Catches your attention and keeps it throughout

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2006)

Funny thing.. I ended up watching this film completely accidentally and I wasn't at all disappointed! However, perhaps it was because I knew nothing of the plot, or watched any previous versions or read the book that accounts for me finding this satisfactory. When discussing the film with an ex literature student you do realise that some facts are omitted or altered. Of course, most of us out there are not literature students and so should be pleased with this. If you want the best version, the read the book obviously! And now that this film has entered me into this world, I for one intend to.
The film takes us back to another era, a time were matters were conducted very differently than our day.. to say the least. My friend and I were rather shocked at some of the things revealed about how women were treated. One of my remarks was actually that : 'that these women lived to get married!' Certainly this film gives us a great insight into a time that some of us know very little about. And you really do get invested in these characters that become so realistic to you. Even if the circumstances at first seem unfamiliar to you, certain matters ,you realise, never change.
Empathy for Lizie and Mr Darcy grow as the plot goes on, so that at the end of every one of their encounters you just wish that the two fools just admit what they feel for each other; despite the hint at the back of your mind that they will do so in the end (that is if you have somehow not heard of the story before, which I really do not know how I have not come across before and probably am of a group of very few people).
Overall a great film, with Jane Austen's work setting the foundations for the many romantic comedies that we have before us today. Well, that is what I have been told from my literature-expert friend! Performances are amazing throughout.. from Kiera Knightley to the younger actresses who play her sisters.
Definitely a film that I would recommend.. especially if at heart you are a hopeless romantic!