Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Oh Mister Darcy!

71 replies

MrsBramStoker · 17/08/2013 23:56

Re-watched the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice this week as have time on holidays and also lovely DH got it for me for the my last birthday in February and only got round to watching it now.

It really is wonderful and I now know what all the fuss about Colin Firth is. It's the eyes. It's the way he looks at her. And the chemistry between him and Jennifer what's-her-name is remarkable.

And I feel he's so handsome that at times I had to look away from the TV for fear of being blinded. Grin

And why oh why did they bother to remake it with Keira what's her name?!

Bit of a dated topic I know, but AIBU. Was it as good for you:) :)

(Sending my esteem and undying affections to all you mumsnetters:) even those with less than five thousand a year Smile

OP posts:
YouTheCat · 18/08/2013 00:00

I also watched that this week (all episodes back to back). It's just great. Grin

EhricLovesTeamQhuay · 18/08/2013 07:54

I just watched it last week too! Yes he does have a brilliantly brooding and subtly lustful look in his eyes when he watches her. Phwoar. My only complaint with it is at the end when they find out they love each other they should have had a kiss. The wedding carriage kiss is a bit rubbish.

Also agree about Keira k and Mathew mcf version. Matthew mcf is quite handsome but made a terrible darcy.

NaiceHamIsNaice · 18/08/2013 07:57

Oh yes but that scene in the film out at the folly in the rain...

I like the tv series enormously but...but...when you compare it to the quality of telly today, it's lacking something, I think.

Original poster
MrsBramStoker · 18/08/2013 08:55

Just discovered on google (! Reliable source) that Colin and Jennifer had a brief relationship after filming.

Oo, am not surprised Smile

OP posts:
burstingbaboon · 18/08/2013 08:59

O mr Darcy! You are right OP! It's in his look!!!!
It says it all!!!!! ( am I mad???)
I met him in 1999 when I just arrived in uk! I went to
NH Museum and he was with his son ( he was around 10 I think) . At first I was looking at him like a mad girl ! I was dreaming of meeting him since I was teen!!!!!!!! My celebrity crush!
Once he passed me - he was looking at me too , I guess thinking is she going to attack me?!! But then I managed to get courage to approach him! He was the most polite , proper gentleman I have ever met! Spoke with him for a few minutes ! I absolutely adore him until today's day! His look can sweep me of the floor anytime!!!!!!

pianodoodle · 18/08/2013 09:06

I watch this every now and then if it's a rainy day. I always end up watching the whole thing in one go!

DH loves it now too - probably not for all the same reasons though!

diddl · 18/08/2013 09:14

He was great as Darcy.

KK too giggly I thought, &MM, although not bad looking, not imposing enough.

EhricLovesTeamQhuay · 18/08/2013 09:14

Naive, it's a touch dated in some ways and the film quality isn't as good as now. I think the film was more naturalistic as is the modern style but I'm happier with the stylised beauty of the 1995 version.

missmapp · 18/08/2013 09:17

I love that version- the bit when she saves his sister from the Bingley sisters and he gazes at her across the room- oh those eyes.....

RustyBear · 18/08/2013 09:18

Have you been to Hyde Park recently?

RooRooTaToot · 18/08/2013 09:22

I love the Colin Firth version.

I saw a 'Making of' documentary about it. My favourite part was that when Darcy suddenly sees Elizabeth at Pemberley (after the lake scene), the stage directions say 'Darcy gets a spontaneous etection' Grin

RooRooTaToot · 18/08/2013 09:22

Fail!

Meant to say erection!

AmazingBouncingFerret · 18/08/2013 09:23

It has dated very quickly (1995 wasn't that long ago, was it? WAS IT?? Shock Grin) but it is still the ultimate classic, nothing can or will come close and if it does I shall eat my bonnet.

diddl · 18/08/2013 09:29

My goodness that's scary!

DuchessFanny · 18/08/2013 09:30

I refuse to watch the film version as I love the BBC one so much ... Absolutely love it !
Last time I was ill ( Christmas ) I went to bed for a day or two and watched it back to back

AtYourCervix · 18/08/2013 09:31

I fo wuite like Keira and Lizxie did laugh a lot.

But Ooooh, Mr Darcy!

drudgewithagrudge · 18/08/2013 09:33

My son once trimmed Colin Firth's hair and the wretched boy didn't even save a lock for me!

EhricLovesTeamQhuay · 18/08/2013 09:34

Yes I was a hormonal teenager! Fell in utter love with Darcy and the whole period of history. My best friend and I used to write each other letters and seal them with sealing wax and we invented this whole regency life for ourselves with alter egos with Austen surnames...

hackmum · 18/08/2013 09:45

I love it. One of the best adaptations of a classic ever, and the only one I think to really do justice to the book. OP, you are absolutely right about it being the way he looks at her - I never realised before then that eyes could be so expressive. There's a bit, in about episode 5, I think, where Lizzie receives the letter saying that Lydia has run away with Wickham, and she pours it all out to Darcy. At the time Nancy Banks-Smith wrote a review in the Guardian that said (this is from memory, so perhaps not quite right): "Darcy looked at Elizabeth like a starving bloodhound left guarding the sausages and told he couldn't have any."

mateysmum · 18/08/2013 09:46

Of all the many versions of P & P that I have seen, Colin Firth is the only Darcy that managed to convey both the haughtiness that made everyone dislike him and yet make you sure that he loved Elizabeth passionately and all in all is a pretty decent chap. Oh that he would look at me like he looks at her.....

Mathew Mc just came across as a bit pathetic and sorry Keira, but you just annoy me as Elizabeth - giggly and silly.

hackmum · 18/08/2013 09:49

Agree, mateysmum. I'm old enough to remember the Fay Weldon version in the 1970s and it was so dreary in comparison. I think you have to have seen those earlier versions to appreciate what a departure the 1995 version was. Also, the great Andrew Davies wrote the script, and he is just an ace scriptwriter (don't want to derail the thread, but A Very Peculiar Practice, which he also wrote, is one of my favourite bits of telly ever).

MrsGeologist · 18/08/2013 09:51

I regularly watch the DVD and read the book. They are my go-to things when I'm bored and a bit mopey.

I went to Lyme a few weeks ago and I had to suppress the urge to yell, 'Darcy lived here! Squeeeeeeeeeee!'

There is an... Erm... interesting statue of Colin Firth/Darcy in the reflection pond there at the moment.

MrsGeologist · 18/08/2013 09:53

I love the look they exchange when Lizzie steps in to hide any of Georgiana's shock at hearing about Wickham.

NutcrackerFairy · 18/08/2013 09:54

Keira is just atrocious as Lizzie Bennett with her horse face and teeth. Plain mediocre acting too. Lizzie being a spirited sort of lass comes across as her being snippy and insipid/silly.

Matthew McF is quite haughty and sweet but fails completely to give Mr Darcy the emotional depth that CF does. Those eyes!!!

The BBC is far far superior.

Notafoodbabyanymore · 18/08/2013 10:12

Haven't seen the Keira Shiteley version as she just gives me the irrits, but love, love, LOVE the BBC one. Really brings the book to life perfectly.