The shortest way between two hearts is never a straight line ...

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2015)

Most of the delight provided by Joe Wright's "Pride and Prejudice" is that the late 18th century material of Jane Austen's celebrated novel is handled with a subtle but imperceptible modern touch.
It is as though the heroines were not much different from high school girls of two centuries later, not that the movie was modernized in such a way it betrayed Jane Austen's spirit but in its clearly stated intention to target a younger audiences, it found the perfect note and tone to that, much more with the perfect actresses. It's not even a coincidence that all the plot-driving Bennett sisters are played by future A-list players: Carey Mulligan, Rosamund Pike and last but not least, Keira Knightley. Today, they gathered more Oscar nominations together than Donald Sutherland... in one of his most charming and endearing roles as a father stricken by the blessing (or the curse) of having only daughters.
Watching these sisters interact during the film reminded of this cliché of teenage girls gossiping, wondering if the school heartthrob said this or that, or how they can approach him without looking too pushy or needy. It's all the same game in "Pride & Prejudice" but it works even better in the film because the stakes are higher than a simple flirt or a date, the film is about marriage and we all know what it meant in the 18th century, for girls as much as men. A man with a profession and a good fortune had to be married, at eighteen, a girl had to find such a man, all she had to do was to be pretty, fertile, other considerations such as wit and personality were more or less important. The point was that anyone with a daughter had to make it a matter of honor to prevent her from being a spinster, Mrs. Bennett (Brenda Betthlyn) had five daughters, so it wasn't a part-time job, she would know no rest before she'd marry the youngest one, and yes, they had to be married in order, in order not to show that one had been passed over.
It's a whole marketing process where money was at stakes as well as love matters. With five daughters, only a male distant cousin of the family, the boring Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander) would inherit from the Bennett's landowning fortune. There are parameters to be taken into consideration and urgency is one of them. And the intelligence of the film is not to overdo the 'modernity' card. Indeed, had it ever tried to criticize them indirectly, that would've been too artificially feminist for its own good, but even Lizzie, who is the most free-spirited sister, accepts the obligation of marriage as part of life requirements, because she's also, like any girl of her age, in quest of a true love, and she's not deprived of bad looks. Keira Knightley is perfect with that unique combination of youthful full-bloom beauty, mature intelligence and that cute smile that oddly distorts her lips and shrink her eyes, a sight that melts my heart every time. She's typically the girl any man would fall in lover with, but obviously, she's not for any man. One of the most painful moments is when Cousin Collins, as boring a pastor as vertically challenged, asks her for marriage and she finds the proper words to put him in his place, diplomatic, polite but final.
She does so, because if not her heart, her mind is still invaded by the figure of Mr. Darcy (Matthew MacFayden) a handsome and smoothly brooding friend of the more sociable and jovial Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods) who just moved next to the Bennetts and seems to have grown a mutual fondness with the older sister Jane (Rosamund Pike). Jane, as a naturally shy girl, doesn't express her excitement enough although she likes Bingley, and at the risk of not appearing needy, she dangerously lets her attitude slide toward a form of cold distance during the crucial ball scene. Meanwhile, a few exchanges between Lizzie and Darcy showed the obligatory dislike at first sight but one of a peculiar sort that can't fool us, it's acted in such a way that we can't believe these two persons aren't made for each other.
Interestingly, the growing romance between Jane and Bingley allows Lizzie and Darcy to meet more regularly despite their official façade of animosity. Of course, the romance won't go without a series of misunderstandings, properly set as narrative obstacles, the most memorable involve a dashing young captain named Mr. Wickham (Rupert Friend) in contention with Darcy and a domineering aunt, played by Judi Dench, who has other plans for Darcy. The movie is a powerful illustration that the shortest way between two hearts is never a straight line, but neither the bitchy aunt or the presumptuous captain are as effective antagonists in the film as the titular pride and prejudice, prejudice hurts one's pride and a hurt pride paves the way to prejudice, and most the excitement comes from watching these two hearts trying to get out of that vicious circle...
... that, and seeing Mrs. Bennett desperately praising her daughters' charms and virtues as if she was trying to be the saleswoman of the month.