Sometimes the last person on earth you want to be with is the one person you can't be without.
A visually stunning, beautifully acted and directed costume piece, albeit one that's been translated to the film medium many times already. Well worth seeing, if only to find out why Keira Knightley's stock has dramatically risen with the release of this film.
Plot Summary
The five Bennet sisters have all been raised by their mother with one purpose in life - finding a husband. However, the second eldest Lizzie can think of 100 reasons not to marry.
When Mrrs Bennet hears the exciting news that a wealthy bachelor and his circle of sophisticated friends are to take up summer residence in a nearby mansion the Bennets are abuzz with the hope that potential suitors will be in full supply. Obligingly, the newcomer, Mr Charles Bingley, is immediately taken with the eldest Jane. However, when Lizzie meets up with the darkly handsome and snobbish Mr Darcy, what seems like a match made in heaven quickly becomes divided by pride and prejudice. Can they get past this and can Lizzie finally find a reason to marry?
Film Review
I have to be honest and say costume dramas are not really my thing. I vaguely recall the BBC dramatisation of Jane Austen's original a decade ago and remember wondering what all the fuss was about. Does the world really need another version?
The awards season means that this new version has received a relatively high profile, and it soon becomes clear why first-time movie director Joe Wright walked away with a BAFTA for his efforts. The movie may not be very original, but it is visually stunning, and with strong cast performances throughout, it's hard not to be impressed.
The scenery is stunning, as are the costumes and set designs with great attention to detail throughout. Some of the outside panaromas are simply breathtaking, and parts of the movie could be used by the British Tourist Board to entice visitors to these shores. Wright isn't afraid of using the wide frame to good effect, and there are scenes where I found myself wanting to stand up and applaud some of the more superb compositions the director has achieved. Long, langorious SteadyCam shots are used to give a 'real world' sense to the more important conversations, while the energy and excitement of events like the dance are perfectly captured through short, sharp, tightly edited scenes where the pace needs perking up. One feels one is watching a real craftsman at work.
The story is well known - I would argue perhaps, too well known, but an excellent cast mean that one is never bored. One expects quality from the likes of Donald Sutherland, Judi Dench and Brenda Blethyn, all on top form here, but the real surprise is Keira Knightley. I'm not totally convinced this is an oscar-deserving performance (I write this review the day that Knightley is due to find out if she's won a Best Supporting Actress oscar for this movie), but it's impressive nonetheless. Even the minor roles are beautifully played out - Tom Hollander as Mr Collins particularly stands out - and it's clear that someone with a real eye for talent was responsible for casting this film.
I wasn't entirely convinced by Matthew MacFadyen as Mr Darcy, but that's probably more a criticism of the lack of 'meat' in the part as written by Jane Austen, and an unfair comparison to what was, by any standards, an excellent performance from Colin Firth in the afore-mentioned five hour BBC dramatisation, than of the actor himself.
There are problems with condensing the material down to just under two hours in length, most noticeably in reducing the role of the book's chief 'baddie' to just a couple of scenes, but the heart of Austin's original romantic fairytale stays intact and decisions made seem to me to have been the right ones.
DVD Review
The DVD has a typical 'online price' of around £13.99, which is pretty par for the course. The transfer is, as one would expect of a modern production, exemplary. The DVD is supplied in the usual Amery case, with a six page booklet included, but aside from a copy of the DVD front sleeve this contains nothing of interest - the remaining five pages are advertisements and there isn't even a chapter index. Extra's are about what one would expect for a recent release, but not up to what one would expect from a 'Special Edition' - one suspects that there WILL be a special edition some time down the road.
Picture and Sound
The picture is anamorphic widescreen at 2.35:1 and free of blemishes or exaggerated sharpness or combing. The picture is a little noisy or bleached out in places, but this is undoubtedly down to the original photography rather than any weaknesses in the transfer to the DVD. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is adequate if unexciting - this isn't a Hollywood blockbuster!
Director's Commentary
The director's commentary starts off well, with Wright explaining his decisions on different shots, and providing the odd bit of comment on different actors, but half way through the running time he runs out of steam and suddenly we're in 'explain what's happening in the story and what the characters are thinking' mode which is always the sign of someone who's run out of things to say. He is unhesitatingly enthusiastic about Knighley's contribution to the film, if rather reticent when discussing other cast members. It's unfortunate he couldn't have had Knightley alongside him to provide more of a conversation, particularly during the awkward second half, but this is not by any means a bad commentary despite this omission.
Featurettes
The Politics of Dating is a short featurette containing the usual 'making of' over-reliance on clips with just a few sentences from interviews of the cast and crew on set. The Stately Homes of Pride and Prejudice is an advertorial for the British Tourist Board - or might as well be, explaining the real locations used for the film. On Set Diaries is a fun set of on-set clips put together by some of the cast, but again is so short as to be over almost before it's started. Of most interest to British fans is the inclusion of the Alternate US Ending which abandons the subtle ending of the original movie to show the star-crossed lovers embracing and kissing in the moonlight - rather too cliched and unsubtle to warrant anything more than a sigh of relief that British audiences got the better ending.
Final Analysis
This is really a film 'for the ladies' and fans of the rom-com genre, who will undoubtedly rate it higher than I have. That being said, there's something here for even the most jaded palette. There are far worse ways to spend a couple of hours.
The movie: 7/10 - Very good.
The DVD: 7/10 - Very good.
