Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Genres

Drama, Romance

Director

Joe Wright

Countries

France, UK, USA

Cast

Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander, Rosamund Pike, Carey Mulligan, Jena Malone Talulah Riley, Judi Dench, Simon Woods, Tamzin Merchant, Claudie Blakley, Rupert Friend

Storyline

The lives of five sisters, Jane (Rosamund Pike), Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), Mary (Talulah Riley), Kitty (Carey Mulligan) and Lydia Bennet (Jena Malone), are turned upside down when a wealthy young man, Mr Bingley (Simon Woods), and his best friend, Mr Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) arrive in their neighbourhood.

Opinion

Since I haven't read Jane Austen's novel (yet) I wasn't able to judge "Pride & Prejudice" as an adaptation. But I'm quite sure the novel is better because this film is nothing more than a beautiful-to-look-at but average romantic drama.

There are several things I could sense about the story: first, it's more than obvious that it has a lot of potential - and it's easy to see why people love the novel so much; second, it feels incredibly rushed which isn't good, especially for someone like me who isn't familiar neither with the characters nor story. It also feels like Joe Wright didn't manage to capture the spirit of the novel since I'm pretty sure Jane Austen wasn't simply telling a love story but she was making a social commentary as well.

That said, the love story isn't half bad. Although it suffers a little because of the rushed plot, the love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy is quite well developed, and it's quite interesting to see those two are the slowly become aware of their feelings for each other. Fact nevertheless remains that it is a little clichéed.

The characters could have used a little more development, but that didn't prevent the cast from doing a decent job. Although she grins a lot, Keira Knightley does a fairly good job as Elizabeth Bennet, and so does Rosamund Pike as Jane Bennet. Matthew Macfadyen, well, I'm not that sure, his portrayal of Mr Darcy felt rather flat.

2 comments :

  1. I had no idea this movie had such a great cast! I've never read the novel either, but I may be tempted to add the movie to my Sunday night watch list :)

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  2. This film has been made and remade to death and in various forms. I have heard that the one with Colin Firth is the best and I have yet to see it.

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