Ambivalent

Rating: 6/10 (14 August 2006)

Rating this movie I really wasn't sure what to give it. It has its downs, but also some spectacular ups. The setting is wonderful; Longbourne is beautiful in it's 17th century glory, the set for the Meryton assembly amazing and Chatsworth as Pemberley breathtaking. The music is beautiful. The costumes are at times extremely elegant.
But. The casting is slightly off. Keira Knightley is good, Rosamund Pike spot-on; I love Brenda Blethyn to death, but something about her is not quite right here. Matthew Macfadyen, perfect in Perfect Strangers, is more a contemporary face and lacks the kind of strength and sexy charm I associate to the role. The younger Bennett girls... Tallulah Riley is too pretty and the other two too childish. And Donald Sutherland - who thought casting him would be a good move? Also, the adaptation fails. The very basic storyline is there, and nothing else. The characters are oftentimes wrong, as are the dynamics of the family. Mr Collins and Mr Bingley are nothing like their literary counterparts, and Mr and Mrs Hurst have been deleted entirely. The Bennett family has been made much poorer than they are. The whole Wickham storyline is pushed aside too soon, as if the writers didn't know just how important it is. And so on... On the whole, I had the feeling that it was done in rush, and as short as possible.
Also, the movie is full of all sorts of modern blunders. Too many to mention.
I have heard that before being assigned to direct this film Joe Wright had never read the book; he didn't fully understand his subject, or the importance of portraying certain things faithfully to it, and that has given this work a slightly sour aftertaste.