Jane Addiction Part 10 - Sense and Sensibility Vol II

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 just finished its two week presentation of the 2008 "Sense and Sensibility" mini-series. This week, I will look at the second half of this series and also examine Rodney Bennet's 1981 mini-series adaptation.

Sense and Sensibility Vol II

Shortly after Willoughby's abrupt departure, Edward Ferrars pays a visit to the Dashwood ladies at Barton Cottage. But, Edward is unexpectedly morose and standoffish. He stays for only a night, leaving Elinor puzzled about his feelings for her.

Barton Park soon sees the arrival of more visitors - Mrs. Jennings’s daughter Charlotte and son-in-law Mr. Palmer, as well as distant cousins Lucy and Ann Steele. Upon meeting the Miss Dashwoods, Lucy tells Elinor in private that she has longed to meet her, as Edward Ferrars has spoken so fondly of her. Elinor is surprised that Lucy and Edward are acquainted, but is completely stunned when Lucy confides that she has been secretly engaged to Edward for four years. Though heartbroken, Elinor promises to keep Lucy's secret safe.

Mrs. Jennings announces her upcoming trip to London and invites Elinor and Marianne to accompany her. Though Elinor is hesitant, Marianne jumps at this chance to reunite with Willoughby. Mrs. Dashwood gives her blessing and her daughters soon depart.

Once they arrive in London, Marianne writes to Willoughby and waits impatiently for his visit. When their first gentleman caller happens to be Colonel Brandon, she storms out of the room, frustrated and disappointed. A dismal Brandon then asks Elinor if Marianne is engaged to Willoughby and though she cannot verify it, she admits to the expectation. Brandon mysteriously comments that he wishes Marianne well and hopes that Willoughby "will endeavor to deserve her".

The Miss Steeles come to London with the Palmers. John Dashwood and Fanny are in town, too. Along with Colonel Brandon and the Miss Dashwoods, they all gather at a neighborhood ball. Marianne finally spots the elusive Willoughby there and greets him with great warmth. He is inexplicably frigid and barely shakes her hand before returning to his throng of admiring women. Brandon and Elinor escort a stupefied Marianne back to Mrs. Jennings’s place, but cannot convince her to go to bed before she has written to Willoughby again. His response arrives in the morning. In it, he curtly apologizes for having unintentionally misled her but makes it clear that his interests lie elsewhere. Marianne then learns that he is engaged to another woman.

News of Willoughby's cruel gesture travels around London. Colonel Brandon consoles Elinor by telling her of the terrible business that brought him to town; his fifteen-year-old ward Eliza (the daughter of his once lost love) had become pregnant with the child of a ruthless and irresponsible cad, and that cad was Willoughby. Elinor shares the story with her sister. Though Marianne is at last assured of Willoughby's villainy, it is no balm for her shattered heart.

In the following days, John and Fanny invite Elinor and Marianne to a gathering at their London apartment, along with the Miss Steeles. Fanny flaunts her disrespect for her sisters-in-law by fawning over Lucy and Ann, even inviting the Steeles to stay at their home. Lucy grows confident that Fanny and Mrs. Ferrars will approve of her engagement to Edward once it is revealed, but Elinor is incredulous, knowing that Lucy is too poor for their high standards.

During one of Lucy’s visits to Elinor, Edward makes a surprise appearance. Before he sees Lucy in the room, he tells Elinor that he must discuss something important with her. As he is about to open his heart, Elinor introduces him to Lucy. Edward is clearly discombobulated and barely says a word before excusing himself. Lucy asks him to escort her to his sister’s home and Elinor sadly watches them walk out the door together.

In short time, Ann Steele unwittingly reveals Edward and Lucy’s engagement to Fanny and Mrs. Ferrars. Mrs. Ferrars furiously insists that Edward rescind his proposal to Lucy, but he refuses to go back on his word. Fanny throws Edward and the Miss Steeles out of her home and Mrs. Ferrars transfers his inheritance to his younger brother, Robert. With no income, Edward and Lucy’s future together appears bleaker than ever.

Colonel Brandon is sympathetic to Edward’s situation and decides to offer him a living as the minister of his estate’s chapel. Since Brandon doesn’t know Edward well, he asks Elinor to deliver the “good” news. She does so with a heavy heart and a miserable Edward accepts the offer.

