Review of Pride & Prejudice (2005) by Ahmedaiman1999 — 26 Feb 2020

With the exception of Tom Hollander's absurdly silly Mr. Collins, the characterization of every character is flawless. And with the exception of the overly-fluffy and stuffy period pieces first act, Joe Wright captured the spirit of Jane Austen's classic novel astonishingly: Austen's biting sarcastic, yet delicate humour runs through the vein of this film.

What I love the most about Jane Austen is that she has a strong control over her characters: she develops them throughout the novel so exquisitely, and she can change the reader's perception of them so gracefully. And of course that was my biggest concern about this film: I doubted that such thing can be done on screen convincingly. I daresay Moggach's screenplay managed to pay justice to the characters, and their development, in a way I've never thought it would be possible.

Besides the aforementioned nitpicks, I have some other quibbles: I think Lydia's elopement is a turning point in the story and the film should've laid stress on it more, and I think the same should have been applied to Mr. Darcy's "revealing" letters to Lizzy.

Other than that, I think this is an astonishing adaptation, and a one that truly benefits from being condensed - for I think the novel gets a bit monotonous at some point. All the actors and actresses are perfect for their roles: I would've never thought I would say that about Rosamund Pike having seen Gone Girl first, but she is perfect as the most innocent and persuasively ideal character, Jane Bennet. Keira Knightley delievered her best performance in her career by far, and I think out of all the roles she played, this is the only one that trully shows her talent.