hit and miss

Rating: 1/10 (14 February 2006)

The director of this version of pride and prejudice seems to have no notion that when times change so does our habits, morals and sense of propriety. To miss such simple details as dress in a costume drama is just unacceptable. People are constantly running around without head attire in this movie, even soldiers in uniform which is simply absurd even today, and really, what a thing to miss!
The movie makers have actually missed all historical fact of womens dependence in the early nineteen century. The reason why Austens heroines are so concerned with love and matrimony is that marriage was the only honorable way to live for women of her social class. If, as in this film, women could just hop on a cart and travel to London for some amusement they would be so independent as to make marriage less important. Really, if they could run outside in the middle of the night to meet with half-naked lovers without being heavily censured by society there would be no need for marriage at all!
I realize that it would be impossible to film a novel without changing bits and pieces but if one is to make a film about life two hundred years ago one should at least try to adhere to the more crucial historical facts. It is also pretty boring when characters are so modernized as to lose all characteristics. Why film an Austen novel if not interested in the essential points of her stories? Ang Lee's Sense and sensibility is not an exact copy of Austens novel but it does manage to express the feeling of her work and that is what's important when filming a book, especially such a famous one as Pride and prejudice.