving bunch. Brenda Blethyn tones down Mrs. Bennet's madness to a level where she becomes a believable and even sympathetic character. It is not what Austen wanted her to be - her disgust of the character is obvious throughout the book. But it makes for a more involving movie experience. Donald Sutherland's Mr. Bennet is a pleasant surprise, too, even though the make up department might have made some effort to disguise the fact that he has a very good dental plan. Keira Knightley is an excellent Lizzy. Feisty, effervescent, and melancholy in turn, she gets you involved in the character right away. Nor does Matthew MacFadyen need to fear the competition from Colin Firth. He is as dark, brooding and intriguing a Darcy as you could wish for, and his sudden emotional outpouring when he first confesses his love (set amidst the wide rainy vistas of Rosings (in fact, Stourhead) park rather than in the intimacy of Hunsford parsonage) is totally gripping. The movie very much pivots on these two characters, and the achievements of these two actors ensure that the essence of the story is there, completely. Where you loose, inevitably, is in the minor roles. Tom Hollander is, again, a more humanly believable Mr. Collins than we got in the series, but he is also somewhat flat, and does not erase memories of David Bamber's bizarre, yet peculiarly endearing rendition (and, again, Austen meant for Collins to be a comic caricature). Lydia and Wickham are reduced to devices needed to unfold the plot, and even Judi Dench as Lady Catherine is relegated to such a position. Her final confrontation with Lizzy was to me the most disappointing scene from the movie, and is no match for the power Barbara Leigh-Hunt brought to this scene, that ought to feel climactic. (An aristocratic lady of those days, by the way, would never have had such a tan...). All this is more than compensated for by gorgeous imagery. Locations, costumes, crowd scenes, landscapes: they are all stunning. The two balls in the first half of the movie are way more festive, inviting and crowded than the understated formal occasions they are in the series - raucous, too; though again, the series is probably closer to the kind of atmosphere in which people like the Bennet's and the Lucasses would have moved. Burghley as Rosings and Chatsworth and Wilton as Pemberley are way over the top, of course - no matter how grand Mr Darcy and Lady Catherine may look from the Meryton perspective, they most certainly do not belong to the circles of high aristocracy that would in actual fact have lived in houses of that size and splendor. Again, the series is more authentic; but what a feast for the eye these locations offer in the movie! In the end comparing this to the 1995 remake is as pointless as the endless discussions between proponents of period performance in classical music versus those preferring big orchestral versions of Mozart and Beethoven with modern instruments. For Beethoven as Beethoven knew it, you need the former; but the latter can offer no less, and sometimes even more musically and emotionally rewarding experiences. Both are valid in their own way, and we have the luxury of not having to choose, but being able to enjoy both. All in all, and judged on its own merits as a movie, this P&P is wonderful, and very much worthwhile to go and see!