Almost four months ago, I wrote this highly prejudicial piece about the new remake of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Alas, I should have taken the theme of the book to heart and not been so pre-judging.
I did not plan to see this movie so readily, but last Friday night when my friend Rachel was offering a meal and movie as thanks for a favor, I was trying to decide between either this or Harry or Johnny. I have not finished reading The Goblet of Fire and Johnny’s reviews weren’t as glowing. And, being the review reader that I am, I had read several good reviews of this movie on Metacritic (a fantastic site by the way) and so it was off to see if Keira could pull off Elizabeth. And she can. As an aside, I do not require payment for favors asa matter of course. Rachel is very generous.
One is either a review reader or not, I’m afraid. My co-worker Debra avoids them and clucks at me on the occassions (and I try to have them occur less frequently) when I read too many reviews for a film and spoil my viewing of it. Most often, though, a judicial review will heighten my anticipation and pleasure, just as post-movie discussion will–yeah, I’m one of those people. This review from Dave Edelstein of Slate is what really sold me on going to see this movie, and I highly recommend it as he gets it exactly right.
Many of the comments I was going to make I realized as I re-read Edelstein’s article would have met the standard for plagiarism. I wonder how often that happens, that we write phrases that we think are our own, and so brilliant, but which really somehow just bubble up from our sub-conscious because we have read them before and stored them there. Really though, much our of lives are plagiaristic as a matter of course, from our DNA to our language acquistion on up. No man is an island.

So briefly, in comparison to the miniseries, this adaptation, by necessity, goes much faster. It is both grittier and more beautiful than its predecessor. The setting is more gritty; the people more beautiful. There are some wonderful shots that meander or float through a room or a dance. Don’t sit too close, as did we. It is not good on the stomach. And there is some really, lovely cinematography. Though, as Rachel pointed out, one scene was more Wuthering Heights than Pride and Prejudice. I want to go to England now as well.
Finally, Keira Knightly does a fine job here. She does not have quite the depth of Jennifer Ehle’s protrayal, but she is fiesty and witty and minorly melancholy as she should be. And she is fine, too, I might add.

In an interesting side note, this BBC story details how the American version is longer than the British version. They say 8 minutes longer, but it was not that much. Why the additional minutes? Because most of us Americans are saps evidently. In this case, I think the Brits have got it right; often less is more.
For more pictures and info, here’s the official link.
Finally, finally my allegiance to the 1995 miniseries is not diminished, it still moves my emotions in ways this adaptation does not, delightful though it was.