Interesting choices

Rating: 10/10 (7 November 2011)

This is a beautifully shot movie, with lovely music and amazing piano playing by Jean-Ives Thibaudet. If you are not very familiar with the novel or the 1995 BBC TV version, you will enjoy it outright. If you belong to those viewers who are Jane Austen fans, you will need to see this version more than once to overcome the barriers imposed by a rushed and drastically summarized script and the odd--and I dare say-- unnecessary distortions of Austen's milieu and social mores. However, with each repeated viewing you will sense that the scriptwriter embeds layers from the excised scenes into the dialog, the gestures and the facial expressions, as if days and months would pass by in seconds inside the mind of the characters. If you have read the novel in depth, you may be able to project those layers unto the characterizations in this movie.
All the criticisms I have read in this site are on the mark. Indeed, Knightley seems too modern and disheveled; Bingley can barely speak intelligently; Wickham, although attractive, is reduced to a minor character. MacFadyen seems too shy and awkward at first, although his eyes are incredibly expressive, his voice is beautiful, and he is ultimately convincing. People are dressed with so many styles that one cannot tell the time period; perhaps this was one more way to establish class differences and historical style transitions. And still, in the end, these criticisms do not affect the ultimate success of the movie. The psychological transformation of Darcy and Elizabeth as they overcome their pride and prejudices(the true message in Austen's novel) is achieved beautifully, in a manner that will make the viewer return to this film time and again.
Furthermore, the cinematography is special, with beautiful planes of light and color that emulate early Romantic paintings, and unexpected time-lapse sequences with music, such as the one with Lizzie in the swing through the seasons or observing herself in the mirror after Darcy's first proposal.
I must also say that, in spite of her anachronistic sleeveless dresses, this is the best Caroline Bingley I have seen. She is beautiful, fashionable and snobbish, not older or unattractive, like in other productions; in short, a true object of contrast as a class-conscious potential rival for Darcy's attention.
The final "Mrs. Darcy" kisses are an indulgence for the American market that could have been handled much better. Both characters could have been still dressed and behaving with the modesty suited to the historical time, as a credible transition between their previous life and what is to come. Instead, it is enjoyable and tender, but also jarring, even within the range of compromises already made in the movie.
If you accept that the masterful Austen novel must be seriously abridged for the purposes of a movie, you will enjoy this "Pride and Prejudice" on its own terms, and it will get better and better with repeated viewings.