ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

IT IS DIFFICULT to understand why there haven’t been more films inspired by the novels of Jane Austen. She has such a shrewd understanding of human nature that her work is a gift to any filmmaker.

This vivid, spirited new version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is the first cinema adaptation of the novel since 1940, when Greer Garson played the stubborn Elizabeth Bennett and Laurence Olivier was a stuffy Darcy.

The new ‘Pride and Prejudice’ almost goes back to basics, believing that if everything is as realistic and honest as possible then the story has a much greater chance to shine. It is an approach that pays dividends, and results in a costume drama filled with vitality and wit.

Brenda Blethyn is on scene-stealing form as Mrs. Bennett, a woman desperate to find a suitable match for her five daughters. A husband and provider is essential for survival in the England of that period. She is overjoyed to discover that their new neighbour is a wealthy bachelor and immediately lays siege to the amiable Charles Bingley (Simon Woods).

The real catch however would seem to be Bingley’s good friend Darcy (Matthew Macfayden), a man whose emotional reserve and snobbish ways create an instant hostility in Bennett’s free-spirited daughter Elizabeth (Keira Knightley).

Naturally, hostility is just a cover for the real affection that grows between them, if only either of them would dare to acknowledge it. Although it’s not quite in the same league as the Emma Thompson version of ‘Sense and Sensibility’, this is still a beautiful and beguiling charmer with a performance from Keira Knightley that finally begins to justify her status as the rising star of British cinema.

Nationwide release
Director: Joe Wright
Stars: Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Simon Woods
Screenwriter: Deborah Moggach
Certificate: U
Running time: 127 mins
Country: UK
Year: 2005

© Allan Hunter, 2005