Poor adaptation of a timeless classic

Rating: 2/10 (25 March 2008)

I gave it two stars; one for the beautiful scenery, the other for the score, which was really very nice. Unfortunately, that's about all the positive things I can say about this adaptation.
Being a huge fan of the BBC A&E version with the incomparable Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, I admit my expectations were high. But whereas I was able to enjoy both the Gwynneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale versions of Emma on their different merits, sadly, the same couldn't be said for this poorly conceived mess.
For starters, let's list a few of the many historical inaccuracies. I'm hardly an expert on regency England but even I was at first amused, then annoyed and finally downright horrified at the liberties this film took. Women wander round outdoors without bonnets, Elizabeth even goes to Netherfield with her hair down, and is outside in her nightdress at about five in the morning. Caroline Bingley wears a sleeveless dress, Bingley waltzes into Jane's room and no one bats an eyelid, Lizzy and Darcy meet unchaperoned in their nightclothes...the list goes on.
Wright makes his biggest cock-up in taking a novel that is primarily a book about social class and manners, and trying to portray it as something more akin to a Bronte novel. Hence we get long distance shots of bleak and rugged scenery, with characters staring pensively into the distance or caught in the rain looking romantically windswept. Most notably, the first proposal scene which in the novel takes place in a parlour, is transferred to a wild outdoor setting (of course, in the rain).
Characterisation is poor: I have to enquire what Donald Sutherland was smoking during filming, but judging by the end result, I can't say I blame him. Due undoubtedly to time restraints (or maybe just poor acting) multi faceted characters are reduced to cardboard cutouts.
Keira's performance isn't terrible, but it lacks depth. Elizabeth's wry humour and ironic observations while all the while maintaining strictest propriety is sacrificed to giggling or toothy grinning for much of the film's first half. Her attempts to portray the character as feisty and independent instead come across as aggressive and, on occasions, petulant. Knightley evidently tries to make Elizabeth a 'deep' character, but putting a book in her hand does not make her intelligent, neither does gazing pensively into the middle distance give her depth. She clearly struggles with Austen's dialogue, on the rare occasions when it's present.
McFadyen's Darcy is equally uninteresting. He undergoes little or no character development in the course of the film; by the end he's just as dull as he was in his first appearance. Wickham makes an appearance just long enough for the audience to realise it actually isn't Orlando Bloom, just an uncanny look alike. Bingley, instead of being portrayed as a kind, generous man with sense, albeit overly trusting, comes across as more than slightly retarded. Blethlyn's Mrs Bennett was possibly the best of a bad bunch along with Judi Dench, but her Mrs Bennett was ultimately the only character I sympathised with, which shows the filmmakers are doing something wrong.
Much of Austen's sly humour is sacrificed for cheap laughs, and passages of the novel's original dialogue are awkwardly inserted between jarringly modern phrases ('Don't you dare judge me, Lizzy!' - from Charlotte Lucas, of all people). All in all, this film is unsure of what it wants to be. Consequently, it doesn't feel like we're watching Austen, more a watered down Bronte meets the funny farm. If you want Pride and Prejudice, watch the 1995 version instead, or read the book.