The Palmers decide to go back to their home in Cleveland and invite the Colonel and the Miss Dashwoods to come with them. During the visit, Marianne takes a long walk in the rain. She is already weak from depression and becomes terribly ill. Elinor asks Brandon to fetch their mother, because she fears that Marianne may not survive. After many hours of Elinor’s diligent nursing, Marianne recovers, even before Mrs. Dashwood arrives.

As Elinor rejoices in Marianne’s revival, a servant tells her of a gentleman caller, who is none other than Willoughby. He confesses to Elinor all of his wrongdoings and admits that when he first met Marianne, he only wanted to seduce her. But he did fall in love and would have married her if he hadn’t had to face the fallout from his indiscretion with Eliza. Marianne learns of his visit and rests a little easier knowing that she hadn’t misread his feelings.

The ladies return to Barton Cottage. Marianne decides to follow calm and temperate Elinor’s example and begins a self-imposed course of serious study. She also spends more time with the Colonel, who quietly woos her with books and music. Elinor tries to forget Edward, but is saddened to hear a servant’s news about running into Mrs. Lucy Ferrars. Assuming she has lost him forever, Elinor is startled when Edward rides up to the cottage alone, with another urgent message.

The second half of John Alexander’s 2008 Sense and Sensibility mini-series further demonstrates screenwriter Andrew Davies’s outstanding ability to interpret Austen’s texts. He covers a good two-thirds of the story in one ninety minute package without skipping any crucial plot turns or characters. He’s even able to salvage Lucy’s sister (known only as Miss Steele in this version), who was dropped from the 1995 feature-length film. Daisy Haggard’s performance as the gossipy older sister of Elinor’s rival is as deliciously repugnant as Claire Skinner’s Fanny. Her constant jabbering about “beaux” is as funny in this version as it is in the original text.

As I stated in last week’s review, the women continue to outshine the men in the finale. What a shame, considering that Edward, Brandon and Willoughby’s best moments occur in part two. David Morrissey’s Brandon barely registers any emotion, even in his most conflicted moments. One can hardly blame Marianne for judging him dull. Likewise, Dominic Cooper’s Willoughby, with his rat eyes and his permasneer, surprises no one by being revealed as a cad. One can hardly understand what Marianne saw in him anyway. Still, I will credit Dan Stevens for delivering an almost perfectly miserable Edward. He’s too gregarious in happy moments too really fit the bill that Austen created, but when he is sad – such as the moment when he says goodbye to Elinor after accepting the Colonel’s offer – the hurt in his eyes is really quite moving. This makes the climactic scene with Hattie Morahan’s Elinor all the more enjoyable. Certainly, it isn’t Emma Thompson/ Hugh Grant caliber, but it’s pretty damned close.

And despite the sub par male performances, this S&S does dangle near the 1995 version’s level of quality. But there is one glaring flaw I cannot forgive and it’s all Andrew Davies’s fault. He completely butchers the role of Mr. Palmer. This tiny character is one of my favorite personalities from all of Jane’s work. At first, he comes off as an asshole, the kind of guy who gets off on putting down his wife (a woman who lacks the intelligence to know when she is being insulted). But when you come to understand that Charlotte is as self-absorbed as she is stupid, he appears sympathetic. His eventual kindness to the Dashwood daughters (a detail left out of this script) goes to show that even a very good man or woman can become terribly embittered by a bad marriage.

Davies sketches Palmer very differently. This Palmer really is just an asshole – he’s more like Fanny in the way he scoffs at the Miss Dashwoods’ apartment. And though his appearance is small (to the point of being unnecessary), it exemplifies a strange trend among Austen adaptors of mischaracterizing, miscasting and oversimplifying her complex male figures. I’m afraid this trend has finally infected Mr. Davies’s writing, as well.

