posted
Mrs. Bennett is really terrible in the BBC version. So over the top and melodramatic, I didn't like her at all.
Bella Bee, yes, they did leave the ending in the US version of the film. It shows Elizabeth and Darcy on Darcy's huge front porch at night and there's a cute and romantic albeit pointless kissy scene. I heard that it pissed off British test audiences, so they yanked it from the UK showing.
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Oh, I loved Mrs. Bennet in the BBC version! I liked the over-the-top-ness and the melodrama, because I thought that reflected how she was in the book. Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
But see, you haven't seen the new one yet. I think the 2005 Mrs. Bennett gets the annoying thing across while still not sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yes...but to see the new one, I'd have to see Keira Knightley as Elizabeth. The very thought of that makes me twitch. That's why I haven't seen it yet.
Once it comes out on DVD, I'll sit down and watch it in the privacy of my own living room, where I can mock the bad parts and enjoy the good parts in peace.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I know what you mean. I will venture a prediction that you'll enjoy it in spite of yourself. Let me know when you get around to seeing it, I'd love to hear what you think of it.
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
(I probably will enjoy it; it's just the one thing that stopped me from seeing it in theaters...but Elizabeth is a biiig thing.)
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
The movie actually works quite well as a silly romantic comedy, Megan (although not as well as the two versions that set out to be silly romantic comedies). So you might well enjoy it on that level. As a good rendition of the book, not so hot. It's an important distinction that matters more to some people than others Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I disagree Bob. I reread the book about a week before I saw the movie and the script was very....verbatim. Not as verbatim as BBC, but they didn't have 6 hours to work with.
What I loved about this particular version was the realism in their surroundings. A family with a farm estate and no other source of income would NOT have a house that looked like the Bennett's house in the BBC version. They toned it down a bit which made Netherfield, Rosings Park, and Pemberly look like the huge estates they are in comparison. They did the same thing with the clothing, props, and the first town ball. It was much more realistic in my opinion. They did combine several events and shorten others, but that has to happen for a 2 hour movie.
Austen purists get irked at the added romanticism (it's very romantic, even without the kissy ending), but I don't. Having just reread the book, I can totally see Darcy acting like that, even though the way they brought them together in the movie wasn't the same. Darcy does have a 'speech' (which he did have in the book, we just didn't know what he said) and it is such that we are made light-headed. I'm ok with them doing that because I think P&P is the most romantic of Austen's books and should look like that on film.
However, I really love the BBC version also and for completely different reasons. I don't think we can have too many versions if they're all as well done as these two are.
In my opinion of course.
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Narnia, I agree with you completely. I loved the movie, and I wasn't expecting to. There's a place for both versions.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I enjoyed it--and yes, I liked McFayden better than Colin Firth but that's because I don't like Colin Firth in almost anything--but it seemed to me that the film the director really wanted to make was Wuthering Heights. Much rain over English countryside and windy moors.
Jen
P.S. On a tangentially related note, thank you, Tatiana, for recommending Northanger Abbey. I got it from the library today and am about halfway through, and enjoying it immensely. Much better than Emma. I never liked that book.
Posts: 910 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
I second this. Persuasion is my personal favorite Austen book; the movie is also very good.
I have not yet seen the new movie, so I cannot comment. Loved the BBC/A&E miniseries; we have held family reunions specifically to watch this movie. Harking back to some of the comments earlier on the thread (re: men not liking Austen) . . . one of my uncles used to make fun of all of us sitting around watching P&P. Until one day, I don't remember why, he decided to actually watch it. Instant fan. All of his sisters got a copy of the movie for Christmas from him that year, and after that he would join his wife in the TV room during the P&P reunions.
Posts: 364 | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Glad you liked it, Jen! Her writing is not as polished, but I liked the people a lot. And Henry Tilney is quite swoonfully nice. Jane says some very funny things, and overall it's a fun book to read.
The allusion to Catherine playing "base ball" is the first mention of that game that we have. I read that somewhere. <laughs>
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought they did the 'poor family' part a bit over the top (but that may be because I got used to bbc version so much). Also I think the group scenes were brilliant, so full of life and energy it almost felt as if I were there. And I very much liked the new Mr Collins: he was still preposterous without being unbelievable. Great job! Narnia, I agree with your opinion One thing I don't understand, though: why did Mary got to be prettier than Lydia and Kitty?!?!
As for the male audience: I think it's part of Austen genius that (in spite of her books being of a rather girlish type) so many men enjoy hem so much. Because it's not all about romance: there's so much of witty observations!
the Mansfield Park movie: I could accept making Fanny a mixture of the book character and jane Austen herself, but adding all the stuff about slaves and why the older brother was such a mess was just completely out of tune with the meaning of the story. Waste of screen time.
Posts: 218 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think I'm just going to resign myself to the fact that I'm the only person who thinks Keira Knightley is a terrible actor. I felt there was no truth in her role, there was no nuance. And as for unnecessary additions, I'm thinking specifically of the ending and the rediculous scene where Madame de Bourgh comes to the Bennet house in the middle of the night. Both of which added nothing to the movie. Not to mention the good 15 minutes of closeups on Keira's face, Keira walking, or Keira spinning. Some people can get away with that, but Keira has no charisma on camera (as far as I'm concerned) and these scenes were boring and, again, added very little to the film.
I just keep coming back to the fact that it's a pretty good movie because the source material is so good. It is not a pretty good movie because it was well performed or directed.
Edit: Or maybe I just have an irrational dislike of Keira Knightley that I can't get past. That could be possible. Everyone has someone.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
No, you're not the only one. Though I haven't seen P&P yet, I haven't liked her in anything else I've seen her in. I've liked things in spite of her, but I agree with you: I don't think she's a good actress.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I found her less annoying in this movie because she wasn't doing that weird thing with her lips as much. But yes, I thought that they could have found someone better for Lizzie.
Still, she's up for an Oscar, so her performance must have been good. Posts: 1528 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I heard that it pissed off British test audiences, so they yanked it from the UK showing.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
