Prejudiced Movie Review

I finally saw the most recent version of Pride and Prejudice. I really never intended to see it, mostly because I am sick to death of Keira Knightley, but also because the trailers looked suspect to me.

I'm a big fan of the book, and of two prior mini-series versions of it. I really didn't think a 2-hourish movie could do the story justice.

I still don't think it can. The Keira version is not exactly ambitious. A lot of characters are cut out, and a lot of scenes are blended with one another to shorten the film. Visually, it is a departure, because the filmmaker seems to be aiming for realism in his depiction of the era. The problem with such an approach is that Jane Austen wasn't about clotheslines or pigs and chickens in the Bennet yard. She was about the relationships and manners going on inside the Bennet house.

Now for a little pettiness. Another visual departure is the physical appearance of Elizabeth. Keira's figure is as distracting to me for its lack of curves as Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth was distracting for her overabundance (she's, shall we say, blessed). Plus I find Keira's grinning to be weird-looking. Her smile looks like a dog growling and showing its teeth. You know. To me.

I think many of the characters were robbed of their interesting qualities by the time constraints. Mrs. Bennet in particular is not fully fleshed out, and that's a shame because her character is rather amusing. I'm not sure someone unfamiliar with the story could follow this version very well, but I'd have to find out from someone unfamiliar with the story.

In this version, Mr. Darcy is played by Matthew Macfadyen, who does a wonderful job. He makes Mr. Darcy much more sympathetic a character early on than he is in the previous versions I linked to. He comes off more obviously shy than rude. To compliment his portrayal is high praise, since I absolutely love Colin Firth--another Mr. Darcy.

Beyond my comparisons to the prior versions, and looking at the movie in its own right, I did find myself drawn in towards the end. A girl always loves a love story, and this is a love story that has been adored for nearly two centuries. Our heroine gets her man, and we even get a (very) little look at their life after the wedding...something denied us by the mini-series versions. It's going to have to rank below those two versions for me, however. But that doesn't mean I won't watch it again or don't recommend it.

I'd be curious to know what someone who didn't know the story thinks of the movie. So all you boys go rent it and let me know. I'd use my own little guinea pig, but he's been forced to watch the Colin Firth version already.

Posted by Jenelle at May 16, 2006 11:52 PM | TrackBack