Pride and Prejudice vs. Pride and Prejudice

 

The other night, I watched for the second time only, the 2005 version of "Pride and Prejudice," which is lusty and romantic.

 Sometimes too lusty and romantic. Sometimes the characters seem too wild. They're made to do things that seem alien to the time in order to fit into the romantic mood the movie tries so desperately to establish.

However, the film is so gorgeously shot that despite the moments when it seems like the story moves in fast-forward or when Lizzie's best lines are chopped from the screenplay or Darcy has lines that are foreign and new, the film is still a lovely thing to watch.

But I must say, for character and pacing, I still love, love, love the BBC version.

This look alone has made hundreds of girls become fans of Jane Austen. For my sister and I, my mother made us watch this movie with her, and from that point on, there was no turning back. Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park...I became fans of them all.

And yes, Dame Judi Dench is wonderful (and surprisingly sexy--but then, as I said, the movie is lusty) as Lady Catherine de Bourg, but I love the subtle wit and emphasized stupidity of both Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine in the BBC version.

 

So for wind-swept, soap operatic romance, go for the 2005 version with Kira.

Otherwise, it is, it is, it is the BBC version all the way.