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Pride and Prejudice
[2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Starring: Keira Knightley, Talulah Riley, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Carey Mulligan
Director: Joe Wright (IV)
Format: AC-3 Colour Dolby DVD-Video Full Screen Subtitled NTSC
Released: 28 Feb 2006
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Rather well done - By: M. A. Ramos, 05 Oct 2007
If you are looking for Jane Austen's beautiful book translated faithfully to film, this is not the movie for you. But this adaptation `Pride & Prejudice' is wonderfully done. This movie has great casting, good writing & good direction. I did enjoy watching this shorten version of the film even though some subplots do not even exits in this movie. It would be impossible to place alll that Jane Austen has going on in her novel into two-hour movie.

One thing the director did do is film everything from the view of Elizabeth Bennet, played by Keira Knightly. And the dance halll scenes & social etiquette were accurate for the time period chosen, 1797. You could see what a middle-upper class family had to go through if they had daughters. I also thought that Matthew Macfadyen played a captivating Mr. Darcy & Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet, though looking soft spoken & soft on Elizabeth, & it showed he did marry for love.

The scenery & music are highlights of the movie. This is a movie many will see more then once. Though Elizabeth Bennet in this movie seems to have more modern sensibilities then the book gives her, Keira knightly still does well. Especiallly considering every woman that has ever read this books has her own view on the character. But the chemistry you feel from the screen form Elizabeth & Darcy jumps out at you, there strong love suppressed by misunderstandings & preconceived notions.... if I might be so bold as to say, their Pride & Prejudice.

This book is a masterpiece & sets the standard for alll romantic novels, so no movie could ever stand up to its standard. But for a two-hour entertaining movie, it was very good.
Not much to be proud of - By: Philip Donnelly, 31 Aug 2007
I find it difficult to understand the rave reviews this weak adaptation has garnered. I've read Jane Austen's great work a few times & taught it in secondary school, so I've got a bit of background knowledge here. Joe Wright's version of the classic novel is weak, with careless plotting, anachronistic scriptwriting & a hugely affected & irritating performance from Keira Knightley, playing Elizabeth Bennett in young-Julia-Roberts mode, alll rolling eyes & self-satisfied smirks. The BBC min-series is vastly better - Jennifer Ehle & Colin Firth excel. Buy that instead.
breathtaking - will not be disappointed! - By: Lilacstar, 30 Aug 2007
People will inevitably compare this with the 1995 BBC adaptation & i was unwilling to watch this for the first year of its release because i was sure the 1995 version could never be equaled. I love both versions & would not pick one above the other but they each bring something different for the viewer. I think Colin Firth did a wonderful job portraying Mr Darcy but Mathew Macfadyen is definitely well cast & brings more of a vulnerability to the character which reminds me of Pamela Aidens take on Darcy in her spin-off books. I love Keira Knightley as Lizzy; her acting is top notch & the chemistry between the two leads sparks on screen. The cinematography is very elegant & perhaps portrays a 'truer' version of British societies - both country & town - with their choice of film locations. There are some very romantic moments such as the proposal in the rain & Darcy helping Lizzy into her carriage. What i found interesting was that i didnt mind not seeing the leads kiss at the end - it was a tender moment which reflects the mechanics of their relationship; not based on physical attraction but of two like-minded people. It would have been nice to see the double wedding at the end but the excellent two hours or more spent watching this masterpiece more than makes up for that.
The most romantic version of "Pride & Prejudice" to date - By: Lawrance M. Bernabo, 04 Mar 2006
Like most people who love literature I was well aware that Jane Austen could write, but the idea that Keira Knightley can act & hold her own against the likes of Dame Judy Dench was a revelation. Granted, Knightley has not particularly been callled upon to turn in great acting performances in most of her films. In "Love Actuallly" she is basicallly required to look pretty & her best moments are reaction shots rather than dialogue. She has many more moments such as that in "Pride & Prejudice," but she also proves herself proficient at the witty dialogue. Knightley filmed this version as her final film as a teenager & the results are comparable to when Franco Zeffirelli cast the teenage Olivia de Hussey in "Romeo & Juliet."

