Pride & Prejudice 2005

[hafital]

First of all, I absolutely loved it. It was beautiful and lush, and also very different from most Austen adaptations, and certainly very different from the A&E P&P, which I also loved. In a way, it's good they're so different - I can love them both independently of the other. They both have things the other adaptation doesn't have, so that's nice.

There was a fair amount of changes with this version -- the biggest being it's set about 15 years earlier than typical. Some characters are lost (the Hursts, Maria Lucas, etc.). Some big scenes are missing. The first proposal scene takes place outside. Lady Catharine shows up in the middle of the night and scolds Lizzy inside the drawing room where the whole family listens to them, instead of outside and privately. The Lambton Inn scene takes place with the Gardeners present instead of with Lizzy and Darcy being alone. And a bunch of other little stuff.

Aside from these big changes, there was a lot changed to the time period. Lots of little liberties with the characters, the language, the clothing -- all less formal than is strictly correct for the time period. Some of the customs. The characters did many things that people of that time would never do. They made the Bennets a lot earthier, a lot more farm-like than they are in the book.

For the most part, all of this worked well, I thought, and rather a lot like many of the fan fic I've read. I particularly loved what they did with the first proposal scene which not only changed locations to the outside (and in the rain -- Wet!Lizzy, Wet!Darcy), but also gave Lizzy and Darcy much more of an active confrontation and they say a lot of things to each other which, in the book, was either never said or only inferred or was later learned. Much of what was told to us in letters or just in the narrative is turned into dialogue and the characters have more immediacy. Many of the hidden emotions of the book where brought forth and spoken by the characters, which follows the historically inaccuracy of the film since those emotions were hidden for a reason to begin with, but I found it absolutely wonderful to hear these characters tell each other how much they love, or how scared they are, etc. There was also new material, scenes written just for this film which I loved -- one particularly charming scene between Darcy and Bingley, and the lovely epilogue of Darcy and Lizzy already married at Pemberley, which made me particularly happy, since we NEVER get to see post wedding, ever, in any of Austen's work.

One change that did not work for me was the Lambton Inn scene. It was jarring and I longed for Lizzy and Darcy to share that scene privately, the way they should have. Something else that didn't work for me was Wickham. Whether it was the casting or the fact that he had very little screen time, I thought he didn't have the weight of a true scoundrel at all, and 95% of the Lydia/Wickham stuff is never seen and feels weird when the letter arrives announcing they've eloped. I appreciated the tight POV on Lizzy which prevented us from ever following Darcy's story, but I missed seeing things from his POV, and also missed seeing him hunt down Wickham.

I did love the actress who played Lydia, however. I thought she was great and much more 15-year-old-like than other versions I've seen. All the sisters were great, and I ended up with a soft spot for Mary, the poor forgotten Bennet sister. In this, I thought this version a bit better than the A&E version, which, imo, almost made the sisters (outside of Lizzy and Jane) and the Bennet parents too broad and caricaturey. They were still mostly afterthoughts to the main story, but a little more humanized, I thought.

As for Matthew MacFayden as Darcy and Kiera Knightley as Lizzy, well, they were wonderful, gorgeous, and I loved them. KK did a great job, and I confess I pretty much adore her in anything she does, so, I knew I'd love her.

I've never seen MM in anything else before. I know he's in Spooks, which has been on my Netflix queue for ages and not getting any closer to being viewed (although, now maybe I'll move it up a bit). His Darcy was shyer and more fragile than Colin Firth's Darcy, which really captured Darcy's arrogance. It's not fair to compare MM's performance to CF's, who practically owns Darcy, but, I gotta say, he did a beautiful job and I fell in love with him as much as I ever do with the character of Darcy.

Jane and Bingley were as sweet as they always are. Caroline was a bitch without being over the top (something that happens in fan fic A LOT). Aunt and Uncle Gardner were about the worst casting in the film -- these are two characters whose potential is almost never realized. Donald Sutherland almost stole the whole movie with his performance of Mr. Bennet, and Brenda Blethryn was the most palatable Mrs. Bennet to date. Normally, I have no sympathy for Mrs. Bennet and want to kill her as much as Darcy does, but this time, the whole Bennet family was less ridiculous than typically portrayed, and that was really nice.

I loved the costumes, even the inaccurate ones. *g* I HATED the wigs, especially Lizzy's wig (I'm guessing KK had short hair from her Domino movie). OHMYGOD, what is wrong with designers these days and their horrible horrible wigs? I don't get it. This was mostly a minor irritant, and I was, thankfully, able to get past it and enjoy the the film, which is, in all other aspects, breathtakingly gorgeous. But every time they showed the back of Lizzy's head I kept staring at the bad wig line. Very Annoying. I think, actually, this might have been a conscious design choice, but it did not work. Ultimately, a minor point, as much as it annoys me. *g*

Anyway, go see it! It's beautiful! I plan to see it again, as soon as I can reasonably do so without appearing too ridiculous. *g*