Terrific new version

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 2005)

Although I loved the BBC version, mainly because of Colin Firth's performance, I think this one is even better. The earthy Bennett household with its anxious, flowsy mother, the crush of people, the indolent, long-suffering father, and the narrowness of life in this cash-strapped provincial backwater are wonderfully well caught. We can totally understand why Lydia is so desperate for adventure and escape, and why the girls are all so obsessed with the search for a husband and some romance. The absolute imperative of making a good marriage is communicated with unsparing sharpness of focus; Charlotte Lucas, in announcing her engagement to Lizzie, has a wonderful cameo scene in which she tartly corrects Lizzie's romantic notions with a heavy dose of practicality and realism, and then goes on to touch our hearts with her warm-hearted pleasure, once married, in having her own room in which to receive her friend. The two dance scenes - the Assembly and the Ball - are spectacular, bursting with the energy, vitality, and - dare I say it - good nature that thrives under the class-ridden surface of English life, and which is so often obscured by too great a focus on the surface gentility of the period. A corner of Chatsworth House in the Peak District becomes Pemberley - too grand, perhaps, even for Darcy, but a breathtakingly beautiful setting, and Keira Knightley's moment on top of a rock on the moors wonderfully symbolizes Lizzie's yearning for a larger and freer life. Plenty of other viewers have commented on the casting and camera work: I must add my vote to those who - despite still mourning the loss of Colin Firth - find the new Darcy an appealing replacement. His is a performance that grows on the viewer: I saw the movie twice, and found myself noticing a myriad of subtleties in his realization of the role the second time around that I had missed the first time. The ending - although absolutely not Jane Austen - is tender and moving, and is a wonderfully effective conclusion to a great new adaptation.