I've watched the film twice now and I have to say, I think this is a very lightweight version of Austen, There is nothing terribly bad about it, but nothing that great either. The one exception I would make is Carey Mulligan's Isabella Thorpe. She is very good as the manipulative and venal Isabella. But she also has a tinge of the pathetic about her. She seems to be a person who is determined to make the wrong decisions. As always in Davies adaptations, it is the 'villains' who are more interesting, but not even Andrew Davies and Mulligan can make John and Isabella Thorpe more than simply manipulative and venal. Felicity Jones is suitably innocent as Catherine, Fields is kind and understanding as Henry. The great Liam Cunningham is criminally wasted as Gen Tilney though. Everyone else is very nice and the costumes are lovely. Lismore Castle makes for a suitably large and intimidating Abbey and Dublin makes for a great 19th Century Bath.
In conclusion it's all very nice and pretty, (a kiss of death IMO) . The biggest gripe apart from the lack of any real tension and conflict in the plot would be Davies obligatory insertion of sexual misbehavior that is just so unlike Austen's novel. The Gothic elements introduced by Catherine's vivid dreams seem to have been heavily inspired by the 1987 version. I could be wrong about that, perhaps every adaptation has these boring dream sequences.
All in all, not my favourite Austen. You should never be bored by Austen.
In conclusion it's all very nice and pretty, (a kiss of death IMO) . The biggest gripe apart from the lack of any real tension and conflict in the plot would be Davies obligatory insertion of sexual misbehavior that is just so unlike Austen's novel. The Gothic elements introduced by Catherine's vivid dreams seem to have been heavily inspired by the 1987 version. I could be wrong about that, perhaps every adaptation has these boring dream sequences.
All in all, not my favourite Austen. You should never be bored by Austen.