On the other hand, Rodney Bennet’s 1981 Sense and Sensibility mini-series – a far less dazzling production – fails mainly because of the women portraying our dear heroines. No other duo could better exemplify quintessential British hideousness. Irene Richard’s Elinor is distractingly weird looking. The big dirty teeth, those bulging eyes, that beak of a nose – I don’t write this to be cruel, but rather because I couldn’t help marveling. These are worthwhile details in any production involving close-up photography and the casting director ought to have known better. The shame of it is that Richard is a wonderful actress and a fine Elinor. It’s clear that Emma Thompson modeled her speech and delivery from this performance. Truly, Richard wows us most when she is speaking, but beware of her reaction shots. You’ll be expecting to see some drool falling from that lazy-eyed gawk.

Even with her sallow flesh and baggy eyes, Tracey Childs’s Marianne has a slightly less unnerving appearance. But she is an awful actress. She conveys “passion” by delivering every line as if she just ran out of breath. She tries to play off petulance as determination. Her worst moments are when she’s near death, tossing about the bed and moaning in unnaturally rhythmic fits of fever. The only reason you’re happy to see her live is that she falls asleep, shuts her mouth and stops acting. Her every waking moment is unbearable.

Yet, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to really enjoying this production. It features some of the best scenery of any Austen adaptation, not due to any artiness or particular skill in the camera work. Rather, the producers set up shop in a really gorgeous and bucolic bit of English countryside and let the cameras roll. It’s the exact sort of thing I want to watch in the middle of a summer day, when the sun is too hot and all I want is to soak myself in the pastoral beauty of a Jane Austen scenario. The pace is as pleasantly slow and gentle as a stroll down a country lane. It isn’t the kind of series I want to watch in one sitting, but each of the seven episodes is less than thirty minutes, which means you can take those funny British faces in small doses.

Additionally, some members of the supporting cast are skilled, even attractive. Bosco Hogan’s Edward looks like a less frightening Sam Donaldson, which is about as alluring as Edward should be. He is humble and kind, completely believable. And, his long-awaited pursuit of Elinor is more faithful to the book than either of the other versions of the tale. Their exchange is so befitting of their characters and even Irene Richard is resplendent in that beautiful scene. Robert Swann’s Colonel Brandon, with his Wolverine style muttonchops, would be almost too handsome and dashing if this production were not so wanting of eye candy. But, as always, I like best the actors who convincingly portray the jerks of the story and Hetty Baynes’s performance as Charlotte wins my favor. Her nasal giggle will make you understand what I meant about Mr. Palmer’s bitterness.

Thank goodness that the filmic canon of Jane Austen stories contains such less-than-perfect interpretations. Almost every adaptation will glean one or two details that the others missed. I have yet to see a Persuasion that features the funny and uncomfortable scene in which a stoic Wentworth rescues his estranged Anne from the evil clutches of her bratty nephew’s filthy little hands. Maybe I’ll write my own version, just to include that. Until the next adaptation arrives, there’s nothing left for me to do with Jane Austen. The woman only wrote six novels!

Jane Addiction Part 9 - Sense and Sensibility Vol I

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 just began its two week presentation of the 2008 "Sense and Sensibility" mini-series. This week, I will look at the first half of this series and also examine Ang Lee's 1995 feature film adaptation.

Sense and Sensibility Vol. I
Sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are temperamental opposites - elder Elinor is polite, rational, and emotionally reserved, whereas brash, passionate Marianne freely speaks her mind. Along with their gentle mother and precocious younger sister, Margaret, the Dashwood ladies find themselves homeless when Mr. Dashwood dies and older brother John inherits Norland, the family estate. Although John made a deathbed promise to his father to look after his stepmother and half-sisters, he and his pushy wife Fanny quickly move in, quietly pressuring the ladies to find a new home and promising them only a small annual allowance. Elinor tries to be civil toward John and Fanny while Marianne wallows in bitterness and mourning.

Fanny's older brother Edward Ferrars visits Norland. Modest, kind Edward is sympathetic to the Dashwood women and develops a friendship with Elinor. When Fanny senses that Edward is falling for her sister-in-law, she hints to Mrs. Dashwood that she expects her brother to marry a wealthier woman. Fanny's snobbery pushes Mrs. Dashwood over the edge, and she rashly accepts the first housing offer that fits her meager budget - an invitation to rent Barton Cottage on her cousin Sir John Middleton's estate. Elinor sadly says goodbye to Edward, but he promises to visit her soon.

