No Guarantee
Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice has all the ingredients for lush period drama: colourful characters, a dashing hero and heroine, and an undercurrent of social commentary. And it has inspired numerous film adaptations, most recently Bridget Jones' Diary and Bride & Prejudice. Now inspiration for Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice, which brings to life the vigour and pomp of 19th century provincial society and highlights Austen's social critique.
The film opens with lively introductions to the kindly Mr. Bennet (Donald Sutherland) and his wife Mrs. Bennet (Brenda Blethyn), who counters her husband's mellowness with an energetic desperation to marry off her five daughters to rich husbands. Their world is thrown into turmoil with the arrival of Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods), an affluent, eligible bachelor and his companion, the haughty Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen). He catches the eye of Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley). But from the start, their relationship lacks charm.
During one of their first flirtations, Darcy is writing a letter while Elizabeth and Mr. Bingley's snobbish sister Caroline (Kelly Reilly) gently tease him. Knightley's grin seems merely cheeky, and while Mcfadyen provides moody stares and deadpan replies, he remains devoid of emotion. While in the novel, their constant sparring constitutes Austen's examination of class conflict (Elizabeth is from relatively humble, upper middle class origins while Darcy is well connected and accomplished), here the tension seems anemic.
That said, the movie's ensemble cast and production do enhance the novel's themes and actually highlight some new issues. Pride & Prejudice shows attention period detail, from the mud and pigs in the Bennets' front yard to the boisterous ball that showcases the clash of cultures between the Darcy/Bingley clan and the Bennets. Crowded and bawdy, the ball is full of entertaining "bits," with Mrs. Bennet tipsily stumbling around and Elizabeth gossiping with her best friend Charlotte (Claudie Blakley), as revelers eat and drink all around them. All the while, Darcy and Caroline make no effort to hide their snobbish distaste at such a gathering. As the most enticing energies of the ball scene come from the Bennets and their friends, it suggests that the desire for upward mobility is no guarantee of happiness.
Still, money makes a difference. As Mr. Bennet has no male heirs, his estate is bestowed on his nephew, the slimy Mr. Collins (a scene-stealing performance by Tom Hollander). Hence, as his wife insists, his daughters must marry well, even if their father encourages them to marry for love. While Elizabeth walks the countryside alone, speaks her mind, and refuses two offers of marriage, Charlotte marries the boring Mr. Collins, whom Elizabeth has turned down. When Elizabeth visits Charlotte in her new home, the new bride appears happy "enough" with her decision, but she prefers to remain in her private parlour where, as she tells Elizabeth, she will "not be disturbed."
The one marriage that seems healthy here is the Bennets'. While Mrs. Bennet might be viewed as a harridan, lacking decorum as she touts her daughters for the highest bidder, she is also a product of her era, exhausting herself to ensure the girls' financial well-being. Blethyn's Mrs. Bennet is desperate and weary. Even as Darcy and Elizabeth lack "chemistry" throughout, a brief, touching scene shows Mr. and Mrs. Bennet talking intimately in their bedroom, suggesting that their relationship is founded on genuine affection.
But for all this film's obvious interest in Austen's objections to British marriage expectations, it also follows her novel's romantic trajectory by uniting Darcy and Elizabeth at last, in a scene that exploits Knightley's perfectly arranged beauty to the point that it resembles a Max Factor commercial. The film abruptly ends without giving the audience the usual payoff of a wedding. Compare this let-down to the glorious, well-loved, smaller budgeted 1995 BBC adaptation starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. Which leaves the new film's hero and heroine seeming only handsomely presented cutouts.
— 11 November 2005