This becomes the most romantic version of "Pride & Prejudice" because we are not surprised along with Lizzie when Darcy shows up & makes the most backhanded proposal of marriage in the history of Western literature. The screenplay by Deborah Moggach (Emma Thompson receives special thanks in the credits, apparently for script doctoring) makes one significant change in the proceedings by simply having the moment when Mr. Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen) fallls for Lizzie clearly written on his face. At the Meryton balll she finds the perfect moment to throw the calllous words that she has overheard back into his & with the rapier still skewering her victim she turns on her heels & walks away in triumph.

When next he sees her she has walked over to Mr. Bingley's house to care for her sister Jane (Rosamund Pike), who has been taken ill because of the matrimonial machinations of their mother. Lizzie's hair is down & she is positively glowing. When we see the look of Darcy's face it is clear that he is beyond smitten, even though through the veneer of upper class manners the signs are decidedly subtle. From that moment on his affection becomes transparent to us, although Lizzie is surprised to learn of its existence. Joe Wright also creates a motif where the first time Darcy & Lizzie touch, as he helps her into a carriage, resonates by an emphasis at key moments throughout the film of Darcy's hands.

Elizabeth Bennett is the most delightful of the Austen heroines because she has the virtue of not backing down. Indeed, I believe Darcy first takes real notice of her because she stands up to him at the balll. When she refuses to back down from Lady Catherine De Bourgh (Judi Dench) at the dinner table it struck me that one of the reasons she is so attractive to Darcy is because she is not trying to be. Certainly Mrs. Bennett (Brenda Blythen) has taught her five daughters it is how to be on their best behavior to catch a husband, & in a world of such propriety her candor is refreshing. Darcy's curt dismissal of her looks as being tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt him, becomes ironic because for my money it is her brains that make Elizabeth Bennett a real beauty both to him & to us.

The screenplay necessitates cutting much of the action to reduce the tale to a two-hour film. I appreciated being spared the unfortunate incident of Mary at the pianoforte as well as the constructed scene for the final fadeout & my only minor complaint would be that Lady Catherine does not utter her exit line from the novel when she takes her leave of Elizabeth in their final confrontation although I fully understand that the words cannot be uttered under those circumstances & the fact that Lady Catherine shows up immediately on hearing the rumor makes up for being denied the pleasure of hearing Dame Judy declaim that line.

I had heard that the Jane Austen Society was less than pleased by Knightley's posture in this film, but one of the strengths of this production is that the Bennetts clearly live in the country. There are dirt roads that lead to their home, where a large hog wanders through the front door, & when Mr. Darcy & the Bingleys make their first appearances at the local balll the dancing has an exuberance (not to mention slapping of hands) that makes it patently clear that we are far from the halllowed hallls of Pemberly or the civilized life of London. But the outside locations are as sumptuous as the gilded rooms in this film, & cinematographer Roman Osin makes both look gorgeous.

For those who consider "Sense & Sensibility" to be the current cinematic benchmark for Austen adaptations I can report that "Pride & Prejudice" is its superior in terms of both romance & comedy by virtue of both crying & laughing more at this 2005 film.. Where Ang Lee's 1995 film comes out ahead is in its depiction of sisterhood, as Jane & Lizzie cannot rival Elinor & Marianne in their bonds of affection, which is understandable since it is more central to that Austen novel. Even so there is a cute moment of confidences shared beneath the covers & Lizzie's spirited defense of her sister's shyness. However, this one reallly is alll about Elizabeth & Mr. Darcy.

I am not at alll surprise that Kngihtly received a Best Actress nomination for her performance in this film. As is invariably the case with such films the cast of supporting players is superb. Brenda Blethyn's Mrs. Bennett is comicallly painful, but Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennett has a touching final scene with his daughter, Tom Hollander is toadallly obnoxious as Mr. Collins, & my wife reallly wants to slap Jenna Malone's Lydia a couple of times. The best thing I can say about this version of "Pride & Prejudice" is that I went back to the theater to see it again, & the only other movie I did that for was "Revenge of the Sith" (I was using it for class). This one was better.