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You would think that five hours would seem quite long for a movie—that you
wouldn’t want to watch the whole thing at once. But I can’t imagine
having to wait between the segments of Pride and Prejudice like the original
viewers of this BBC production did. When I watch it, I can barely stop for breaks
and snacks when needed.
This is—thus far—the definitive adaptation of this classic Jane Austen
novel (read my review of the novel). For some reason, Hollywood hasn’t seen fit to re-make this one of
Austen’s novels as yet—and that’s fine, because this version
was one of the BBC’s flashes of brilliance. Of course, like all BBC movies,
the cinematography and film quality are reminiscent of soaps—and there’s
the occasional random shot that just makes you wonder why it was done that way.
But on the whole, the production is eminently viewable. Colin Firth and Jennifer
Ehle play out Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett’s complicated courtship to
a "T"—or at least well enough that my friend Emily and I, devoted
fans of the book, were able to speculate on new motivations on both sides of
the romance. Of course, having ample material from most of the book’s
subplots helped them along in character development, while satisfying novel fans. Colin Firth’s
Mr. Darcy repels you in the beginning and then makes you love him by the end,
which is just as it should be.
The real triumph of this movie, though, was the performances by the actors
and actresses playing Elizabeth’s indiscreet family members. They play
their parts so well that the viewer is truly embarrassed for Elizabeth and her
sister Jane, the only sensible ones in a family of 5 daughters. Their obnoxiousness
was perfectly portrayed. I own the DVD now—and will be watching it regularly, in spite of the time investment. It's a classic built out of a classic story.
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