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

I think kindness is valued, there are multiple examples of where the behaviour of characters is judged on their kindness or otherwise.
In Emma for example, Emma is severely criticised by Mr Knighley for her unkindness during the picnic and Franks behaviour towards her is also criticised by it's inherent unkindness both to her and his secret fiancée, Jane Fairfax.
A person's status is derived from their wealth, but their intellectual weight is measured separately and kindness seems to be the thing that JE uses to really show the wheat from the chaff. We are never invited to admire someone genuinely unkind (like Wickham)

To be fair I definitely got the impression that Marianne settled for Brandon rather than falling for him.

Interesting since it was Jane’s first and I do agree with PP that P&P seemed a lot less mature than her later books.

But Marianne’s decision was pragmatic, I think, as opposed to romantic.

@ScreamingBeans

Which doesn't mean I think the young JA didn't value kindness.

Mr and Mrs Grant are kind and sensible enough to be liked by Mr D.

Mr and Mrs Gardiner?

Yes, they are such a corrective to Mrs Bennet!

@Beamur

I think kindness is valued, there are multiple examples of where the behaviour of characters is judged on their kindness or otherwise. In Emma for example, Emma is severely criticised by Mr Knighley for her unkindness during the picnic and Franks behaviour towards her is also criticised by it's inherent unkindness both to her and his secret fiancée, Jane Fairfax. A person's status is derived from their wealth, but their intellectual weight is measured separately and kindness seems to be the thing that JE uses to really show the wheat from the chaff. We are never invited to admire someone genuinely unkind (like Wickham)

I love the way Lost in Austen recalibrates his character. Must rewatch.

The thing that pissed me off is how they butchered the dialogue for the sake of it.

I agree this is a big reason for the failure of the 2005 film. Deborah Moggach (the screenwriter), tries to 'improve' on Austen's dialogue by shortening and modernising it, and in doing so she destroys its cadence and wit.

Whereas for the 1995 BBC series, Andrew Davies lifts whole chunks of Austen's dialogue almost verbatim, which is the correct artistic decision.

The other main reason the film doesn't work is Joe Wright's leaden direction. There is no rhythm, no lightness to the film. Scenes that should be funny and sparkling just plod along. Great comic characters like Lady Catherine and Mr Collins fail to elicit a single laugh. It's not really the fault of the actors, IMO. Judy Dench and Tom Hollander have been very funny in other projects. In the hands of a different director, I think their performances would have been more successful.

Dreadful version. Totally unnecessary bearing in mind the awesome Colin Firth/ Jennifer Erhl TV adaptation.

Elizabeth is very young, only twenty, and doesn't have much in the way of real life experience. Mr Collins' proposal is probably the first time she's had to make an important decision.

I think her first reaction to Charlotte's engagement shows how young she is; an older woman would have understood the reasons for it, even if she didn't agree with it (Anne Elliot would never have made a similar marriage).

P&P was originally called 'First Impressions', and that's the lesson Elizabeth learns - that first impressions aren't necessarily always right.