Welcome to my 10 week critique of films based on the works of Jane Austen. I will review each installment of PBS's "Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen" and also take a look at other adaptations of the same novel. Enjoy!
Note: "Masterpiece" is in the midst of it's three week presentation of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series. During these three weeks, I will give a synopsis of each installment and also examine three different types of P&P adaptations: the tv mini-series, the Hollywood period piece, and what I like to call far-flung adaptations, but more of that later. This week, I will focus on the Hollywood's straight adaptations of the story.
Pride and Prejudice Vol II
Mrs. Bennet is angry with Elizabeth for refusing Mr. Collins's marriage proposal, but is livid when Lizzy's friend, Charlotte decides to marry him, instead. Charlotte isn't much into romance and she assures Lizzy that she is happy with this choice as it will secure her financial health, but Lizzy is incredulous. At the same time, Jane must contend with the Bingley crew's abrupt departure from Netherfield. Both Elizabeth and Jane's marital prospects are suddenly shaky, especially after Wickham becomes suddenly engaged to a wealthy neighbor.
Jane and Lizzy find respite in respective holidays - Jane travels to London to visit her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner (also in hopes of reuniting with Bingley) and Lizzy visits Charlotte in her new home at Rosings. Wishing for Lizzy to regret all that she gave up in refusing his proposal, Mr. Collins makes a big show of introducing her to his rich benefactress, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Elizabeth is thoroughly unimpressed by haughty, bossy Lady Catherine, who happens to be Mr. Darcy's aunt. Soon enough, Lizzy finds herself in the company of her nemesis. Her anger toward Darcy roils with each passing day, especially when she learns that he expressly deterred Bingley from pursuing Jane. Unaware of her growing resentment, Darcy throws Lizzy for a loop when he asks her to marry him.
Elizabeth curtly refuses Darcy, pointing to his interference with Jane and Bingley as well as his past mistreatment of Wickham. Darcy storms off and soon leaves his aunt's house. But before he goes, he gives Lizzy a letter which explains his interference with Bingley (claiming that Jane's seeming indifference and the Bennet family's general ridiculousness made it look like a bad match) and his full history with Wickham (including the part where Wickham tried to run off with his underage sister). After Lizzy returns home, she takes a serious look at Wickham, her family and herself and increasingly finds that Darcy was on target. She tries in vain to prevent her father from allowing Lydia to travel alongside the regiment to Brighton and fails equally in keeping her mother from constantly haranguing Jane about Bingley.
Again, Lizzy finds balm in travel, joining the Gardiners on their trip to her aunt's hometown in Derbyshire. While there, Mrs. Gardiner insists that they tour neighboring Pemberly, Mr. Darcy's estate. Lizzy is at first nervous, but when the housekeeper at Pemberly informs them that Darcy is out of town, she is able to relax and take in the beauty of the surroundings. The trio are surprised by the housekeeper's unabashed praise of Darcy's character when suddenly, the man himself appears on the scene. Darcy politely introduces himself to Elizabeth's relations and cordially invites them to return during their visit in town. Lizzy leaves Pemberly pleasantly dazed by Darcy's newfound manner.
What with the budgets and the big stars, it would seem that Hollywood would have no problem producing the very best Austen adaptations and yet, this is consistently the most disappointing type of Austen adaptation. In fact, Hollywood filmmakers seem to do a much better job of modernizing or otherwise reinterpreting these texts (examples such as Bridget Jones's Diary and Bride and Prejudice will be explored next week), for when it comes to giving us a feature-length story that looks and feels like the novel, the industry largely fails. It is difficult to pinpoint a single reason why this is so. Both the 1940 and 2005 theatrical releases of Pride and Prejudice fall far short of the text, but in markedly different ways.
Robert Z. Leonard's 1940 Pride and Prejudice is certainly the worst of all P&Ps and it's badness is along the lines of what you would expect from a shoddy adaptation. Foremost is that the plot in Aldous Huxley's script barely resembles the novel. In this version, neither Darcy or Elizabeth are flawed as much as they are misunderstood, mostly by each other. Their tension sprouts from a series of childish misinterpretations and assumptions, sort of like a "Three's Company" episode. Some of the villains aren't so bad either, like Edna May Oliver's Lady Catherine, who only puts on a front of haughtiness to test Elizabeth's strength(?).
Nevertheless, this version remains popular to this day, undoubtedly due to Laurence Olivier's portrayal of Darcy. Colin Firth's Darcy may be more to the heart of our hero, but could there ever be a more perfect movie star cast in this role? Olivier, the prince of classic film royalty, is Hollywood's best answer to English aristocracy. How unfortunate that he should be paired with Greer Garson as Elizabeth. In addition to being bland and a little prissy, Garson seems too matronly to play this young woman. She cannot evoke youthful pride. She has no spark.
In comparison to that farce, Joe Wright's 2005 Pride and Prejudice is stellar, and even outside the comparison, this one manages to get a lot right. Screenwriter Deborah Maggoch masterfully wraps together every key scene in just 129 minutes, without dropping too many characters or plot turns. Roman Osin's cinematography - the use of natural light, fog, rain - is breathtaking, even on the small screen. The palette of rich blues and browns is especially flattering to Keira Knightley, who is as beautiful but also as understated as Lizzy should be.
The real rub of this version is that Knightley's resemblance to Elizabeth ends there. She's very good in the role she plays, but that role just isn't Lizzy. Instead, she comes off as a typical modern-day 20-year-old - a little boy crazy and very brooding. There are numerous shots of her sulking in the corner, frowning to herself as she twirls on a swing, sighing in her lonely sorrow- these are the moments when the movie really drags. Beside that, her portrayal simply isn't consistent with Austen's 20-year-old heroine, who is beloved for being the ideal of good-humored womanhood.
But Knightley isn't alone in missing the target. When many good actors go wrong, the director is usually to blame. Wright must have strove to make this P&P unique by pushing his players to reinterpret these well-worn roles, but ultimately, the story suffers. Donald Sutherland's Mr. Bennet is the worst example. Instead of being a sharp-witted man who has grown too used to making a joke of his wife and daughters, he's a dizzy dilettante who doesn't know any better. In the end, he's a helpless romantic. Sutherland's stab at Mr. Sensitivity is not only inappropriate to the tale, it's also poorly executed. He seems to be hopped up on Vicodin. Also a disappointment is Rosamund Pike's distractingly odd Jane. While the novel's Jane is certainly reserved, this one is said to be very shy, which Pike emotes through a lot of weird "deer in the headlights" facial expressions. Though pretty in certain flashes, her face is undeniably British.
Brenda Blethyn, on the other hand, rocks the reinterpretation in her remodeling of Mrs. Bennet. She makes the most of Sutherland's sleepy portrayal by toning down her own character, who is usually the harpy to Mr. Bennet's wise ass. Blethyn's Mrs. B is no less of a drama queen, but she also captures this overgrown teenager's arrested development. Sadly, her performance is the only quality standout in this well-written, gorgeously shot but poorly directed attempt at a feature-length Austen adaptation.
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