Unforgivable omission

Rating: 1/10 (29 October 2008)

The 1995 BBC/A&E production of P&P with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth was what got me started reading (and watching) Jane Austen. It is incomparable, and that's partly due to the fact that it's five hours long. I realize that adapting a novel of this length and complexity for a mass-market studio release is difficult, because it's hard to cram it all into two hours. That said, here's my primary objection to this movie (I have about fifteen others): after Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth and her receipt of his letter explaining his motives in separating Bingley from Jane and his history with Wickham, the novel focuses on Darcy overcoming his pride and Elizabeth overcoming her prejudice. That's the theme. Literally, the moral of the story. And it is utterly and completely missing from this movie. Gone. Totally. Not there. This is unforgivable. The movie's other flaws, huge as they are, pale in comparison to this willful disregard of the author's intent.
A note to those reviewers who have complained about Mr. Bennet being portrayed as a farmer: technically he was, but more in the sense of a gentleman farmer than one who actually labored in the fields or spent any time engaged in animal husbandry. In one scene in the book, there is a discussion of whether the carriage should be sent for, and the point is dismissed as moot, because the horses are busy on the farm. However, the family is described near the beginning of the book as being the "principal inhabitants" of the village of Longbourne, indicating they didn't live cheek-by-jowl with their livestock. The filmmakers got this wrong, with everything else.