AIBU - Pride & Prejudice.

[2020iscancelled]

A much beloved book
A fantastic BBC adaptation mini series

Then the horror of THAT awful, awful Keira Knightly film.

I knew it was bad but I rewatched it recently and it is just terrible.

I will concede the film itself is fine, the locations beautiful and no issues with the acting per se. But it is so far away from the real P&P it’s actually criminal.

So AIBU?

YABU - it’s wonderful and sums up the story to perfection.

YANBU - it’s an abomination

@TatianaBis

LOL Colin Firth in Bridget Jones is supposed to be playing his character in P&P

That’s what we thought at the time, except it turns out he’s exactly the same in all his other films.

The Railway Man, A Single Man, The King's Speech, he has made many excellent films where he plays really complex characters.

[quote suspiria777]did you hear about the extra ending scene they added to the American release of the film? so cringe (and somewhat of an indictment of the perceived intelligence of US audiences).
www.patheos.com/blogs/filmchat/2005/11/pride-prejudice-two-versions.html[/quote]
I saw that version American tv. I wondered what the heck was going on, and why it wasn’t there the next time I watched it!

I like both versions, but I was living abroad while the bbc series was shown so I saw the film first. I agree Lizzie was too pretty and it was very glamourised, but I still like it and will happily watch it again and again.

[quote Lifeinaonesie]@Dannydevitoiloveyourart Gemma arteton does play Lizzie in Lost in Austen[/quote]
Love LIA!

Both had their merits, though obviously so much had to be condensed into the film. What made the BBC version so much less than it could have been was Alison Steadman's performance. I normally love her but in this she was so wrong, with her screeching all the time. Mrs Bennet was a silly woman and very irritating, but with five daughters to marry off she had a real problem. She was irritating and silly, but not vicious, as AS so often portrayed her. She was hard work and detracted from the performance, and it was such a shame.

I really enjoyed the Frances O'Connor Mansfield Park, but not as a true adaptation of Mansfield Park IYSWIM. They're two entirely separate entities in my head.

@florascotia2

This goes back to what a poster said on page 2, I think. To my mind, there IS a definitive version of Persuasion, with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, plus a fabulous supporting cast, including Harriet Walter, Fiona Shaw, Corin Redgrave and the late lamented Susan Fleetwood.... I'm not alone in this view drama.uktv.co.uk/persuasion/article/4-reasons-you-should-make-time-persuasion/

In the BBC drama I thought Jennifer Ehle was good and genuinely old-fashionedly pretty - and FWIW her figure type was quite admired in Regency times; Colin Firth was also lovely to look at and was in a part that suited him. Otherwise, I thought Bingley and his sisters (all important in the plot/moral landscape) were effective. Mr Collins was quite brilliant.

Yes,, I was going to say that. it brought out aspects of the book I'd never fully appreciated before. A work of art.

(Re Persuasion).

YANBU. Everything was too modern looking, 00's haircuts and eyeliner. Plus - and I know there's a lot that happens in the book but still - they all spoke like they were going for the Olympic Gold medal in fast talking. Especially Mr Darcy. I couldn't keep up with what he was saying in his proposal.

I do think Matthew MacFayden got Darcy spot on though. He wasn't charming or dashing, he was awkward and geeky and no other Darcy will do!

@Lanzo

Bingley was the worst thing in it. He was played as a kind of village idiot.

Yes!! And Bingley in the books is very smart but gentle and sweet tempered. Not a bumbling fool.

It was ruined for me in 2 ways.

Keira Knightley's god awful hair sticking out from under the wig.

And Donald Sutherland's teeth.

@Mummyoflittledragon

Just leaving this here.....

Just leaving this here

Meh, I’ll stick stick with this one.. I love the 1940 movie.

I do think Darcy probably is intended by JA to be rather geeky. He's socially awkward, isn't he. Prefers not to speak with people, and Bingley complaints about his attitude to him. Lizzy genuinely feels that she will enliven him, and that he needs this. He could be slightly Asperger's Syndrome: good, but socially maladapted and inclined to bluet out what he really thinks instead of using tact. Maybe he's drawn to Elizabeth because he is not afraid, in his heart, to be different, and the insulting way he refers to the lowness of her familial connections is simply to be stating the truth, as far as he is concerned. He is thinking of duty and upper class custom.

I like both versions. The BBC one is my favourite of the two but obviously it is much longer and most of the dialogue is from the novel. The film does give a good summary and has an earthier feel..especially the Ball scenes which seem more like a drunken brawl compared to the BBC rendition.

