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Film review

Another Austen encounter

Nearly 200 years after the author penned Pride & Prejudice the story translates well to the big screen.

By JANET K. KEELER
Published November 10, 2005

	[Photo: Focus Features]
	Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen star in Pride & Prejudice, based on the novel by Jane Austen.

It is a testament to Jane Austen that her 19th century tales of romance triumph no matter what, or who, Hollywood throws at them.

In the past 10 years, Austen's books have found success on the big screen, be they true interpretations or modern twists. Sense and Sensibility tugged at our heartstrings in 1995, followed the next year by Emma. Clueless (1995) was a contemporary adaptation of Emma and Bridget Jones's Diary, though based on Helen Fielding's novel, had as much pride and prejudice as Austen's 1813 novel.

The Austen formula works over and over, because the power of Prince Charming is nearly impossible for women to resist. We are especially smitten if he is tall and mysterious, swarthy and rich. It doesn't hurt if he looks hot in a puffy shirt and flapping black duster.

Director Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice, though uneven at times, presses the right buttons. The movie works for the most part because Wright plays the Venerable British Actor card. He is smart enough to know you can't make a British costume drama without the commanding Judi Dench. She is joined by the entertaining Brenda Blethyn and always-smooth Donald Sutherland. Pride & Prejudice is at its best when they are on screen, even paired with less proficient actors.

Pride & Prejudice is the story of the five Bennet sisters who need to find five husbands lest the crumbling family estate fall into the wrong hands. Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) is the most problematic for her matchmaking mother, played by a florid, frantic Blethyn. Sutherland is Mr. Bennet, partial to daughter Elizabeth and resigned to his wife's meddling.

Elizabeth is a Georgian brainiac with a wicked tongue and judgmental mind. Even the formidable Lady Catherine (Dench), who looks down her nose at the crass Bennets, feels her sting. Bravo for Knightley for holding her own with the revered Dame Dench.

Unlike her sisters, several of whom giggle irritatingly throughout the movie, Elizabeth is not willing to settle for the first wallet that comes along. She meets her true love early in the story but is too prideful to accept him and he is too prejudiced to take off his uppercrust mask. They hook up, but not before Elizabeth plays Barbie's Dream Date. There are plenty of Poindexters in this movie.

The first 30 minutes might have you thinking, was it necessary to retell this story? The setup is a bit of a bore, despite the attention given to costume and sets, which resemble grand paintings in many scenes. The colors are all mushroom and earth, muddy gray and dirty sky. Art directors Nick Gottschalk and Mark Swain skillfully take us to a time way, way before cell phones. The characters communicate by handwritten letters, for heaven's sake!

Hang in there. The story gets rolling when the dancing stops and the actors go one on one. The universal appeal of Austen's stories is the innocence and sincerity of her characters, which become evident when the crowds disperse. A scene late in the movie between Elizabeth and her father will break your heart.

Matthew MacFadyen is Mr. Darcy, the mannerly rich guy who gets under Elizabeth's skin. Fans of the 1995 BBC miniseries will have to warm up to MacFadyen as the brooding Mr. Darcy. Colin Firth was masterfully brooding and gorgeous in the TV version.

MacFadyen becomes a worthy Mr. Darcy as the movie progresses, though early on there is little electricity between Knightley and him.

Knightley doesn't ride the time travel machine as well as fellow Brits Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson or Kate Winslet. Perhaps that will come with more experience. She is beautiful and smart, but something about her seems very modern.

Knightley trades bounty hunting (Domino) for booty hunting in just a month's time and it may well be difficult for audiences to get the gun-toting image from their minds.

All that aside, you'll reach for a hankie when a weepy Elizabeth admits her foolishness and a red-eyed, earnest Mr. Darcy strides from the mist to say "you've bewitched me body and soul."

Another sucker punch from Jane Austen. And, oh, it hurts so good.

- Janet K. Keeler can be reached at 727 893-8586 or krieta@sptimes.com

Grade: B

Director: Joe Wright

Cast: Keira Knightley, Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn, Judi Dench, Matthew MacFadyen

Screenplay: Deborah Moggach, based on the Jane Austen novel

Rating: PG; adult themes

Running time: 126 min.

[Last modified November 9, 2005, 10:39:08]