Review of Pride & Prejudice (2005) by Susan T — 01 Jul 2012

Enough has been written about the marvelous cast, acting and cinematography that I'll simply concur. I watch this DVD at LEAST once week; it's so compelling. McFadyen is a wonder, not just in acting and looks, but as Lizzie's aunt says, "There's something pleasant about his mouth." SO true. Knightley really shines here too, but is really outdone by people like Donald Sutherland as Mr Bennet, who is both hilarious and moving as the father who can't part with his favorite daughter. Tom Hollander as Mr Collins brilliantly reinvented the character into someone more pathetic than evil. THAT honor goes to Kelly Reilley as the nasty Caroline Bingley! I also give the "Harrison Ford/Mosquito Coast" award to Brenda Blethyn for creating a Mrs Bennet who is SO realistically dithering and annoying that even the audience wants to tell her, as Lizzie does, to shut up!

Other "stars" of the film are the houses, especially the cozy Bennet house, with its lived-in comfort. The only unbelievable one was Chatsworth as Darcy's home, "Pemberly". It's simply too huge and ornate.

Since someone mentioned that this version of the story was too "low-brow" (trashing the pig genitals and such!), I'd say it was a refreshing take on what farm life was probably really like in the late 1700's! If you want a manure-free, cleaned-up, modernized version of Austen's world, there are any number of such lesser versions out there. I'll take this one, with its clearly unbathed characters (baths weren't the norm until the late 1800's!), dancing in stained clothes in a "proper knees-up", so close you can smell the sweat! I'm just glad I didn't live then!