Sir John warmly greets his new tenants and insists they visit his home. There they meet his boring wife Lady Middleton and her boisterous busybody mother Mrs. Jennings. The Middletons also introduce the ladies to their good friend, Colonel Brandon, a tasteful, mild-mannered naval officer who is immediately charmed by Marianne. Yet, Marianne is incensed when Sir John and Mrs. Jennings teasingly hint that she is destined to marry the much older Colonel.

As Brandon pines for Marianne, she meets Willoughby, her equally spirited and outspoken male counterpart. The two are immediately inseparable and the neighbors and family begin to assume that Willoughby has or will soon propose to Marianne. Elinor feels for the dejected Brandon as she laments her separation from Edward.

One day, after inviting all the neighbors to a party at his home, Colonel Brandon suddenly departs the gathering, saying that he must deal with a personal emergency in London. Willoughby and Marianne mock the inscrutable Colonel for his seriousness, vociferously agreeing that Brandon is too dull for their tastes. It is more obvious than ever that these two are in love, so when Willoughby asks Mrs. Dashwood if he can see Marianne in private, everyone assumes that he will propose to her. But when Elinor, Margaret and Mrs. Dashwood come home to find Marianne sobbing hysterically, they see a flustered Willoughby rushing out the door, saying he must leave to stay at his aunt's home for at least a year. Watching Willoughby ride away, the Dashwood ladies are perplexed by another man's inexplicable departure.

The first half of John Alexander's 2008 "Sense and Sensibility" mini-series is proof enough that this is the best of the BBC's batch of new Austen adaptations. Maintaining the proper tone is always crucial and it's no surprise that Andrew Davies is the man behind this brilliant script, which may be his best work to date. Managing to capture the lightness and beauty of a tale that begins with death and deceit is no easy task, especially when there is so little dialog from which a screenwriter can draw. More than any of Jane's other stories, S&S describes feeling and character more often than it details actions, so it is up to the screenwriter to create scenes that embody the emotions and personalities at the core of this narrative. Davies accomplishes this with dozens of telling vignettes, like the sequence in which Fanny persuades John to shrink the ladies' allowance as they pack their carriage and drive to Norland. In a few tidy scenes, Davies conveys Fanny’s greed and John's utter lack of conviction.

Of course, it takes great acting to capture the spirit of Austen's characters, and the two leading ladies are the best of this cast. Hattie Morahan's intelligent and even-keeled Elinor is exactly as you expect her to be, but Charity Wakefield’s Marianne is a pleasant surprise – she is just as intelligent and assured in her ardent manner, whereas most actresses would rely on being merely impetuous. Janet McTeer’s naively sweet Mrs. Dashwood is the perfect foil to Claire Skinner’s sociopathic Fanny. Indeed, Skinner’s portrayal makes Fanny one of Austen’s most delightfully reprehensible villains. She overflows with glee as she swiftly displaces her in-laws in mourning.

Unfortunately, the men are not so sublime. In most Austen adaptations, too little attention is paid to casting the men properly (a dopey move, considering how many horny, hetero women love to watch these films), and that is the biggest problem with this version. David Morrissey’s Brandon is blandon. Dominic Cooper’s Willoughby is attractive, but far more grating than sexy. Dan Stevens’s Edward is the most frustrating despite being the most likable. He’s lighthearted, cute, charming, but not much like the introverted Edward from the text.

Of course, all the heroics and caddishness come to light in the second act. Perhaps next week’s installment will give the men an opportunity to live up to the ladies’ stunning portrayals.

If not for that glaring deficit in casting, this new version of the story may have lived up to Ang Lee’s 1995 Sense and Sensibility. Half the credit for this brilliant adaptation goes to Emma Thompson, who not only starred as Elinor, but also wrote the screenplay that so deservedly won her an Oscar. Thompson is an actor’s writer, peppering her script with enough silence so that the players can express themselves in subtler ways. Enter Ang Lee’s eye for beautiful backdrops and scenery and here we have one of the most perfectly executed motion pictures of all time. Nearly every scene is a masterpiece.

