Strong writing, direction and the acting of Keira Knightly make this a marvelous retelling of the Jane Austen story.

Rating: 9/10 (24 November 2005)

This was an exhilarating movie to watch. Much of the credit goes to very intelligent direction, including fluid tracking shots and long takes that put viewers in the action (a ball sequence early in the film was especially effective). A concise script keeps the story moving in a compelling way. The single greatest source of exhilaration, however, was the performance of Keira Knightley, who brings one of the most attractive heroines in English literature, Elizabeth Bennet, incandescently to life. Knightley captures Lizzie's intelligence, wit, fierce pride and passionate nature perfectly and gives the most mesmerizing performance by an actress that I have seen in some time. This is the story of a woman who is acutely conscious of the limitations placed on women by the age in which she lives and who is very skeptical in her view of men, yet who is also capable of profound passion. Knightley and the others involved in bringing this most recent version of "Pride and Prejudice" to the screen make watching Elizabeth Bennet's fate unfold intensely interesting and pleasurable.