A more casual, less proper Pride and Prejudice

Rating: 9/10 (19 October 2005)

I loved the look of the new 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice: people perspire, have bad haircuts and there is dirt visible in the Bennet house. Sometimes, in the dance scenes, the dance floor seemed actually crowded! Even with several servants, the Bennets' lives looked as imperfect as Mrs. Bennet often describes them.
As a confirmed Janeite, I had trouble at first accepting the modified dialog. I love Austen's prose and each character has his or her own voice; but the new screenplay shortened long exchanges that would have slowed the action. I realize now that the incredible achievement of fitting the plot into two hours would not have been possible if the original wording of my favorite scenes had been preserved. None of the major plot points were cut and only a few brothers-in-law and aunts were left out. This script also makes the story more accessible to a new audience. I know folks already are starting to read the book as a result of having seen the film.
Although satisfied, for the most part, with the casting, I was interested by the ages of the actors and actresses. Susannah Harker played Jane Bennet in 1995; she was born in 1965 -- too old! Rosamund Pike is 26, and those four years make quite a difference in believability. Regardless of her true age, Jena Malone was so bratty, she never seemed a minute over 16. Keira Knightley captured the combination of the vivaciousness of someone barely out of her teens and the wisdom that makes Elizabeth Bennet my favorite fictional character. In 1940, Greer Garson played Elizabeth; she was 36! However, if Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were married young, as Jane Austen said they were, Blethen and Sutherland are too old to have children the age of the Bennet girls. Judi Densch has been playing women younger than herself for quite a while; and who else could possibly have portrayed Lady Catherine as well?
I think the ridiculousness of Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins were toned down a little too much in this screenplay, although Tom Hollander presented a wonderful combination of self-importance and self-deprecation that is the essence of his character. As for Darcy and Bingley, Colin Firth (P&P, 1995) and Naveen Andrews (Bride and Prejudice, 2004) are such favorites of mine, it is difficult to comment, but I particularly appreciated the lack of confidence of both of these characters that the actors allowed us to glimpse in this new version.
Some literary purists may disdain this new, big screen adaptation, but remember, a feature film is not a mini-series any more than it is a book and this production is far more faithful than was the last one (1940). In many ways it is a perfect introduction for the uninitiated. After all, Jane Austen began writing Pride and Prejudice more than 200 years ago!