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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:
Willemdefoeismine · 18/08/2013 14:53

DD (7) and I watched Pride and Prejudice last weekend - the KK/MM version. Didn't rate it at all compared with darling Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle....

Watched Sense and Sensibility on Friday evening - the one with Emma Thompson, Greg Wise and Kate Winslet. Again loved it.

I am beginning to finally realise why some people read and reread Jane Austen all their lives. You do get a lot out of them and even though the films aren't the same, I still enjoy all the social etiquette nuances which are more visible in the films (to me anyway).

I'm a bit of a speed reader and Jane Austen really doesn't lend itself to speed reading...

EldritchCleavage · 18/08/2013 14:58

My favourite adaptation is Persuasion with Ciaran Hinds. He is sooo dishy in that. Everything about it is wonderful.

It's time for another TV Austen-I'd love to see a new Mansfield Park.

Willemdefoeismine · 19/08/2013 10:12

Oh yes, I remember that one too! But I've seen Ciaran Hinds in something recently and didn't think him fanciable at all! (mind you, he might say the same thing of me after a twenty year gap!)

I think there's something about the nature of the relationships from that era which makes the men seem very fanciable, don't you?

YouStayClassySanDiego · 19/08/2013 10:14

I found Kate Winslet incredibly annoying in S and S, loved everyone else though, especially Emma Thompson.

Wishfulmakeupping · 19/08/2013 10:15

Did anyone read the article in DM (yes I know-don't judge me) but there was casting doubts over Colin firth that he wasn't good looking enough and his hair was too ginger

OnIlkelyMoorBahtat · 19/08/2013 10:18

My all time favourite bit (in a series made up of favourite bits) is towards the end when Elizabeth steps in to help Darcy's sister on the piano and he looks at her, chest heaving, with such a look of admiration, pride and sheer LUST it makes me breathless just thinking about it.

OH, MR DARCY!!! Grin Grin Grin

diddl · 19/08/2013 10:51

I think that the Marianne(?) character in S&S is annoying, though.

Strikes me as similar to Lydia Bennet.

TheCraicDealer · 19/08/2013 11:00

Eldritch, Persuasion's my favourite too. I think the 1990's version was the better adaptation, but the noughties one (with the god that is Rupert Penry-Jones) was better cast with more "age appropriate" actors. Ciaran's still a babe though.

Same goes for the S&S adaptation- love Emma Thompson, but by god she was too old. Apparently she thought she was of the same opinion and had to be talked into it by fucking Ang Lee.

EldritchCleavage · 19/08/2013 11:24

Actually, I'd love a Northanger Abbey adaptation too. Been a while since the last good 'bonnet thing' (copyright my nephews, who cannot understand why their mother loves this stuff).

NutcrackerFairy · 19/08/2013 12:58

Oh no! I love the Marianne character as played by Kate Winslet.

In a lesser actress's hands she would have been uber annoying, i.e Keira Shiteley.

But Kate Winslet beautifully conveyed her selfishness, fecklessness, emotionality and immaturity. However she also managed to demonstrate Marianne's warmth and tenderness, her naivety and ultimately that she was capable of growing up and recognising that Colonel Brandon would give her a better life than Willoughby ever could [not many other choices towards maturity and personal development for young women in this era]

I thought it was a very nuanced performance and brought these many facets of Marianne's character to life.

TheCraicDealer · 19/08/2013 13:41

I like Marianne as a character because we all have that one friend who always goes for the wrong guy and gives him chance after chance that he doesn't deserve. You really do pity her when she's in London and he won't reply to her texts letters and then dumps her [sad face]

Lemonylemon · 19/08/2013 13:46

I'm a huge fan of the BBC version of P&P; but HATE the scene where he dives in the water..... S'just not faithful to the book.....

OnTheBottomWithAWomansWeekly · 19/08/2013 13:49

No one has mentioned ALAN RICKMAN as Col Brandon - are you all blind and deaf? Grin

Now HE was poetry in breeches...
(sighs wistfully)
(covers it up from work colleagues with fake sneeze)

Lweji · 19/08/2013 13:51

the Colin Firth version Grin

Yes, it has spoilt any other versions for me.

I quite like Colin anyway, certainly more appealing than Hugh Grant (BJ's Diaries).

Quenelle · 19/08/2013 13:57

I just love the scene at the end when Mr Darcy and Elizabeth declare their love for each other.

I love it in the book, which I have read many times since I was a teenager, and I love it in the 1995 series.

I especially love that they don't end up in each other's arms. They just carry on strolling and smiling at each other, but there's all that wonderful pent up passion...

PomBearArmy · 19/08/2013 17:36

I just rewatched it on US Netflix. No other version of P&P can touch it, I've watched it at least once a year since the series originally aired. I think it has a few little faults - Mrs Bennett is a bit pantomime, though very entertaining with it, and though no-one has bettered Jennifer Ehle as Lizzie, I didn't always like the way she delivered her lines (though she was Welsh so had the added challenge of putting on an accent), or did that cocked-head-and-smiling thing as she walked towards someone she liked.

I love that the actress who played Miss Bingley is an actual relative of Jane Austen. The best actor in the show was the guy who played Mr Collins, he was greasy odious perfection! And I loved the scene where Lady Catherine came to Longbourne to warn Lizzie off.

Didactylos · 19/08/2013 19:10

I thought the bbc version worked very well -it had the satirical side of the book so nicely, the caricatures portrayed so well - Mr Collins, Mrs Bennet and 'got' all the class distinctions and social mannerisms well
was never quite sure about the whole jumping in the lake thing though....

Hated hated hated the Keira K version - they didnt seem to get the whole comedy of manners/social side of things from the book at all and played it so badly - no lightness of touch, screen shots of a pig (and its bollocks) running through the house! patched gowns, etc and K K in that bloody drippy wax jacket affair moping on a swing

DP had taken me to the cinema thinking it would be a romantic gesture and was rather taken aback when I sat and muttered and not quite silently seethed through the whole shite interminable ruination of a book I love.....

takes austen way too seriously Blush

Bea · 19/08/2013 19:38

as already mentioned... if a fan of P&P... you have GOT to watch The Lizzie Bennet Diaries! - brilliant and very very clever!
Lizzie Bennett Diaries

Spikeytree · 19/08/2013 19:44

What do people feel about Matthew Rhys and Anna Maxwell-Martin in Death Comes to Pemberley?

I find it difficult to imagine anyone other than Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in those roles.

missmapp · 19/08/2013 21:22

Im with you spikey, when I read Death at Pemberley, I was imagine Jennifer and Colin- no one else.

I will watch and hope to be convinced.

missmapp · 19/08/2013 21:24

imagining even

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