Pride & Prejudice

Good adaptation and performances from Knightley and MacFayden.

When I watched this version of the Austen classic prior to packing the DVD away for a move, I assumed ahead of time it would stay nestled behind the Colin Firth version as my second favorite adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Now, however, pending my watching the other version again, this might indeed be my new favorite. Not due to any major differences in acting ability or in the writing, but rather for the way it nails down the little things, the stuff I may not have noticed the first time or two I watched it. One simple example is of the portrayal of Mary, one of the servants in the Bennet household. She says hardly anything during the course of the movie, but a couple of times we follow her while she is singing as she works, and I found it utterly charming. And I think it illustrates, whether or not it was intended, that this is a pleasant house that servants did not dread to start their work days in. There is also at one of the balls a long scene of dancing that shows several of the characters who are involved in subplots going on, all within this continuous shot. It is clever, and on one website it is said the camera was left running by accident; a happy accident if yo

Overall, it's a good adaptation, even if it's not free of mistakes and problems. I believe that “Pride and Prejudice” is one of the most transported English novels to film and television. I've seen more than one adaptation, and each one has its merits and problems (however, it's generally agreed that the 1995 miniseries is the most perfect and canonical). This film is not as good as I would like it to be, it has several problems, but it is quite acceptable and also has positive notes to retain. Here, the story we already know so well takes place in the final years of the 18th century. From what I saw, the director wanted to do this to avoid the fashion of the Regency period, which he doesn't like, and taking advantage of the fact that Austen wrote the early version of the book around this time. Well, I can say that I share the thoughts of the director, Joe Wright, when it comes to dresses from the Regency/First French Empire period. Aesthetically, they are much less interesting than the “bridal cakes” of the pre-French Revolution period, or the wide dresses that began to be worn in the Romantic period. The idea of these dresses, which greatly emphasize the woman's chest a