Pride & Prejudice (***1/4)

A gorgeous-looking but down-to-earth adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. Notwithstanding her death in 1817, the English author continues to rack up screen credits, with five of her six novels adapted into feature films in the last decade. [P&P itself was the subject of an acclaimed 1995 BBC miniseries, a 2003 Mormon-themed update, and 2004’s Bollywood version, Bride & Prejudice.] 

Lightly tackling Austen’s themes of money, class, and marriage, it tells the story of the rural, middle-class Bennett sisters and their romantic pursuits. There are five sisters, but the story concentrates on the second eldest, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), and, to a lesser extent, the eldest (Doom’s Rosamund Pike). (This is fortunate because the youngest two are annoying giggly girls.) Lizzie is an appealingly plucky heroine for the modern age, unwilling to accept her ditzy mother’s (Brenda Blethyn) efforts to marry her to the nearest rich man, and contemptuous of the only other (wealthy) prospect who seems to be around. Matthew Macfadyen plays that other prospect, Mr. Darcy, whose air of superiority so infuriates Lizzie.

As Austen adaptations go, I think this falls short of 1995’s Sense & Sensibility. It took time for me to get into the story, and it’s slow to wrap things up when the course of things has become apparent. It’s most enjoyable for Austen’s shrewd dialogue (sample: “I could more easily forgive his vanity had he not wounded mine”) and Knightley’s attention-commanding performance. Her exuberance matches her breakthrough role in Bend It Like Beckham.

IMDb link

circulated via email 11/17/05 and posted 9/25/13