Of all the fantastic actors that grace this production, including ingénue Kate Winslet as Marianne and Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon, Hugh Grant stands out most in his portrayal of Edward. The same man who brought us Bridget Jones’s Diary’s classic cad gives us this incredibly well-studied and subtle performance. Every stutter and averted glance speaks both the awkwardness and the secret burden behind his thoughtful expression. His climactic scene with Thompson’s Elinor is the finest and most cathartic payoff of any Austen-based film.

But Grant’s performance is just one perfect sample of a practically perfect film. With its top-notch acting, direction, writing, cinematography and score, this film actually justifies the time and expense taken to produce a big-budget theatrical release. In this one, rare instance, Hollywood trumps the BBC.

Jane Addiction Part 8 - Emma

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!

Emma

Emma Woodhouse leads a charmed life at her widowed father's country estate. Being rich, clever, popular and used to getting her own way, Emma thinks she knows all there is to know about life and love. When her beloved governess gets married, Emma takes full credit for the match and decides to occupy herself by playing cupid amongst her company (as she has determined, at age 20, that she herself will never fall in love and therefore has no need to marry). She concentrates on uniting Harriet, an impressionable young orphan, with social climber Mr. Elton, despite her good friend Mr. Knightley's warnings against meddling. Emma is so assured in the brilliance of her scheme that she successfully convinces Harriet to refuse humble farmer Mr Martin's marriage proposal. By the time Emma discovers Mr. Elton is more interested in herself than in Harriet, her friend's hopes for marrying into wealth have reached impossible heights. At the same time, Emma reconsiders her stance on marriage when she ignites a casual flirtation with impetuous Frank Churchill. Mr. Knightley's aggravation mounts when he sees his young friend pursuing the wrong man.

When Jane Austen began writing Emma, she told a friend, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like". Millions of readers would disagree, but truly, no other Austen heroine is more difficult to render likable on screen. This is not a problem in Diarmuid Lawrence's 1996 television version of "Emma" (the eighth installment of "The Complete Jane Austen"), which stars a young Kate Beckinsale as our know-it-all protagonist. Beckinsale gets it right, because she's smarter than the character. She gets inside Emma's unwarranted swagger and plays it so sternly that you can't help but laugh at her when she solemnly speaks of her misguided plans. There are moments when you almost want to hate her, like when she huffs and puffs at Harriet and Mr. Martin every time they meet. But just as you are cursing her for interfering with her friend's happiness, you're laughing at Emma's serious and completely unfounded belief that Harriet must be the natural daughter of an aristocrat. The subtle ridiculousness is all in the script (another of Andrew Davies's spotless adaptations) and Beckinsale is expert at translating that into a quiet scowl or a smug grin.

It's a shame that this little-remembered "Emma" was overshadowed by the thankfully forgotten feature film version that was also released in 1996. That Emma starred a preening Gwyneth Paltrow as our heroine. The problem with Paltrow is that she doesn't seem altogether different from her character - haughty, indignant and in love with herself. Her chemistry with Jeremy Northam's Knightley left me cold. The Internet Movie Database claims that Northam is married to a woman in real life, but this adaptation convinced me that he was gay. Topping off this disappointing mess is screenwriter/director Douglas McGrath's script, which is hallow of Jane's words and full of scenes that aren't in the book.

John Glenister's 1972 five hour "Emma" mini-series promises a more thorough adaptation of the story, but ruined this writer's inclination to watch by starring hideous, shrill Doran Godwin. The first dvd was back in the case before the first scene had ended.

Conversely, I have never watched another film more frequently than writer/director Amy Heckerling's Clueless, 1995's far-flung adaptation of the text. Not only is this the best modernization of any Austen novel, it is also the best Emma. In this version, Emma is Cher (Alicia Silverstone), a beautiful and charming Beverly Hills high school student whose main interests include dressing well, driving terribly (with a learner's permit, without an adult), caring for her gruff attorney father (played by brilliant character actor Dan Hedaya) and, of course, match-making. Eager to prove to her "do-gooder" ex-stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd) that her ploys are not purely based on self-interest, Cher takes on her toughest project to date - a working class, East coast stoner named Tai (Brittany Murphy). Despite Tai's immediate interest in dizzy skateboarder Travis Birkenstock, Cher determines that popular and arrogant Elton is a better choice for her wayward pal. And the parody builds from there.

