Great movie, despite its flaws...

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2006)

I went to watch the new adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel "Pride & Prejudice" knowing that the lead actress, Keira Knightley, was nominated to an Academy Award. While the Awards may not always be accurate, I had big expectations of her performance in the movie, and sadly, i was disappointed. Despite this, the movie is a brilliant adaptation of the classic and makes justice to Austen's work.
Knightley plays our main character, Elizabeth Bennet; who is a woman with a strong will uncommon in her age. Her family has economic troubles, increased by the fact that her father, Mr. Bennet (Donald Sutherland) is old, and since none of his five daughters has married, with his death the property will go to the next male relative. For this reason, her mother (Brenda Blethyn) is completely obsessed with getting her daughters married.
Nothing of this matters for Elizabeth, since she has a bad opinion of men, an opinion who seems to be confirmed by Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfayden), a man who has just come to the village with Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods),a rich man who falls in love with Elizabeth's older sister Jane (Rosamund Pike). Darcy's apparently is a selfish arrogant man full of pride and this may confirm Elizabeth's opinion about men, or is this just only prejudice? Jane Austen's novel is adapted to screen one more time in the debut of Joe Wright as a director. Deborah Moggach's screenplay is remarkably good and the adaptation is quite accurate. While it is not the most faithful adaptation, it is the most adequate, as it keeps the spirit of Austen's work and its everlasting charm. It is not free of flaws, as the very short screen-time of Mr. Wickham (Rupert Friend) truly affects the power of later actions of the main characters.
Nevertheless, Joe Wright makes a very good job as a director, and he gives us images of enormous beauty and is capable of printing the soul of the written word in film. The superb camera-work is outstanding but at times, its beauty seems to overshadow the cast.
This takes me to the film's weakest link. Don't get me wrong, most of the cast have done a great job, particularly Tom Hollander as the Bennet's cousin, Mr. Collins; his performances is remarkable and gives a sympathetic view to his pathetic character.
The problem in the cast, is that the two main characters are very strong and in stands the backbone of the tale, the clash of two very stubborn and strong wills, however, in the film both Knightley and Macfayden lack that strength and make the characters not as believable. Keira Knightley's performance is a bit above average, a disappointment considering she was nominated for this movie, although she manages to carry the film with grace. The problem is that Macfayden gives a very poor acting as he seems unable to transmit Mr. Darcy's powerful presence.
However, this flaw doesn't hurt the film and "Pride & Prejudice" remains a great film adaptation. Maybe it won't be the best of all, but is a good version that fits quite well the current times. 7/10