Originally Written
Monday, May 15, 2006
I am quite familiar with the book Pride & Prejudice although I have never read it nor seen any of the previous film adaptations. So I was going into this film unaware of the story and the characters and purely excited to receive a large dose of Keira Knightley in a film that would hopefully turn out a lot better than Domino.
For those of you who are not familiar with Pride & Prejudice, it is your typical romance story of 18th century where a wealthy man falls in love with poor man's daughter. It seems this was a typical theme of modern literature at the time. The lovely Keira Knightley plays Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bennet, one of five sisters longing to become married to a handsome rich man, which is the continuous wish and goal of their mother. Lizzie does not appear to be as "boy crazy" as her other sisters and continues to exclaim that it is her fate that she grows old alone.
Lizzie appears to be the only sane person in her family, her mother is intent on marrying off all her daughters to the richest men, her father is content in staying out of his wife's way and staying out of anything that might turn into a conflict or put him out. Two of her younger sisters are completely immature and throw themselves at any man who happens to glance their way, while the third youngest is supremely negative towards whatever is the popular subject of the day. Lizzie's older sister, Jane is shy and doesn't feel comfortable openly expressing her emotions, while Lizzie on the other hand is quite open and verbal about her feelings and opinions, which sometimes causes her to get into trouble.
Our story begins as the Bennet family attends an engagement being held for the wealthy bachelor, Mr. Bingley, whom Mrs. Bennet hopes to introduce her daughters to in the hopes that one of them may become his bride. Mr. Bingley quickly falls for Jane, but it is clear that Mr. Bingley's sister and best friend Mr. Darcy don't quite approve of her families life style and manners. Lizzie quickly becomes disturbed with Mr. Darcy and finds him to be quite a brash and heartless fellow.
Her dislike, but at the same time intrigue of Mr. Darcy continues to grow throughout the film, even as the breakup of Mr. Bingley and her sister appears to be his doing. Mr. Darcy tries to make a plea for his actions and in-turn expresses his love for Elizabeth. Elizabeth must come to grips with her true feelings when she begins to discover the truth behind Mr. Darcy’s actions and his past, which had clouded her mind with false opinions of his character. When she discovers the truth she is left to deal with some shocking feelings that were suppressed inside her due to her hatred of this man.
Overall I was very pleased with the majority of the film. The story was entertaining with small bits of humor dispersed throughout helping to liven what was at times could be a rather slow moving story. The cast was well chosen, and the acting was quite good, especially by both Keira Knightley and the actor who played Mr. Darcy, who at times reminded me a lot of Hugh Jackman. I can't completely explain my fascination with Keira Knightley, but some of it definitely has to do with those doe eyes of hers that grab me and pull me in, to a point where I can't let go, unless of course the film is entitled Domino, not even her beauty could save that film. Knightley's performance is the high of the film and her portrayal of the character seemed to be almost natural. She seems to have that type of blunt / stubborn yet amusing wit in real life that I actually find quite attractive.
Overall, Pride & Prejudice is a very well done romance, though you'll probably need to be into these sappy love stories to truly appreciate it, otherwise you might find yourself a little bored. Even at times when the story is slow and hard to understand, due to the accents and language of the time, the film does provide an interesting and semi-heart warming story. But it doesn't produce much of an emotional reaction as The Notebook, which is a true tear jerker of a romance. In the end, Pride & Prejudice is well made adaptation of long lived classic and well worth the watch!
8/10
Although I'm a professor of English language and literature, I must admit I've never understood anglo-obsession with Jane Austen's work. The topics she covers are highly superficial.
ReplyDeleteI understand that we all love a good love story in fiction or reality, but such a high respect for a chick-lit writer is unjustified.
Personally I've never read a Jane Austen book nor do I ever plan to. I simply enjoyed the film because of Keira Knightley and it was a pretty good film.
ReplyDeleteoh? They don't make you read it in school in the USA?
ReplyDeleteI actually never remember reading anything Jane Austin in High-school or College. For the most part we had literature books and usually they were made up of short stories, we rarely had to read full novels. I guess I lucked out.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm a bit shocked now. Here in my country, in primary and secondary school, kids and teens have obligatory books to read every year. There are at least ten books (classics following the literary age that is being taught that year) to read every year.
ReplyDeleteIn that way kids read at least a hundred world classics before they get to college.
Since I went to a grammar school, studying languages and literature, I reckon I've read around 1000 or more books before I've finished my university studies.
That's why I'm shocked to discover that your system doesn't have obligatory reading at all.
I'm sure we had to read certain books in elementary school and junior high-school. I barely remember of Mice and Men, and To Kill A Mockingbird. That's about all I remember, I honestly don't recall much about what I read that far back, even in High-School! I've never been much of a fan of classic literary books, much like I'm not much of a fan of "classic" film. So if I did have to read them I probably blotted them from my memory. I do know for sure I've never read a Jane Austin book.
ReplyDeleteCollege I hardly had any English classes because my major was Accounting so I had mostly math and business classes. What I remember most about English classes is writing, we always wrote a lot of essays / reports, which is really more useful in the world (no matter what field you go into) than reading literary classics, in my opinion.