Francesca Fromang
Dr. Allbaugh
Freshman Writing Seminar
14 December 2010
Pride and Prejudice Movie Review
From Love Story’s Jennifer and Oliver, to The Notebook’s Allie and Noah, to today’s latest: Edward and Bella, movie goers have jumped ship from one romance to the next, throughout the years.
However, one couple has permanently found their way into hearts, still giving people chills nearly two centuries after its original release in 1813. Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice has stood the test of time, having inspired many other books and movies imitating the themes or characters. “To date, the book has sold some 20 million copies worldwide” (Fox). The most recent adaptation of the book was Write’s movie created in 2005. Through Dario Marianelli’s illustrious score, Deborah Moggach’s dazzling screenplay, and an all-around stunning cast, Director Joe Write recreates Austin’s world brilliantly, maintaining the original themes of the novel, while managing to keep it both relatable and relevant.
The story begins with the Bennet family attending a local dance in Netherfield, England, excitedly awaiting an introduction to the two richest single men in all of England: Fitzwilliam Darcy and Charles Bingly. Despite her younger sisters being the “silliest flirt[s] who ever made [their] family ridiculous,” (Moggach) her mother’s complete lack of propriety, her father’s prominent apathy, and the family’s overall poverty, Elizabeth’s wit and charm catches the mysterious Darcy’s eye. However, Darcy insults Elizabeth, telling Bingly she had been too plain to tempt him. This begins a passionate feud between the two, Darcy disgusted by the inferiority of her birth, and Elizabeth swearing to “loathe him for all of eternity” (Moggach). Nevertheless, through a series of events, both humbly realize the problem all along had been their own pride, and that their prejudices against each other had blinded them to true love.
Despite the movie’s overall success in creating a believable love story, there are, like all movies, some faults. The first, is that the eloquent words of Jane Austin, adapted by Deborah Moggach, are often missed due to the fast paced dialogue. Although I understand that the characters of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are both quick to find a sharp remark, actors Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightly both throw some of the lines away, causing the genius of the words to often be missed. However, this problem can easily be fixed with subtitles, and should not affect one’s decision to watch it. Another complaint with the movie is the decision to cast the beautiful Keira Knightly as the supposedly plain Elizabeth Bennet. Despite the fact that considering Knightly to be anything less than gorgeous would be a lie, her brilliant performance and exquisite attention to detail overshadow her beauty. And, after seeing other women more physically similar to the character play it, Knightly’s beauty adds a new level to Elizabeth, making it mean even more when Darcy falls in love with her for reasons other than her appearance.
The key to any good love story is the level of believability. Although some might disagree, two unlikely people who fall head over heels for each other, while saying some corny lines in the process, hardly counts as a good love story, those make up the majority of the romantic genre these days.
This movie refreshingly strips away all of the regular Hollywood fluff and is left with a beautiful, simplistic film that glues a smile on your face for weeks. The movie does not hide behind any flashy special effects, sex scenes, or violence, and still manages to be one of the most clever and dynamic movies of all time. Watching the two vibrant characters slowly come to the realization of their own faults, while gaining a strong appreciation for the other, leaves you on the edge of your seat for the majority of the two hour run.
The moral behind the film, judging people out of a wounded pride or because of where they stand on the social ladder, is one we can all relate to, and therefore makes a believable story. Because of this and everything else mentioned, I have watched the movie hundreds of times, and am moved to tears every time.
Works Cited
Moggach, Deborah. "Pride & Prejudice - 2005 Movie Script." Scribd. Mar.-Apr. 2005. Web. 14
Dec. 2010. <http://www.scribd.com/doc/7908097/Pride-Prejudice-2005-Movie-Script>.
Fox, Robert C. (September 1962). "Elizabeth Bennet: Prejudice or Vanity?". Nineteenth-Century
Fiction (University of California Press) 17 (2): 185–187.
I really like that you pointed out that Pride and Prejudice has stood the test of time, and that sets it apart from other romance films. This is one of my favorite movies because the storyline is so great that it doesn't even need the special effects or other fluff. Over the number of times I've watched the movie I've never thought about the fact that Kiera Knightly is too beautiful for the role, but I think you're right with the fact that she does such a good job acting that it doesn't even play that big of a factor. I think you did a great job of not just summarizing, because that could be very easy to do with this storyline.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a well thought out review, and i enjoyed reading it. I have seen the new Pride and Prejudice a couple of times but i am still partial to the older, two disc set. I think in contrast with the older version, the new one tries to romance the story a little more and doesn't give the same detail. I agree with you though about this movie that it doesn't hide behind the Hollywood fluff as far as the story goes, because it can't. It is a classic tale of true love. The downfall that you posted about the actors speeding up the lines and us not catching them is something i found to happen. Many a times i had to rewind and sometimes even then couldn't understand the movie. I personally do love the movies story and really enjoyed your review
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting evaluation. I've never seen the movie Pride and Prejudice, nor have I read the book, so I can't argue with what you say about the movie. I do agree with the fact that there aren't many good romance movies made recently. You're right, a lot of the plots in romance movies are so unbelievable. If I think about all of the romance movies that I've seen, not one has a sad ending. They all usually end with the characters happily falling in love at the end. I mean no one likes sad endings of course, but a lot of the times in real life things aren't always pretty. There are breakups all of the time in relationships. People get dumped. It's sad but it's the truth. I think that the reason why romance movies are so chiché is because the directors are worried about attracting an audience. We like happy endings so I think that people would most likely go see a movie with a happy ending as oppose to a sad ending. Often times when there is no happy ending, we feel like the movie wasn't good. We're disappointed.
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