A highly enjoyable adaptation

Rating: 10/10 (18 September 2005)

I am absolutely appalled by the fact that some people are commenting and marking this production on the basis of watching just the trailer and not even seeing the movie. That is totally unfair on everybody concerned in my opinion. The trailer is a trailer not a resume of the movie.Ttake it from me it does not do justice to the complete production.
I went to see this film as a sceptic. Like many others I thought that the essence of the novel could not be condensed into 2 hours and that Kiera Knightley was a bad choice for the central role. Luckily I did not go to see it with any 1995 TV miniseries baggage. I always thought that that adaptation was far from perfect.
The director and writers did a fine job in getting the essence of the story into the time available. Yes a lot is cut out, inevitably, and there are some changes to important parts of the plot but the film structure means that the essence is there. The cinematography is fantastic and, I have to admit, Kiera Knightley comes of age as an actress. Particularly good also was Rosamund Pike as Jane.
One major gripe. Why give the US and Canada a film 8 minutes longer with a superior ending. Do the producers think we Europeans have a shorter attention span? I feel quite cheated by this decision.