Movie: Pride and Prejudice

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Genre: Romance, classic, and Jane Austen’s normal bit of humor

Primary actors: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen

Length: Just over two hours

Based on: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Time period: 1800’s

Year it came out: 2005

My overall opinion: I don’t like it as well as the 1995 version, as you probably know. Later today, a post doing a contrast of the characters between the two movies will be coming out, so I’ll save my character comments for that. In the mean time…what I thought about specific things in the movie (and a little about characters). One problem that I had was the semi-famous “Not handsome enough” scene. They do this quite perfectly in the ’95 version…here, they changed it so much. I was disappointed. Following the book, using the words straight out of the book, would have been much better. Does anyone know if such colorful dresses were really worn to balls at that time period? I know in the ’95 one, most of the dresses were shades of white – here, at the first balls, there are all different colors of dresses. Is that accurate?

This version is often mentioned as the “modest” version. While some of the dresses are more modest, there are certain characters (Caroline Bingley, Mrs. Bennet, and even Lizzy at the Netherfield Ball) who’s dresses are most decidedly not modest. Elizabeth’s hair bothered me too…was messy in? Looking at some of these pictures, one might think so. When she visits the Bingley’s in order to visit Jane, she has her hair totally down…definitely not accurate to the time.

I do love Jane. More about that later. J The dances amazed me with how vigorous they were! Really? Again, I don’t know enough about the time period to say if that was accurate (which I doubt) but…. FYI, these paragraphs are random. I hit enter when it looks like it’s getting too long. J Anyway, I really think that Keira Knightley (in the same dresses – maybe slight alterations) would have made a wonderful Josephine March. The way she talks, the way she walks, how she looks, all says Jo March to me – not, unfortunately, Elizabeth Bennet.

Ha, did y’all catch Mr. Bingley giggling in that scene where Caroline Bingley compliments Mr. Darcy on his fast writing? Somewhere in there, Elizabeth gives a quick response – Bingley’s giggle seemed rather modern to me. I really don’t think they did that. Another thing I found too modern was when Elizabeth “sparred” verbally with Wickham while the girls were buying ribbons.

This will come up later…but Miss Bingley’s dress at the Netherfield Ball amazed me. Seriously? You’d get kicked out of town for wearing that…I think. Wow. I was shocked when I saw it.

I was glad that they included Mr. Bennet’s quote about a girl liking to be crossed in love every once in a while…that’s such a funny quote! I don’t think it’s in the ’95 version.

I wondered about the open carts used for transportation. Didn’t they go more for carriages back then? Of course, this also portrayed the Bennets as a bit of a farm family…pigs in the house, etc. None-the-less.

I admit, I was utterly disgusted by the whole chase in the rain to propose to Lizzy. I don’t think an 1800’s man would do that. That was the first proposal. The words were all wrong, and they were practically in a shouting match…not faithful to the book. I did think Darcy’s letter was all done too quickly…yeah. Of course, the statues scene continues to annoy me – Lizzy studying the statues like that was not Lizzy Bennet at all.

Bingley’s proposal to Jane is something I absolutely love about this movie. It’s so sweet! Jane’s response, Bingley’s practice, all of that. Just wonderful. I love it! Oh, back to the first scene…something where the whole Bennet family was in their “living room” or parlor. Lizzy sat down on the couch and pulled her knees up. No. Way. Do. 1800’s. Girls. Do. That. Sorry.

As to Darcy’s second proposal…phew! I don’t like the proposing-without-being-fully-clothed thing. I mean, they weren’t naked or anything near that, but I think that a proper gentleman shouldn’t stride around the countryside in that apparel. Even when desperately in love early in the morning. Besides, what was he planning to do if Lizzy hadn’t been outside?

I LOVE the soundtrack. It is truly beautiful, and one of my favorites! If you want to watch this movie, I urge you to do it, just for the music. :)

Well, this has gotten longer than I meant it to be. Overall, I like the movie, BUT I definitely prefer the old one and feel that it’s more accurate. Oh, it definitely has a few problems too…but I greatly prefer it. Keep watching for a character comparison later today! Click here to go to the comparsion. Also, check out Miss Laurie's review of the soundtrack right here.