Pride and Prejudice (2005)
#7 in my movie challenge for the year was the new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I thought Keira Knightley was too pretty to play every-woman Lizzie, and I thought the music in the trailer overwrought and obtrusive. Since I love the story, though, and since it was well-reviewed, I went to see it anyway. It was worth seeing, though it had some flaws.
First, I was wrong about Knightley. While she is quite pretty, her infectious smile and laughter made her a good fit for smart, funny Lizzie. Further, the Bennet household was believably shabby, while the Bennet daughters wore dresses that got dirty in realistic ways. Much has been made of Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet, Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. B, and Dame Judi as Lady Catherine. They are established actors who do good work in these meaty roles. What impressed me more, though, was Claudie Blakley, who was allowed to look convincingly plain as Charlotte Lucas. She also gave this more minor character a depth unseen in other productions. Tom Hollander did an admirable turn as the toady-ing Mr. Collins.
The less effective elements, though, were several. Matthew MacFadyen as Darcy was stiff, angry and handsome enough to be good, but not nearly as smolderingly sexy as Colin Firth, who so embodied Darcy in the 1995 production that he may have made the role unplayable by other men. MacFadyen looked well striding purposefully across a misty field in an open-necked shirt at the end to declare his love (again) to Lizzie, but it was at that point that the music swelled so obnoxiously that the effect was somewhat ruined. As with the 1939 version, I was disappointed by the lack of the famous opening line, and surprised by the many changes to Austen’s very good prose. The ending, though, left me appalled. Darcy and Lizzie are married and alone. He finally kisses her, while intoning “Mrs. Darcy” over and over. This is hardly a fitting ending for Lizzie, who has spent the entire film standing up for herself and her individuality.