Romance ahead of its time
Brianne Diangelo
Issue date: 12/6/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment
If you think, like Charlotte Bronte did, of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as a "carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders; but no open country, no fresh air," then the latest film adaptation of the classic novel will get you thinking again.
Director Joe Wright and screenwriter Deborah Moggach have created a beautiful, engaging movie that both adheres to Austen's plot and, at the same time, does something very interesting with its presentation. Pride and Prejudice is really for anyone; it's romantic, funny, and above all, real.
The movie tells the story of love and economics in class-conscious 18th century England. Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) and her four sisters have all been raised by their mother (Brenda Blethyn) with one purpose in life: marriage.
The hunt is officially on when wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley (Woods) and his even wealthier best friend Mr. Darcy (MacFayden) take up residence in a nearby estate. Their arrival throws the Bennets into a panic, and Lizzie into something else entirely when Darcy is rude to her on their first meeting.
How these two come to change their attitudes and their hearts is a familiar story, seen even such in contemporary movies as You've Got Mail and Bridget Jones. What is different here is how the movie takes Austen's literary characters and makes them incredibly real and human.
The film isn't set in the costume-porn world of most period adaptations, but in a realistic 1797 England. The Bennets exist within a kinetic and natural environment, and that really works to contrast with the studied tableaux of the upper-class.
Knightley plays Lizzie as a funny, brazen, intelligent girl with a luminous and expressive face, whose words tumble out of her mouth in their eagerness to be said.
All of the actors are superb (especially Tom Hollander as Bennet cousin, Mr. Collins), however the filmmakers wise choice to focus mostly on Elizabeth's story and Knightley's performance is the best reason to see this film.
You don't have to know anything at all about Austen to appreciate the impeccable acting and intense emotion between MacFayden and Knightley, and if you do know Austen, you will definitely be intrigued.
My only complaints about the movie are in regards to some of the editing, done perhaps for time constraints, and which could make a few scenes a little confusing. And in a film full of really beautiful moments the final two scenes between Elizabeth and Darcy are disappointments, almost as if the movie is trying too hard to get all the women in the audience to swoon. There was a tinge of corniness here that just didn't sit well with the rest of the film.
Despite this misstep, it's still one of those movies where, half-way through, you sit hoping it will never end. Pride and Prejudice definitely got that right.
Director Joe Wright and screenwriter Deborah Moggach have created a beautiful, engaging movie that both adheres to Austen's plot and, at the same time, does something very interesting with its presentation. Pride and Prejudice is really for anyone; it's romantic, funny, and above all, real.
The movie tells the story of love and economics in class-conscious 18th century England. Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) and her four sisters have all been raised by their mother (Brenda Blethyn) with one purpose in life: marriage.
The hunt is officially on when wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley (Woods) and his even wealthier best friend Mr. Darcy (MacFayden) take up residence in a nearby estate. Their arrival throws the Bennets into a panic, and Lizzie into something else entirely when Darcy is rude to her on their first meeting.
How these two come to change their attitudes and their hearts is a familiar story, seen even such in contemporary movies as You've Got Mail and Bridget Jones. What is different here is how the movie takes Austen's literary characters and makes them incredibly real and human.
The film isn't set in the costume-porn world of most period adaptations, but in a realistic 1797 England. The Bennets exist within a kinetic and natural environment, and that really works to contrast with the studied tableaux of the upper-class.
Knightley plays Lizzie as a funny, brazen, intelligent girl with a luminous and expressive face, whose words tumble out of her mouth in their eagerness to be said.
All of the actors are superb (especially Tom Hollander as Bennet cousin, Mr. Collins), however the filmmakers wise choice to focus mostly on Elizabeth's story and Knightley's performance is the best reason to see this film.
You don't have to know anything at all about Austen to appreciate the impeccable acting and intense emotion between MacFayden and Knightley, and if you do know Austen, you will definitely be intrigued.
My only complaints about the movie are in regards to some of the editing, done perhaps for time constraints, and which could make a few scenes a little confusing. And in a film full of really beautiful moments the final two scenes between Elizabeth and Darcy are disappointments, almost as if the movie is trying too hard to get all the women in the audience to swoon. There was a tinge of corniness here that just didn't sit well with the rest of the film.
Despite this misstep, it's still one of those movies where, half-way through, you sit hoping it will never end. Pride and Prejudice definitely got that right.
