Pride & Prejudice

In the latest adaptation of Jane Austen's classic, this 2005 film version shines and impresses. With great performances, beautiful cinematography, and excellent direction, fans of Pride & Prejudice will be pleased with this adaptation!Following the book version, the 2005 film brings Pride & Prejudice to more vibrant visuals and focuses primarily of Elizabeth Bennet's perspective and attracting the modern age. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bennet is one of 5 daughters who must marry wealthy in order to secure her future. Due to laws of the Regency era, when Mr. Bennet dies, all his fortune and property will go to the nearest male relation, and securing a man of fortune will lead the Bennet sisters into a prosperous life. While older sister Jane connects with wealthy Charles Bingley, Lizzie prefers to marry for love and finds herself matching wits with the prideful but wealthy Fitzwilliam Darcy (aka Mr. Darcy).Misunderstandings and rushed judgements lead Lizzie and Mr. Darcy on a path of love and hate, but also growth. As both begin to look beyond appearances, they may find a great match in each other but several twists and turns may bring them to ruin.In the directional debut of Joe Wright, the 2005 Pride & Prejudice version is a splendid mixture of beautiful cinematography and an excellent score. The cast is great in their roles including Jena Malone as impulsive Kitty, Rupert Friend as "charming" Wickham, Dame Judi Dench as arrogant Lady Catherine, and the late Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet. Keira Knightley, a then rising star fresh off Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl success, delights and mesmerizes as Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bennet. She brings out Lizzie's with and playful free spirit, and her intelligence and headstrong personality to match Matthew Macfadyen's Mr. Darcy. While MacFayden, then a relative unknown internationally, shines as the reserved and prideful Darcy while bringing out the character's more gentle side.When multiple adaptations of a beloved novel like Pride & Prejudice are made, the battle of which one is best often ensues. The 2005 film is perfect for those who wish to watch a quicker version of Pride & Prejudice and viewers will get a splendid view of gorgeous scenes and wonderful musical scores. The performances are also great and marked the beginning of MacFadyen and Knightley's further ventures with Joe Wright in other films (Atonement, Anna Karenina). The blu-ray disc comes out clear on screen and provides a crisp look at a splendid novel that still captivates readers more than 200 years after its 1813 publication. Add to your physical library today!

I saw the new Pride & Prejudice last night, and just as I hoped it is soooooooooooo romantic! Somehow this movie also manages to be hilarious, but in an understated, un-American sort of way.Keira Knightly did an outstanding job of being her usual independent, outspoken, beautiful self in the part of Lizzy, she certainly re-defined the role from the A&E version, a little less refined and more earthy.Matthew MacFayden did a fantastic job of minimizing Mr. Darcy's flaws to simply being shy. He hardly ever seems really pompous or prideful and is altogether quite adorable.Donald Southerland was Mr. Bennett and though I didn't like him quite as much as the father in the A&E version he still did an outstanding job.One of the flaws in this movie is that everyone but Kiera Knightly is so plain! Even Jane (played by Rosamund Pike - isn't that a beautiful name?), who is my favorite character in the story, seemed like she was trying to look like the A&E Jane. She was very sweet but also silly.The costumes are extremely well done, each character's wardrobe helps to further define his or her character - for instance moody Lizzy wears earth tones and sweet Jane wears pastels, Caroline Bingly wears fancy dresses made of rich looking material in much brighter colors and sleeker styles whereas the Bennetts wear simple dresses of rougher material.The cinematography is fantastic, there are several scenes that are just amazing, I'm thinking especially of the scenes after Lizzy has rejected Mr. Darcy, the mirror scene, the walking through the mist scene and the viewing the landscape scene. This movie was filmed at some wonderful locations and we are given a few moments here and there to enjoy it.Of course when turning a novel into a movie there has to be an enormous amount of editing, paring the book down into a manageable 2 hour long movie, so one or two characters have been cut out (I especially noticed Mr. Bingly's other sister & husband were missing) and others marginalized (Mr. Wickham's character especially) or under-developed (as in Mr. & Miss Bingly) but one would expect that. On the other hand there were some wonderful interpretations of scenes, especially during Mr. Darcy's proposals.There were also a couple of additional lines that were stuck in as sort of an explanation for modern viewers as to what's going on, like when Miss Lucas accepts Mr. Collins proposal or another time when Lizzy and Mrs. Bennett are together, talking about Lydia's upcoming marriage, Lizzy says "Is that (marriage) all you think about?" and Mrs. Bennett says to Lizzy "Wait until you have five daughters." It was quite comical.Thankfully, the movie remains pure and honorable. The flirts get themselves into awful trouble, the passive father receives his cupful of due shame, the aggressive silly mother, as silly as ever and never justified. The state of marriage is honored and physical affection between couples are, amazingly, kept sacred - they don't even kiss until after they are married! Marriage and family are honored, rather than belittled, and portrayed frankly but beautifully.On the whole, this movie is just lovely! My husnbad even watched it with me and enjoyed it. I am sure I will watch it over and over.

When I bought this DVD, I simultaneously bought Pride & Prejudice, the book (Penguin Classic). There's a helpful timeline in the book that sheds light on author Jane Austen's world and life as she wrote the story. Parts of the dialogue in the movie come right off her book's pages. Other parts of the dialogue were created by movie script writers. To me, the two blend well. I watch this movie over and over. Often, I turn on the Director's Commentary. It's illuminating. Besides, I don't know whose voice I enjoy listening to more, Matthew Macfadyen's (Mr. Darcy) or Director Joe Wright's. I'm partial to using subtitles for clarifying busy scenes where I don't catch all the actors' words right away. My use of all these elements offered by this DVD has deepened my understanding and appreciation of the story. The Director states the pianist for the movie soundtrack is the 4th best pianist in the world. The score is beautiful. My son says I'm acting like a geek. Maybe so, but I'm a happy geek. It has, however, created a nice sort of dilemma in my head. All this studied viewing has sparked a desire to be an extra in a big movie like this, with joyful dancing and a fascinating story, and great actors and directors.