Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 romance novel written by famous English novelist Jane Austen, which follows the romantic tribulations of Elizabeth Bennet, learning the repercussions of hasty judgement and in seeing the true difference between superficial goodness and true goodness. It was well received and largely ahead of its time with its moral of defining social class and looking through more than outside features when it comes to showing compassion. A story as timeless as this has left an imprint on pop culture, with many using the basis for the story as a derivative of their own work and the story itself has had a fair number of adaptations, with one such version, that being the 2005 film, receiving similar praises and was credited for feeling the closest to representing such a famous piece of work. During the late 18th century, Elizabeth Bennet (played by Keira Knightly) is a young single maiden of a large family that isn’t in the best money situation, which causes Mrs. Bennet (played by Brenda Blethyn) to push Elizabeth and her sisters, Jane (played by Rosamund Pike), Mary (played by Talulah Riley), Kitty (played by Carey Mulligan) and Lydia (played by Jena Malone) to find a husband who can financially secure them . Opportunity comes when they are invited to a ball and Jane seems to fall for a rich upper-class Charles Bingley (played by Simon Woods), whilst on that same night, Elizabeth meets Mr Darcy (played by Matthew MacFadyen) a wealthy but incredibly prideful and soft-spoken man and this causes both to dislike the other quite a bit. Though both are from different social standings and have various unpleasant words for the other, they slowly start to discover the true love that they both harbor for each other. Will they be able to look past their pride and prejudice and be happy together or are they too stuck in their world views to ever understand why they like the other? Being a critical and commercial success (grossing $121 million worldwide against its $28 million budget), the movie captures the tone of dialogue, manner of theme and atmosphere of the book to create a charming flick with great acting, good writing, engaging story and enough pretty visuals and intelligent dialogue to warrant the film’s creation. Though it has flaws around some of the finer details of the plot, this rom-com exudes a spark of intrigue and enough unique elements to have this ahead-of-its time story stand on its own on the big screen.

Straight from the original novel, the film follows the original narrative practically beat for beat and doesn’t really suffer because of it. Since the story was already ahead of its time with its release in the 1800s, nothing about the plot feels dated or even too abstract that modern audiences wouldn’t understand. The film is more of a character study than a fully fleshed out narrative as the plot itself is largely uneventful and doesn’t feature much outside of typical domestic troubles, which could’ve been an issue if the characters weren’t interesting and the topic discussed weren’t engaging, and this film definitely doesn’t struggle with that issue. The message is an important one about seeing past physical stereotypes and finding the truth behind a pretty facade, as well as asking the question of which is better to live as; the simple yet fake exterior that can be pretty for society despite its falsehood, or the openly truthful yet realistically imperfect nature of oneself. All the characters in the movie have this notion within all of them, hiding their real personas behind an obviously fabricated identity that fits with the time period they live in and that creates a fascinating spin on a familiar tale that doesn’t just feel like a deconstruction of typical gender norms, but rather a story about accepting yourself and others for what they really are and how to accept that. The empowerment is uses for both genders; allowing both to reveal their true feelings without being held back by society, but also shows that this hasty need to stand out can distant others from you, so it’s a good balancing act of wrongs and rights. The directing for this film by Joe Wright (in his directorial debut) is quite good at balancing the tone of this story, finding the intricacies of the original tale while still working as its own entity, and mixing both retro and modern elements within a mostly talk-heavy movie to make it watchable for modern audiences, but also for various demographics both young and old. The fairy-tale like atmosphere mixed with the colder more cynical world of the 18th century, particularly from the perspective of a woman in this era, results in a distinct environment that blends together aspects of various recognizable stories while also feeling incredibly faithful to Austen’s original story. The film doesn’t have the strongest opening as it can be a little hoaky and sappy in parts, but it will slowly kick off into some well-written conversation and timely paced scenes, which make up a good majority of the movie.

