Pride and Prejudice

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY and MATTHEW McFADYEN star in Focus Features
“Pride and Prejudice.” ©2005 Focus Features.

 
In 1995, Simon Langdon gave us the highly-regarded BBC mini-series. Last year, Gurindher Chadha threw a Bollywood spin on it. Now, as his first feature-length effort, Joe Wright furnishes us with a opulent yet straightforward adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.”

Wright stated in a recent Q&A in Minneapolis that he deliberately avoided referencing previous incarnations of Austen’s classic novel, wisely referring to the source material for his sense of direction. The film opens on lush fields of green as Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) walks a path, book in hand—absorbed in words.

Mr. Bennet (Donald Sutherland) is surrounded by his daughters, hounding him, as he arrives home. This introduction to the Bennet household is like a cinematographic waltz–weaving around and in and out of rooms. Most of the filming was done on location, in real residences and not sets. The continuous tracking shots throughout the various residences provide a great visual contrast between the cramped spaces of middle-class citizenry and the immensely wealthy nobility of late, eighteenth-century England.

The girls attend a ball with their mother, Mrs. Bennet, played by Brenda Blethyn as the eighteenth-century equivalent of the showbiz mother–carting her girls out to every social function to meet noblemen with wealth and power. Mr. Darcy (Matthew McFadyen) makes an appearance at the ball. I describe it in this manner because it connotes the seemingly disinterested state of Darcy as he surveys those about the room. He’s flanked by the outgoing Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods) and Bingley’s mannered sister, Caroline (Kelly Riley).

Darcy and Elizabeth are polar opposites. “Do you dance, Mr. Darcy?” asks Elizabeth. “Not if I can help it,” he responds. Then again, there’s a difference between seeming and being cold. Of the two, Darcy is demonstrably possessed by the need to seem cold… but is he, really?

Elizabeth notes, “I wouldn’t dance with him for all of Darbershire,” while Darcy relates to Bingley that he finds Elizabeth “barely tolerable.” Elizabeth, of course, overhears him say this. The game’s afoot when, later, in a philsophical sort of conversation between the Bingleys, Darcy and the Bennets, Darcy asks Elizabeth, “So what do you recommend to encourage affection?” Lizzie wryly replies, “Dancing…. Even if one’s partner is ‘barely tolerable.'”

This is where Jane Austen’s work comes alive in Wright’s adaptation. While much of the story has been greatly condensed (the BBC mini-series covers the book verbatim) for the screen, there are expanses of deliciously witty exchanges that are mostly simple and straightforward, yet occasionally revealing of one’s character between the lines. For example, in a bedroom chat with her eldest sister, Jane (Rosamund Pike), Lizzie offers a telling criticism Darcy, “I could almost forgive his vanity had he not wounded mine.” Is she flaying him or admiring him? (Austen fans take note: This line is actually spoken to Charlotte Lucas in the book. This screen adaptation does contain a number of such changes.)

The story itself is not particularly complex, nor does it need to be. The title is quite adequate in describing the basic elements of the plot. Both Darcy and Elizabeth have presuppositions about one another, to which they cling tightly with fierce ego. There are several subplots: One involves a romance between Lydia (Jena Malone), an ostentatious flirt, and Mr. Wickham (Rupert Friend), an officer of the local regiment who has a dubious history with Mr. Darcy. There’s also Charlotte, Lizzie’s friend, who finds the Reverend Collins (Tom Hollander, in a delightfully morose performance) more agreeable than does Lizzie.

There’s a particularly entertaining sequence when Collins calls on the Bennet household to court their daughters. “What excellent potatoes. It’s been many years since I’ve had such an exemplary vegetable,” he observes. Despite the fact that, as Lizzie observes, his manners do seem somewhat rehearsed, Collins is not necessarily a duplicitous man. He’s simply the wrong man, for the Bennets. But Collins is backed by Lady Catherine De Bourg (Judi Dench), which represents a potentially significant elevation in status if one of the Bennets were to marry him. Before Mrs. Bennet can resign her daughter’s hand to Collins, Mr. Bennet interrupts in a loving, fatherly manner, while simultaneously getting, if only for a brief moment, to wear the pants in the family.

Rather than spilling the entire plot, as there are some who may not have read or do not remember all the details of Austen’s novel since last they had read it, I’d like to talk about the cinematography, casting and other elements.

The director, Wright, told me he was “dubious about casting Keira,” and that she was “too beautiful” to play Elizabeth. She’s described in the book as less attractive than her older sister, Jane. The choice of Knightley came about because she clearly embodied the same plucky, strong character that’s required of the role.

Despite some anachronisms in various aspects of the production design, which some viewers found disrupting and others did not, Wright used several mechanisms to give a sense of the period. He wanted to focus on “the importance of privacy,” he says, “People delineated time more.” There’s a scene in the drawing room of Darcy’s mansion, for example: As Caroline and Lizzie take a walk about the room, Mr. Darcy is preoccupied with writing correspondence.

Also, as I mentioned before, Wright’s cinematographer, Roman Osin, dances the camera through the Bennet household with almost the rhythm of a waltz, and uses long, continuous takes through Bingley’s and Darcy’s mansions. This was, Wright informed us, to give a sense of real space, as these were all actual locations and not sets. While the technique is nothing groundbreaking, it’s sufficient to establish a sense of the settings and the time.

There are interesting parallel shots at Bingley’s residence, with Lizzie sitting alone on a couch, opposite the others in the room. In the first instance the shot is weighted to the left of the frame by a painting—behind her—of another solitary girl. In another scene, she’s sitting on the far end of the couch, with no one else. The other Bennet sisters are all seated on the couch opposite her. These are, of course, formal compositions designed to set Lizzie apart from her siblings—each of whom are hungry for a suitor, while she is not particularly so.

To mark the evolution of Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s relationship, there are, yet again, parallel shots—of Darcy’s hand. In the first, Darcy hand brushes Lizzie as he walks past. It appears as though his hand stiffens out of disgust. However, as we come to know Darcy and Elizabeth, both as individuals and as a pair, we realize he’s actually nervous around her. In the reprise, Darcy’s hand is much more relaxed.

My one complaint is that it’s rather difficult to follow all that happens as there’s so much stuffed into the 127 minutes of this film. The BBC mini-series, by contrast, covers much more ground but spread out over several episodes. Some might find that easier to follow, and others might also prefer such strict devotion to the book. That is not to say this isn’t a good film. I saw this film twice, and on the second screening I felt I had a much better grasp of everything that transpired as well as a greater appreciation for the cinematography, settings and acting. Wright has done remarkably well for his first effort at a feature and I’m encouraged to see how far he takes his abilities in the future.

Pride and Prejudice • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Running Time: 127 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG for some mild thematic elements. • Distributed by Focus Features