Page 1 of 3
Universal / 2005 / 129 Minutes / Rated PG / Street Date: January 26, 2010
As someone whose favorite genres are science fiction and action-adventure, I’ve always found it a bit odd that I’m drawn to films based on the work of Jane Austen. Perhaps it’s her caustic wit. Perhaps it’s her insightful dissection of the social mores of her time. Perhaps it’s the tension created by the impediments to communication from within formalized behavior. Perhaps it’s the sheer emotional innocence of her melodramas appreciated from the vantage point of an age when sex seems to drive relationships forward. This is the tenth production - either for film or television - based on Austin’s novel Pride and Prejudice. And although it strays a tad from the novel, this film is directed masterfully by Joe Wright and superbly played by a wonderful cast.
Mrs. Bennet (Brenda Blethyn) is obsessed with marrying off her five daughters, preferably to the moneyed. She lives with her husband (Donald Sutherland) on a modest farm that is to pass to an odious male cousin, Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander); females do not inherit. The only hope she has to save her daughters from a life of poverty is to marry them well. So when a new neighbor, Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods) takes a nearby estate, and he’s reported to have an income of five thousand pounds per year, he immediately becomes the matrimonial target of opportunity for her oldest, Jane (the lovely Rosamund Pike). The first opportunity to introduce Jane to the newly arrived affluent neighbor comes at one of the county’s frequent balls.
Mr. Bingley arrives late with his arrogant and intolerant sister, Caroline (Kelly Reilly). She is the quintessential snob, a literal embodiment of the title’s prejudice, unable to find merit in anyone beneath her class. Also in tow is a friend, Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), a gentleman with a bit of an off-putting aristocratic demeanor that we will later learn is brought on by the discomfort of being among a group of strangers. For Darcy and second Bennet daughter Elizabeth (a radiant Keira Knightley in an Oscar nominated performance), it’s loathe at first sight. Her pride has been hurt by his imprudent remark; he’s put off by her antagonistic reaction.
Quite beautiful but proper and shy, Jane beguiles Bingley. With ingenious Machiavellian machinations, Mrs. Bennet ensures that they are thrown together. Nothing propinques like propinquity. Alas, any budding romance is nipped. Quite suddenly, Bingley flees to London, leaving a crushed Jane behind to ponder what could have gone wrong.
Elizabeth has her own romantic problems. Mr. Collins, at the suggestion of his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourg (Judi Dench), has come to the Bennet home to marry one of the daughters. When he proposes to Elizabeth, she will not have him despite her mother’s insistence. Elizabeth is rather outspoken and ahead of her time; she will marry for love, not convenience, even if the family home is in jeopardy. I suspect that her refusal may have been provoked by quite something else; when she finds herself thrust into the frequent company of Darcy, and finds herself highly conflicted.
Austen is a master at throwing one impediment after another in the way of true love and eternal bliss. The formalized behavior of the time, exacerbated by prideful stubbornness, make simple honesties during polite discourse all but impossible. There are rumors of Darcy’s inappropriate behavior, and there is a cad and a scandal, but these only serve as plot devices to create distance between the two protagonists destined to find love and happiness together. Only when truths are finally revealed are the lovers reunited with new appreciation and we finally breathe a sigh of relief. For this Austen romance, happily ever after may require a painful journey, but it’s a foregone conclusion.
Director Joe Wright is virtually a large production neophyte, but he has created a lovely visual feast. With wonderful compositions and an imaginative use of in-camera techniques, I found his approach to be unexpectedly compelling. There is a fascinating sequence during a second, more formal ball in which, as the principal cast members and extras drift about, he moves a SteadyCam forward and backward through crowded rooms to catch snatches of conversations that are all interrelated; lasting several minutes, it appears to be one long, elegant take. And at that same ball as Elizabeth and Darcy dance together, eyes locked, barbed tongues stilled, for a few brief moments Wright has everyone else vanish. Elizabeth and Darcy are alone with one another, further isolated by denied feelings of love.
Deborah Moggach is credited with adopting Jane Austen’s novel for the screen; uncredited for her punching up the screenplay is Emma Thompson, who impressed with her own Austen production, the delightful Sense and Sensibility (1995). Without losing Austen’s primary story threads, their approach is slightly more modern than previous screenplays of this work. Gone is the overarching economic influence of Lady Catherine de Bourg, her objections and ultimate reversal, acting as the facilitator between Darcy and Elizabeth. In this retelling, Darcy and Elizabeth come together quite on their own.
The ensemble cast is uniformly excellent. Brenda Blethyn’s Mrs. Bennet is amusingly desperate and socially clumsy. Donald Sutherland’s Mr. Bennet may be resigned to the whims of his home’s excessive estrogen but knows when to exert his authority. But this is Keira Knightley’s film. She is delightful, the perfect balance of strength and vulnerability. She is the quintessential Elizabeth Bennet, the finest interpretation of the role I’ve experienced. (Kudos to George Lucas. He showed exceptional judgment and good taste when he cast both Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley in The Phantom Menace, two outstanding young actresses with brilliant futures.)
Comments (0)