At last! An adaptation of a classic story that tries to do justice to both the form and the context of the original! Lovers of Jane Austen's classic novel of an impoverished family with five daughters (and a VERY pushy mama seeking an advantageous marriage for each of her daughters) will love the acerbic wit of this 2005 version.

It had me in laughter, and in tears!

And my husband was heard to remark afterwards that it was a pity we hadn't seen an earlier show, as it was ANOTHER film (like Bride and Prejudice just over a year ago) that he would have liked to have seen "twice in succession" the same night.

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I would not have thought of either my husband or myself as particularly impulsive people. When I do the HarrisOnline Polls, and they ask me those "classification" questions at the end I always pick "Security Seeker" - "Likes to take risks" - and "doesn't care what people think of me" as the better of two choices in describing myself. But, I do confess that SOMETIMES, the results of a long, quietly analysed decision, when acted upon spontaneously, DO APPEAR to be IMPULSIVE to other people when they occur.

Such a situation occurred Saturday night.

For months Nigel and I have been counselling a couple who were considering getting married - a preliminary date was set for May 21st this year - but when the Birth Certificate was stolen with Stuart's wallet from work, and a new certificate was not acquired by 30th April (for the three-weeks notice to be called), the whole marriage thing was shelved for a while. In August, things came to a head, and the decision was made to get married on the 8th October. This time it went through, and it was a lovely day, everything came out really well, including the afternoon reception, and we helped carry the newly-wed couple and their 2-yr-old daughter (and all the presents) home from the reception.

"Let's ask Crystal and Maurice to come out to the cinema with us," my husband said. "It will give the young couple chance to spend some time together, alone." Crystal is Miriam's mother, who currently lives with them, and Maurice is her brother, who came over from Eire for the wedding.

So we went to the local "UGC" Cinema - discovered Herbie - Fully Loaded was no longer showing - but my favourite Jane Austin Book of all time - Pride and Prejudice (aka P&P) - was.

Did I choose the PG alternative, "Oliver Twist" that we could have watched? No.
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Knowing NOTHING really about this version in advance, I asked for P&P - with a "U" rating! Why? Just because I longed to see it and see how well it matched my ideal visualisation, I guess.

I haven't even seen the most recent (1995) BBC adaptation all the way through, although what I DID see on my daughter's television some years back looked overly sanitised and pretty-pretty. Apparently Colin Firth was Mr Darcy in the BBC version - the little I have seen of him didn't match my ideal of Fitzwilliam Darcy from the original book by Jane Austen, however handsome people may believe him to be.

I rather liked the portrayal of Darcy in this film by Matthew MacFadyen. He was aloof and appeared haughty - but when he unbent, you could see him changing. He was human. And you could fall in love with him just as Lizzy is doing, as your prejudice is tempered with an increasing knowledge of what he really is like, despite reports and appearances.

All the main characters were very human - and the wordplay between the characters was very close to Jane Austen's original. Lizzie's face - solemn and yet mischievous - her sudden giggles and irrepressibility endeared her to you.

Her father (played brilliantly by Donald Sutherland) was irascible, bluff, and a caring father and husband - erudite and blunt - happier in his study than in society, but willing to venture out when necessary for the sake of his family.

The intimacy and yet distance between the five girls - the naturalness of the girls with each other - even when the eldest two are provoked by the silliness of the younger girls - was amazing, as was the familial resemblances. They were very well cast - Rosamund Pike as the eldest "Miss Bennet" - 23 year old Jane; Keira Knightley as "Miss Elizabeth Bennet" - or Lizzy; Talulah Riley as the bookish, accomplished (but plain) middle sister Mary; Carey Mulligan as the heedless 17 year old Kitty (Catherine); Jena Malone as the irrepressible militia-mad 15 year old Lydia who is just BOUND to fall into a scrape before she gets much older if she cannot be restrained.

Brenda Blethyn OBE made a wonderfully distracted Mrs Bennet - although she was quite wearing to listen to and watch - she epitomised Jane Austen's anxious mama in an over-blown way I have seldom seen matched. Her performance "over-the-top" may have had something to do with the 30 years she has spent on the stage (where everything MUST be larger than life to be observed) - but it fit the character she was playing perfectly.

The cast was a delightful mixture of seasoned veterans and up-coming new faces. Even more minor characters were very well detailed and developed, as in the novel. If all the sub-plots from the book had been utilised, the film would be going on still.

But the chosen vignettes carried the story well, and it was enhanced by a piano score which I noticed particularly because I was taught piano as a child, and love to listen to piano music.

Perhaps the weakest characterisation for me was that of Tom Hollander as Mr Collins, for although he was by speech and nature the very epitome of Jane Austen's Mr Collins, I found it hard to forgive his shortness of stature. The original in the book was noted for being tall.

The scenery was at times breathtaking, yet very correctly mirroring the time it was set in - Sheets and garments on washing-lines filling the courtyard - geese and a very large (old-fashioned) pig sought to steal the show in their respective appearances in the ordinary rural scenes. Wooded parkways contrasted with the wildness of the Peak District National Park, where Lizzy is filmed on a promontory with an outlook which reminded me of the filming of the Grand Canyon in "Bride and Prejudice" which I saw last year.

The entire production was filmed on location in the UK - including Derbyshire, Wiltshire and Kent. Basildon Park in Berkshire becomes Netherfield, Groombridge Place near Tunbridge Wells becomes the home of the Bennets - Longbourn. Stamford, with hundreds of locals filmed as extras becomes the village of Meryton.

