If you're after some Austen action, you've gone to the wrong movie...

Rating: 4/10 (25 October 2005)

Alright, before I begin, let me establish - whilst I am both an Austen fan and a fan of the 1995 BBC Mini-Series, I am not a purist. I walked in to this film with very few expectations, and willing to accept that it would not be like the oh-so-wonderful BBC version. I was ready for a change. And I have to say, I pretty much got what I expected - just let me remind you, that wasn't a whole lot.
Firstly, this film is NOT Jane Austen's version of Pride & Prejudice - it's more like an odd, re-written version of P&P by Emily Bronte. Instead of the novel's original clever, witty and fairly quiet suburban, drawing room satire, director Joe Wright chose to create a lush, sweeping, romantic saga, set against stark and gloriously beautiful locations.
Essentially, the story is pared down to its bare roots -- Lizzie Bennett, a precocious and rather giggly girl, meets and hates-on-first-sight Mr Darcy, the uptight and taciturn friend of Mr Bingly, the new renter of Netherfield Park. Bingly, goofy, awkward and tongue-tied, is immediately enchanted by, and falls in love with, shy Jane Bennett, Lizzie's older, quieter sister. The story follows Lizzie as she first hates and then falls in love with the increasingly emotionally fragile Darcy, overcoming her prejudice towards him, and assisting Jane in establishing a relationship (and marriage) with Bingly.
Sadly, many wonderful (and, in my opinion, extremely necessary) characters fall to the wayside - the clever caricatures of Mr Collins (the obtuse, silly, mean spirited cousin), Mrs Bennett (now just a tad whiny but mostly lovable), Mr Bennett (indulgent rather than scathing), and Lady Catherine (still nasty and selfish, but lacking any of Austen's delicious wit) all dwindle down to not-much-ness. It's Austen, Jim, but not as we know it!
This film DOES have some good points - firstly, the cinematography, is just plain gorgeous. This is top class stuff - one film moment, where Lizzie stands on a mountain precipice whilst the camera sweeps around her, really made me catch my breath. Also, Matthew MacFadyen brings a very interesting new dimension to the character of Darcy - while we miss out on Darcy's clever dialogue and scathing wit, we do gain a lot of vulnerability that is interesting and really beautifully portrayed by MacFadyen. While I still think that Colin Firth has created a version of Darcy that is, in my opinion, unbeatable, MacFadyen really engaged me and had me interested.
Keira Knightly, on the other hand, was NOT my vision of Lizzie. Whilst she is much closer in age to the character than Jennifer Ehle ("not yet one and twenty"), she turned an outspoken, intelligent, strong, independent character in to one seriously lacking in backbone. She wavers back and forth from giggles to looking teary and forlorn -- all in all, not a character that I can imagine ANY man of intelligence falling desperately in love with.
I have to admit, I also found the overall change from early 19th century English Regency to late 18th century French Provincial (???) really irritating and confusing. As I understand it, the director was interested in setting the film when it was originally written (which was, admittedly, at the end of the 18th century), but what he failed to take in to account was that Jane Austen did major rewrites of all of her novels before they were published in the 19th century. However, whilst the setting would not, in my opinion, have been at all appropriate to a more faithful portrayal of the novel, the execution of the story was so different from Austen's original intentions, it hardly matters.
All in all, tossing aside my love of the novel, I still find I am left with a fairly mediocre film. There are some glaring historical inaccuracies (or rather, historical improprieties - such as a certain character wandering the countryside in her slippers and nightgown, to name one), the costumes are ill fitting and really unflattering for ALL of the characters (I understand the director wanted to "ugly up" Knightly, although I don't understand his reasoning for this - Lizzie is, after all, supposed to be very handsome) and the dialogue for the most part is uncomfortably, awkwardly changed from the original. I suspect, as well, that if I didn't know what the story was about, I wouldn't have been able to follow this film very easily.
To sum up, go see it if you know the story and want a new take, or don't have a clue what the story is about - you'll probably at least moderately enjoy it (and clearly, many people have). However, if you are a major fan of the book (or just like it a lot!) stick to the BBC series - Jennifer and Colin leave this version for dead.