Not the greatest adaption ever made..

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2006)

"Sometimes the last person on earth you want to be with is the one person you can't be without"
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a blockbuster film of large budget must be in want of some dumbing down. As is witnessed in this tremendously altered version of Pride and Prejudice. The transformed novel has (I imagine) been changed to suit a wider audience than a few hundred single women, this time the target audience has been the MTV generation. The ill advised changes have been focused mainly on the language; Mr Darcy's character I am certain, would never have allowed him on an invitation to dance to reply 'Not if I can help it'. This is truly not the proud character we all know and love.
Along with Lizzie's Pride and Darcy's Prejudice, I cannot imagine a better suited couple to cast than Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen. Their on-screen chemistry made the film irresistible to watch. Another successful choice of cast was that of Jane Bennet (Rosamund Pike). Her radiant beauty rightfully outshone that of her sister Lizzie, whose beauty was 'tolerable'. Unfortunately the choice of Mr Bennet was unfathomable. Donald Sutherland's delivery of the role was lacking any of the subtle British humour which permeates all of Austen's work. As we have come to expect Dame Judi Dench was rolled out for another matriarchal performance as Lady Catherine De Bourgh. On this occasion she failed to steal any of the scenes from the more youthful cast.
If any character was likely to steal the show from Miss Knightly and co. it could well have been the great British countryside. Never has Derbyshire looked more enticingly romantic. Meanwhile the rustic Bennet farmhouse provided startling contrast to Mr Darcy's majestic Pemberly. Something that has been wanting in previous productions. Perhaps my favourite scene, that in which Darcy finally professes his love, benefited from dramatic use of a good old British rainstorm.
All of this rounds up to a film greater than the sum of its parts. While the film is flawed the Jane Austen tale bears the retelling. Joe Wright has just about pulled off his first feature film; we wait to see what lessons he has learnt with his next film 'Atonement', another adaptation this time of a more modern classic.