Fans of the 1995 BBC Series staring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle may recognise the interior of Wilton House near Salisbury, used as the interior of Pemberly, as the location for Colin Firth's famous "wet shirt" scene. And the exterior of Chatsworth House, its grand staircase and its sculpture gallery also feature as Pemberly, Darcy's Derbyshire estate.
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There is a timeline on the promotional Keira Knightley Pride&Prejudice website which details events from the birth of Jane Austen on 16th December 1775, the original writing of "First Impressions" by Jane Austen in 1796-97 (rejected by publisher); the revision under the working title "Pride and Prejudice" in 1811 with publication in 1813 to great acclaim and her death 18th July 1817 and burial in Winchester Cathedral.

It picks the story up again with the first BBC TV dramatisation in 1938, and lists the six versions seen on British TV of P&P.

The only previous movie version, a black and white 1940's version by MGM, was adapted by Aldous Huxley from a stage play of the book, and starred Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson as Darcy and Elizabeth.

The timeline also goes through filming dates and is a very useful reference as to which parts of the movie were filmed where and when, and with whom, during the year from January to October 2004. For further information, see the website.

[Adapted from timeline information appearing on http://www.keiraweb.com/pppromo.html ]
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Jane Austen's novels look at social stratifications, interactions between people on a very down to earth level - developing her characters both through what they say, and how they treat and respond to others. Her dialogue carries her books along and makes her characters come to life.

In Pride and Prejudice, the Bennet sisters are in a difficult situation. An "entail" on the property means that when their father dies, there being no other male heir, a distant, as yet unmet cousin will inherit Longbourn. Their foolish mother worries far too much about what will become of them and has allowed all five sisters to begin to interact socially at local balls and mix with the militia, even though her youngest is not yet 16. In the book, this serves to propel the plot while allowing Jane Austen to examine the social class structure and patriarchal society of her day.

The book has remained popular to this day because everyone can identify to some extent with one or more of her characters. And it asks the question as to whether you CAN always trust your "First Impressions" - which are bound to be coloured by one's own upbringing. The book asks the reader to reflect on his or her own "pride" or "prejudice" in a basic sense and to measure how much justification there is in the attitudes shown.

There is a measure of ambivalence in her writing, for she was well aware of the inevitability of class rigidity, and certainly expected even her own characters to "know their place" and be conscious of the respect due to others. And she realises the conditioning that upbringing gives, so that one who is merely well-bred, shy and dutiful may appear haughty through lack of social skills never learnt (this applied to both Darcy and his sister Georgina).

But she gives hope to those who are sensible of their place; who are both respectful and respectable despite lack of fortune: that by industry and scholarship, intelligence and a liveliness of character, one can still aspire to beauty and worth.

All the money and station of Lady Catherine de Bourgh cannot compete with the integrity and spendour of Lizzy's determination to not make a promise she cannot keep, and to be true to those she loves.

I saw all this in the Film I saw last Saturday night, too.

Highly recommended.

Distributor:- UIP
Release Date:- 16th September 2005
Certificate:- U
Running Time:- 2 hours 7 mins

(World-wide Premiere was in London on 5th September 2005; the film is on gradual release in the USA from 11th November to 25th November 2005.)

© 2005 jesi ……………………………………… ~ ♥ ~ jes ≈≈≈≈{; -)-{{::::: |||||< ♥♥
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United International Pictures, Universal Pictures and Working Title Films present:
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...................................Pride and Prejudice (2005)
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Directed..................................... Joe Wright (his first feature film)
Screenplay................................. Deborah Moggach
Produced................................... Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
Produced................................... Paul Webster
Executive Producers................... Debra Hayward and Liza Chasin
Co-producer............................... Jane Frazer
Director of Photography............... Roman Osin
Production Designer.................... Sarah Greenwood
Editor......................................... Paul Tothill
Costume Designer....................... Jacqueline Durran
Hair and Makeup Designer............ Fae Hammond
Music ........................................ Dario Marianelli

Cast:
Elizabeth Bennet ........................ Kiera Knightley
Mrs Bennet ................................ Brenda Blethyn OBE
Mr Bennet .................................. Donald Sutherland
Jane Bennet ............................... Rosamund Pike
Mary Bennet .............................. Talulah Riley
Kitty Bennet ............................... Carey Mulligan
Lydia Bennet .............................. Jena Malone
Charles Bingley .......................... Simon Woods
Caroline Bingley .......................... Kelly Reilly
Fitzwilliam Darcy ........................ Matthew MacFadyen
Charlotte Lucas .......................... Claudie Blakley
Mr Collins .................................. Tom Hollander
Wickham ................................... Rupert Friend
Lady Catherine deBourgh. ........... Dame Judy Dench

and many others...
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...................................From the Official Press Release *****************************============================================

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
…
"A fresh yet faithful adaptation of the original novel, Pride & Prejudice follows the adventures of Elizabeth Bennet, her four sisters and their attempts to find husbands. When a wealthy bachelor and his circle of sophisticated friends take up summer residence in a nearby mansion, the Bennets are abuzz with hope that potential suitors will be in full supply. But once Elizabeth meets up with Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), what seemed at first like a match made in heaven quickly becomes one of the most classic battles of the sexes ever portrayed in literature.
…"
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