Great job condensing the story we all love!

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2005)

This is a great story everyone should see and read. Keira Knightley (Elizabeth) was absolutely great as was the new Darcy, Matthew MacFadyen. This was a wonderful 2 hour endeavor to master the complexities of Austen's book and A&E's masterpiece adaptation with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
A&E P&P fans will be both happy with this version and rest knowing the mini-series still is secure as the best of breed in all the Pride and Prejudice interpretations through many years.
Two things bothered me- one to no end.
Casting Donald Sutherland as a Mr. Bennett with an accent more out of Georgia than 18th century England was unforgivable. It reminded me of the vain attempts of Brad Pitt to master accents in "Seven Years in Tibet" (redeeming himself in "Snatch"). That aspect of Sutherland was distracting until his final scene with Keira, which was masterful due to great writing and direction. If you cast an American in such a closely scrutinized film as this was bound to be, at least let's be sure to find actors that can do an English accent. Surely they passed over some great ones to do Donald a favor.
Secondly-- I had a love-hate relationship with the cinematography. It was incredible and annoying. The scenes shot were so masterful, but reminded me a bit of a great novel employing every literary clichÃ©. It was a little like watching a play of the Last Supper where all the actors at one moment freeze into the positions of the famous painting by the same name. Except, they were so often it seemed like a strobe- one after another.
Like I said, I loved it and hated it. I'll have to think about it some more, and be sure to study the DVD. Probably it represented a really creative departure from convention that I just need to watch again.
On the other hand the creative complexity of many scenes was amazing. Joe Wright directing, really told much of the story normally found in Austen's dialog, simply by framing a seemingly unrelated passing glance by one character in a scene focusing on another portion of the story. That was flawless.
I believe Wright will get a best director nomination, as will Knightly for her portrayal as as Elizabeth. I also suspect the edgy cinematography will get a nod too.
Lots of other good stuff, but too much to mention.
Go see it!