I rather like it actually but yes that awful Mrs darcy deleted scene is abysmal
Loved Donald Sutherland and omg Matthew McFadyen .......so sexy

Thank you

It is true that AS overdid it as Mrs Bennet, but I didn't mind because I thought it was essential to bring out the humour of the novel. I think she is written by JA as though for laughs. When an author tells you earlier on that the dad has basically married in haste and repented at leisure and he doesn't hide this fact from his daughters, you have to realise she's not going to be seen as a rounded portrayal with a convincing back story. She's a kind of moral foil for Elizabeth and Jane. Lizzy's system of ethics, though spirited and opinionated, seems greatly enlightened in comparison to the clichéd views of the time, exemplified by the attitude of her mother.
I enjoyed the humour being spelt out and underlined, else the ridiculousness of it could have been lost on modern day audiences.
And, dramatically, I think you need contrast, and the issue with period dramas, even ones to do with one of my favourites, Agatha Christie, is that characters can seem samey, all middle class and restrained, and all corseted by their formal manner and speech. Mrs B differentiates nicely, in the adaptation, from the Gardiner and other aunt and from Lady Lucas, by being larger than life. A sort of Falstaff of comic excess, both central to the plot and theme and a bit of a comic distraction. She is never going to be part of Lizzy and Darcy's future, just their past, an irrelevance to their mission to make a judicial marriage of minds.

I think if I were going to be doing a different take on P and P, I would bring out Elizabeth's youth - the fact she's only twenty or so. I'd have scenes with her laughing about with Jane and Charlotte and not seeming as mature and womanly as Jennifer Ehle suggests.
I think not appraising correctly the real compliment Darcy pays her in seeking her hand - as a previous poster has explained - is a sign of her slightly pig-headed naivety. She doesn't see it that, yes, Bingley and Darcy will want to marry from their circle to make things easier. And she is quite rude to Lady de Burgh at Rosings, in terms of not wanting to tell her own age and contradicting her on whether he younger sister should be out in society, if the eldest isn't wed. So what, she's been asked her age by her elder. It's petulant and a bit snarky of Lizzy: she is a guest at her Ladyship's table, after all. It's a bit like speaking rudely to the Boss's wife about the coffee machine at the complimentary meal at a works do. I think I'd make the story one of maturing, and keeping one's values, but seeing the realities of life. She doesn't exactly apologise to her mother for not managing to rescue the family home by marrying Mr Collins. She can't also appreciate that it is a well- intentioned thing which Mr Collins in intending and trying to do. She's so rude about him. She doesn't see herself as a cog in the family machine, like all those elder sons did who would dutifully have waved goodbye to their dream career in order to steer the family business. She's a selfish, young so and so, in the nicest possible way.

I think the relationship between Mr and Mrs Bennett is much better portrayed in the film. Brenda Blethyn brings a sweetness to her and there is affection as well as exasperation to the relationship with her husband. She's often portrayed as a bit of an insensitive cliche but she's acutely aware of the necessity for her girls to marry before their father dies which will remove all possibilities of them making a good match. Or even a half decent one as they will be poor.

I thought that the actor that playedr Wickham in the movie (Rupert Friend) was better suited to the role than the BBC series. In the series Mr Whickham was older and not very handsome. Yet he supposed to be a dashing figure that attracted Georgiana, Lydia and, to a lesser extent, Lizzie.
In the movie, Mr Whickham was younger, handsome and more dashing, which I thought was closer to what was envisaged by Jane Austin.

@Diverseopinions thank you for your posts, they're really interesting.

@Weatherwarning

I thought that the actor that playedr Wickham in the movie (Rupert Friend) was better suited to the role than the BBC series. In the series Mr Whickham was older and not very handsome. Yet he supposed to be a dashing figure that attracted Georgiana, Lydia and, to a lesser extent, Lizzie. In the movie, Mr Whickham was younger, handsome and more dashing, which I thought was closer to what was envisaged by Jane Austin.

Oh no, the BBC Wickham was absolutely gorgeous And meant to be of similar age to Darcy.

I love the book so much and BBC adaptation is glorious. The KK film just fillets out the "big" scenes and misses out on so much detail.

Also Lizzie isn't rude, she does her best to find humour in a very restrictive society.

Love the Austen-geek posts! Don’t know enough about her books and so cool getting more detail

As for all these posters with fit dads.... where are these men?! Would you mind a step mum...

YA all BU because the best Austen adaptation in Bride and Prejudice - the Bollywood-ish take on the story. Bloody love that film mainly for the ‘no life without wife’ dance sequence. Think it genuinely gets the story across well though even though ‘Lydia’ doesn’t have to marry Wickham.