Appreciation For The 1990s Pride And Prejudice

[EineReiseDurchDieZeit]

It's never been equalled as novel adaptations go!! Everyone is perfect !

I watched it all in one day for the 3rd or 4th time in 2015 when I was recovering from a difficult miscarriage. It was a big comfort.

Last year we turned an unused toilet on the landing into a cupboard. I sent a photo of it to my mum when it was done and she immediately sent a message back saying she was sure Lady Catherine would approve of the shelving.

I liked Alison Steadman in the 1995 version - IMHO other performances have not fully captured the vulgarity and crassness of Mrs Bennet and the way that her machinations have driven suitors away from her more sensible daughters.

I think people who says this are judging by 2000s standards. Go into any stately home and look at the paintings of women, nymphs and angels - they look a lot like Susannah Harker.

That's perfect. I really need to find an excuse to text that to someone!

Thanks, I just did a massive double take at the thought that Susannah Harker was Sabina Franklin’s (1980 Jane)’s daughter. But not that one!

Is it due to be on Drama on 5th Jan? I think I saw it as I looked around the channels.
In 1995 it was on in the autumn. I remember the autumnal feeling of the outdoors when I came in from a bit of gardening one late Sunday afternoon. I was taking off my boots and thinking that there would be another episode within a few hours.

It's on iPlayer currently.

Also absolutely love this and you have all made me want to rewatch it now!
I think the problem is that Jennifer Ehle (while playing Lizzie to perfection) is actually a little too attractive. Lizzie is supposed to be girl next door level attractive who pales in comparison to her older sister but has the wit and intelligence that draws Darcy. But let's be honest JE is smoking hot in 1995 😆
Whilst Susannah Harker despite being very appealing is not quite attractive enough for Jane, who is supposed to be a head Turner who men instantly notice. I think that does slightly undermine the premise of the story (but I forgive it).

I also agree with PPs who said Alison Streadman is perfection and is exactly as empty headed, single minded and irritating as in the book. Its clear in the book that neither Lizzie nor her father can bear her except in short doses - she is the MIL from hell and the foil to her incredibly beautiful daughter Jane. And Jane is so good mannered and good hearted she just sits there and accepts it. Its also a core element of the story.

So much to love!

But every adaptation creates the look of the characters according to the beauty standards of their day, at least in part. It’s easier to see when they’re longer ago. Look at that Sense and Sensibility from the early 1970s, where Darcy and Bingley have sideboards and Jane and Lizzy have very 70s nude lips, pearlescent eyeshadow etc. I think Joanna David (Mrs Gardiner in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice) was one of the Dashwood sisters.

Or the 1940 P and P, which moves it forward to Victorian times (kind of), because of Gone With the Wind’s success, but all the women are wearing very 1940s-style makeup with dark lips.

I hated the 1940s "Gone with the Wind" adaptation of P&P that moved the story forwards into the Victorian era of huge dresses with multiple petticoats.

Nor was I keen on some of the styling in the 2005 adaptation that had Elizabeth Bennet, a daughter of the landed gentry, styled as a scullery maid and Caroline Bingley wearing ca. 2000s prom/bridal gowns but would have been considered a chemise (underwear) in Jane Austen's day.

My only gripe with the 1995 version is that it was filmed in such a low quality form (presumably to save production costs) that when you watch it on today’s HD TVs it looks very dated! I recommend buying the BluRay version which has been upgraded and cleaned up as it looks soooo much better.

The "making of" book is very good.

What a beautiful memory!

The second episode was aired on my tenth birthday.

I have nice memories of watching this as well. I watched it each week with my mum. Nobody else in the family was interested so they were banished from the room so we could watch it in peace. Her favourite bit was "Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr Collins, and I will never see you again if you do."

That's lovely. I also watched this with my late mum: it was her favourite book. I had my own place by then and we'd often have a running commetary going on the phone afterwards. Brings back such beautiful memories and when I rewatch it now, it takes me back to the time when she was alive.

To me, this and my box-sets of other series we watched together are like a comfort blanket.

yes, droll means fun

It’s exquisite isn’t it. Absolutely perfect.

The Kiera Knightly one can fuck right off. Everyone’s too skinny and they make the Bennett’s look like they live on a farm. Also what’s with all the mumbling.

The Bennets do live on a farm, though. That’s why Jane can’t take the family carriage to Netherfield (but has to ride, get soaked, fall ill and stay over, according to her mother’s cunning plan) — the carriage horses are needed on the farm. Admittedly Longbourn wouldn’t have been full of pigs and chickens wandering through the house….

Sorry but you’re not exactly right. Longbourne is the principal habitant of the village, yes it has farmland that is tended to because that’s how all estates made money but it’s not a farm that would ever have let pigs run through the house. The family would be very far removed from the daily workings of the farmland tending.

Also a pretty big part of the story is Jane can’t take the carriage because her mother wants her to be caught in the rain so she can stay at Netherfield longer not because the horse isn’t available! It’s basically the very successful ploy to make Bingley fall in love with her.

The Kiera Knightly one can fuck its way on to my TV screen. I like it, too, and the 1980 version. I have realised from threads on Reddit that some people hate the 2005 film and take any opportunity to say so. I hadn't realised there was such a war, before I read Mumsnet and Reddit.
All the versions will probably have something which I like.
Sometimes I've seen an actress who is beautiful in her thinness. I am thinking of Carey Mulligan in 'The Dig', Celia Johnson in anything, and Keira Knightly in 'P and P'. That doesn't stop me from liking the heavier versions of Lizzie.

What do you think of Anna Maxwell Martin as Lizzie in Death Comes to Pemberley?

I thought she was great.

Death Comes To Pemberley is an awful book so I've never watched the series

I thought she was woefully miscast, as was Matthew Rhys. I didn't like it anyway, they ruined poor Colonel Fitzwilliam's character, and the plot was laughable.

I liked the adaptation better than the book - although I make allowances that PD James was in her 90s when she wrote it.

I liked Anna Maxwell Martin but again I disliked the styling of her as a somewhat careworn, windswept tenant farmer's wife. She was Mrs Darcy of Pemberley and IMHO would not have had untidy hair and scruffy dresses - especially inside Pemberley.

I agree. It was far better than the film adaptation. Due to time constraints the film cut out a lot of the story eg Whickham having previously attempting to run off with Darcy's little sister which was why Darcy hated him. It's been that long since I've seen either version I can't remember all which the film dropped or skimmed over but there was a lot.

Plus the film didn't have a young Colin Firth emerging from a lake😜