Pride and Prejudice

Dispite my prejudices, I swallowed my pride and watched the Keira Knightley/Matthew Macfadyen version of Pride and Prejudice. It was better than I expected, but that isn't saying much. Two hours is really not enough time to sufficiently cover the characters portrayed. Mr. Wickham, Charlotte, Miss Bingley, and Mr. Bingley really weren't present enough to enjoy, or despise, or both. The scenery seemed to be more important than those characters.

Certainly Jane Austin dialogue can be tedious to read and to hear, but the modern abreviations of the conversations did not fit with the time period or the characters that I knew. It also made Elizabeth resort to "telling Mr. Darcy off" rather than wounding him with the cruelty of her wit. While on the subject of Elizabeth, I didn't like the smirks she had after saying something clever. I did, however, really like her genuine smiles and laughs, though the giggles slightly annoyed me.

The proposal scenes also bothered me. The first one was overdone by the rain and Elizabeth yelling. This movie made Elizabeth always in love with Mr. Darcy, only hiding it from herself and everyone else she could. The audience knew that she was in denial and just would come around eventually. I had always pictured Elizabeth really and truly hating Mr. Darcy. He did slight her and ruin her sister's dream. She kept hating him until the point when he humbles himself enough to admit he was wrong about Jane and Mr. Bingley. That broke her pride and opened her heart enough to learn that there was more than pride to Mr. Darcy. The time spent at Pemberly was when she began falling in love. His humility gave her the freedom to be humble in return and admit her errors.

The second proposal because it was so modern. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth had enough propriety to not be out of doors in such a state of disarray and undress. If they had seen one another, they would have respected each other enough to wait until they were fit to be seen. As for the ending, I did not like "Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy." I get called Mrs. Wiley all day I do not see the slightest thing romantic about it. I thought it was stupid.

By the end of the movie, the issues of pride and prejudice had been blown over by "true love." Yet my previous perceptions was that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were both just as proud and prejudiced as in the beginning. Their particular prejudices were balanced by each other and their pride matched each other. I'd like to think they now knew their faults, not denied them because they were in love.

So it wouldn't be one of my favorite movies, but I will not forswear watching anything with Keira Knightley in it anymore.