Pride & Prejudice

Directed by Joe Wright

Focus Features



4 1/2 stars



It seems impossible that Jane Austen’s most beloved novel, “Pride and Prejudice,” could be adapted successfully after Laurence Olivier’s 1940 film version, a fantastic 1995 BBC TV mini-series starring (swoon) Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, and the recent Bollywood comedy “Bride & Prejudice” had mined so much from the material. While director Joe Wright’s version, “Pride & Prejudice,” adds little to the incomparable plot and adored characters other than an ampersand, the newest adaptation is a luxurious visit to Austen’s always welcoming world.

The timeless love story of clever and headstrong Elizabeth Bennett (Keira Knightley) and brooding Mr. Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen) is set against the contrasting rigidity of pre-Victorian England’s deeply ingrained social conventions. Elizabeth is one of five Bennett sisters, including the beautiful, eldest sister Jane (Rosamund Pike, “Die Another Day”) and the flirtatious, youngest Kitty (Jena Malone). The five daughters cannot inherit the estate of their father (Donald Sutherland) and as such, have been raised by their histrionic mother (Brenda Blethyn) to focus on securing their fortune through marriage.

When the wealthy and “amiable” Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods) moves into the neighboring estate with his friend Mr. Darcy and venomous sister Caroline Bingley (Kelly Reilly), the English militia arrives in town, and the Bennetts’ painfully awkward minister cousin Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander) comes a-calling, the crop of potential husbands imbues the five young women’s lives with excitement.

Knightley spiritedly plays, with a mixture of poise and tomboyish charm, the quintessential Austen heroine who, while refusing to submit to social pressures, finds she is inexplicably falling in love. Whether she is trudging through the English countryside and carelessly soiling her petticoats, or defiantly contesting Mr. Darcy with her perfect chin held high, Knightley exudes the feisty independence and beauty that has made Elizabeth Bennett the favorite female character in English literature.

What MacFadyen lacks in comparison to the good looks and charm of Colin Firth, he more than makes up for in his performance. Frankly, it would take a very stubborn and socially inept man not to immediately fall for Knightley’s Elizabeth, yet Darcy’s resistance is completely believable in MacFadyen’s reserved delivery.

I am hard-pressed to think of a more tender moment in recent cinema than when MacFadyen’s hardened character finally does melt and confesses to Elizabeth the classic words, “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

The youth and charm of the protagonists makes them entirely relatable to the college audience; Jane and Elizabeth’s bedtime talk about Jane’s coy flirtation with Mr. Bingley is exactly of the same tone as the conversations my roommate and I share from top and bottom bunk, albeit with slightly different syntax.

Anyone who missed the reading for Reid Professor of English and American Literature Phillip J. Fisher’s English 157, “The Classic Phase of the Novel,” can skip the SparkNotes and use this film as a reliable source. In his gorgeous tableau, Wright has masterfully preserved the essence of Austen’s characters and captured the nuances of her society. He manages, in only 127 minutes, to leave no character in the complex plot undeveloped—Hollander plays the perfect Austen fool of Mr. Collins, Judi Dench is marvelous as Darcy’s cantankerous aunt Lady Catherine de Bourg, and Kelly Reilly is the perfect bitch as the manipulative Caroline Bingley.

The one outstanding flaw of the film (other than Jena Malone’s hideous performance) are the stormy long shots of Knightley perched in contemplation on top of a moor. These “breath-taking” sequences are gratuitous and too Bronte-esque; it’s not to say that a wet and pouty Knightley against a stunning British countryside isn’t visually appealing, but Wright is far more successful at extending the narrative when he restrains himself to the intimacy of Austen’s domestic world. A tracking shot, in the style of Robert Altman, explore the rural, homespun details of the Bennett’s “socially inferior” home, while the lush ball sequences with exquisite costuming and choreography visually convey the complex relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy.

Every little girl who grew up wanting to be Elizabeth Bennett can see her dream realized in Knightley’s performance. Every little boy who grew up to have a massive crush on Knightley, or just really needs a good date idea, will find “Pride & Prejudice” a treat of a period piece. The exquisitely beautiful adaptation captures Austen’s conviction as to the possibility of romance in the most unlikely circumstances, a pick-me-up everyone can appreciate.

—Staff writer Kristina M. Moore can be reached at moore2@fas.harvard.edu.