The characters, as already mentioned, have that element of masking their true personalities behind a wall of stereotypes, and this little element makes many of the characters that bit more interesting than the famous roles they seem to copy from many identifiable characters. Each has their own identity but is overshadow by the harsh necessity to follow the roles of society and it shows in how the way they act differs from when they are together as a family at home and while in public. The characters are very much book creations, with well-crafted and obvious, yet simple character arcs that take a majority of the picture to complete, as well as having enough wordy dialogue to fill a dictionary yet not to the point of being overwhelming or even annoying. While the writing doesn’t sound realistic, it works in how the characters are portrayed and act as windows into how they would naturally act in their own world. This does come with an issue though because the Bennet family (who are essentially the main focus of the film) are not given enough time to have a strong presence in the movie, which leaves some scenes during the later stages of the film feeling a little weak in comparison. Most of the family are given character aspects that aren’t shown off enough to stand out, so their involvement in the film later on has no real impact, and instead feels out of nowhere. Donald Sutherland suffers from this especially as Mr. Bennett, as while a very good actor in his own right, he is given little part or dialogue to work with and it leaves his character and most of his scenes overall feeling pretty forgettable. With that said, most of the actors are able to handle the quick, witty, and sophisticated script very well. Keira Knightly is a good choice for the lead; being a person who can look like the perfect girl in terms of looks and wit, but also one can give off the vibe of someone who wouldn’t fit in normally, she is very well cast in this flick. Matthew MacFadyen handles the stoic snoopy side very well but shows the vulnerable side effectively enough as well so that he doesn’t feel like a one-note jerk all the time. The two of them have decent chemistry with each other, even though the film does a much better job at building their animosity towards each other than their actual romance (following the trope of ”enemies to lovers” can be a little tedious, but this was one of the originators of said trope, so it explains why it’s here). It doesn’t show too many scenes where they could actively fall in love and instead a few too many moments of both of the showing dislike for the other, but thankfully not in a stupid rom-com format. Other actors like Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike also do a good job at portraying their smaller roles.

Joe Wright would go on to direct other projects of similar styles like Anna Karenina, Atonement and more recently Darkest Hour, which explains not only his stance on period-specific properties, but also his preference on dialogue-heavy material. The film has that good mix of real-life harshness, but also has that semi-whimsical air that romanticize the more aggressive nature that the time period exudes, brightening the era in a way that feels satirically playful rather than ignorance. The writing in the movie is very good, coming from the original source material itself and a screenplay by Deborah Moggach with some additional help from fellow British actress Emma Thompson. The script is very quick and snarky, which allows the actors to have fun in how condescendingly they can deliver the lines, but it also features the intelligent wordplay that makes it more than just dialogue that throws insults back and forth, it can give insight into backstory and character as well. The film can in moments suffer from this fast-paced manner of speaking, mainly if it slightly ruins an emotional moment, but aside from that it surprisingly works very well. The cinematography by Roman Osin is presented in a very straightforward fashion which could become a little dull and uninteresting looking after a while, but it works well with this kind of narrative, and it does get some nice overview shots of the landscapes and there’s even a fun scene when the main couple is dancing together that adds a nice twist to the fifth dance scene. The production design by Sarah Greenwood and the costume design by Jacqueline Durran look right for the time period and even makes sure to have the main character be in dresses that no other female wears to help her stand out without flaunting it.

Pride and Prejudice seems like a simple lovey dovey movie that only appeals to the people that are obsessed with romance movies, but the strengths of this movie come from aspects that aren’t commonly associated with romances which in turn come from the true strengths of its source material; the writing, the direction of the story, some of the characters, and the overall distinct feel it has in capturing such a famous book. The movie won’t appeal to everyone; it doesn’t have that much story to grab onto, the film needed to establish things better, and the romance genre isn’t going to be for everybody, but much like the message states, there’s more to this film if it’s given a closer look. Better than you would expect with a good intellectual side to help it stand out from the crowd of other rom coms of the time, definitely something to be proud of.