Well, it's pretty hard, isn't it, to write a spoiler for a film which is based on such a well-known, well-loved novel! I will show my hand here and say that I am a Janeite. However, I am not a purist and I like many Jane Austen adaptations that many Janeites don't (for example I like 'Mansfield Park'). I enjoyed 'Bride and prejudice' for its colour and fun. The attempt to update 'P&P' to a contemporary Indian setting worked well most of the time, with the translation to India being effective because it is a society where arranged marriages are still an accepted way to go. The script did a pretty good job of capturing the essence of the story whilst playing around with some of the details eg cutting out the fifth daughter whose role in the story is pretty minimal, and making the 'tyrant' in Darcy's life his mother not his aunt (a more realistic situation in its modern setting). I loved the 'no life without a wife' song and dance routine though it reminded me at times of the 'Matchmaker' song in 'Fiddler on the roof'. However, the film suffered a little, for a number of reasons, the main ones being that it left the Bollywood- style when it went to Hollywood (which changed the tone of the film), it didn't really find a good way to make Wickham as wicked as he is in the original, and there did not seem to be the same desperate need to be married as there was for the Bennet sisters in 'P&P'. These modern Indian women had jobs and could, it appeared, be independent without having husbands, removing the urgency that drives its 'P&P' original. Despite this, though, it does manage to incorporate some of the satire against pomposity and the arrogance of the moneyed class that makes 'P&P' more than a simple romance. Overall, then, I found it a fun film and an entertaining take on my favourite novel.
Reviews
2 Reviews
House of Sand and Fog
(2003)
Complex story, well-acted, but over-done cinematically
3 March 2004
When a needy but flawed woman comes into conflict with a similarly needy immigrant family, feathers (as they say) are going to fly. And when that woman is played by Jennifer Connelly and the head of that family is played by Ben Kingsley, chances are that you're in for a treat. That's how it should have been - and to some degree that's how it was. The story centres around a conflict over a house that is auctioned in error through government bungling and the owner's inattention, and the attempts by the owner (Jennifer Connelly) to get it back from the Iranian immigrants who buy it for a good price. Along the way she hooks up with the deputy sheriff who evicted her. All of the protagonists are flawed and this enables the viewer to empathise with both parties in the dispute, sometimes more heavily with one side and then the other as they see-saw towards a resolution. The film is spoilt though by a heavy-handed cinematic style. We didn't need crashing waves, and large setting suns to get the feeling! Nor did we need clichéd music to underscore that feeling. It's worth seeing though for fine performances by Connelly and Kingsley in particular, and for its intelligent plot.
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