What makes this movie such a great adaptation is that, even with all of the contemporary twists, the all-important tone is exactly as it should be. Emma is one of Austen's more comic stories and this retelling is genuinely hilarious, from the "As if!" valley girl slang to the clever choice of casting Christian - the modern-day Frank Churchill - as a homosexual (it isn't hard to believe that Frank may have been gay, as well). The point is that Heckerling managed to use the framework of a brilliant tale to tell a story that is as funny to modern viewers as the original must have been to a more genteel audience. I'd like to think that Jane, herself, would be proud of that feat.

Jane Addiction Part 7 - Pride and Prejudice Vol III

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" just ended it's three week presentation of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series. During these three weeks, I gave a synopsis of each installment and also examined different types of P&P adaptations, including the tv mini-series and the Hollywood period piece. This week, I will focus on modernized interpretations of the story, which I call far-flung adaptations.

Pride and Prejudice Vol III
Synopsis:While enjoying her vacation in the Derbyshire countryside, Elizabeth Bennet is surprised to be Mr. Darcy's honored guest at his palatial home. She becomes quickly attached to his younger sister Georgiana (the would-be bride of the lecherous Wickham), who has heard so much of Lizzy from her brother. But before Lizzy can make sense of this new dynamic, she receives a shocking letter from her sister Jane: their youngest sister, Lydia, has run off with Wickham. Darcy happens to visit Lizzy just as she is receiving the news and she confides in him. As she prepares to return home immediately, he abruptly leaves. Knowing that she is, in all likelihood, about to become the sister-in-law of his arch nemesis, Lizzy realizes that she may have lost Darcy's interest forever, and that actually bothers her.

Lizzy returns to a home in turmoil. Her father has gone to London to find Lydia and Wickham and her mother is hysterical. Lizzy feels guilty for not revealing Wickham's true character beforehand. Soon, it becomes apparent that the couple have not married, and Lydia may be destined for a terrible reputation and no marital prospects (a fate actually worse than being married to Wickham). Mr. Bennet fails to find the two and returns home in shame. Miraculously, the Bennets receive word from the Gardiners that Wickham and Lydia have been found and will marry if Mr. Bennet agrees to give them one hundred pounds annually. Knowing that this could never be enough to entice Wickham, Mr. Bennet suspects that the Gardiners have bribed Wickham handsomely.

The newlyweds pay an uncomfortable visit to the Bennet home. As Lydia is bragging to her sisters about the wedding, she accidentally mentions that Mr. Darcy was there. Burning with curiosity, Lizzy confronts her aunt Gardiner about Darcy's role in Lydia's marriage and finds out that it was Darcy who paid Wickham to marry her. Lizzy realizes that he could only have done this out of consideration to herself and her hopes are rekindled. Shortly after the Wickhams leave for Newcastle, Bingley return to Netherfield with Darcy in tow. Jane and Lizzy are reunited with their suitors and Bingley quickly proposes to Jane. Darcy, however, is his old standoffish self, which confuses Lizzy. But she is completely thrown when Lady Catherine De Bourgh shows up on her porch, demanding that Lizzy promise to never marry her nephew.

Two of the very best Pride and Prejudice adaptations are modernizations of the text: the 2001 film version of Bridget Jones's Diary and the 2004 musical Bride and Prejudice. One story reshapes an average modern-day single Englishwoman as Elizabeth Bennet while the other faithfully interprets the marital politics of the original text through a Bollywood lens.

Bride and Prejudice's main success as a P&P adaptation is that very thoroughness that simply cannot be achieved in a contemporary western interpretation of the story. Most American women today are unlikely to relate completely to the marital woes of the Bennet girls. But in the context of an eastern society, where arranged marriages and dowries are more the norm, Elizabeth and Jane - or in this case, Lalita and Jaya - actually make complete sense in the present. In this version, Lalita and Darcy are socially divided by class and cultural differences. He is a brash, arrogant white American and Bingley is the Indian English Balraj Bingley who brings him to Armristar for a friends' wedding, where they meet the Bakshi daughters. And with the dazzling musical number that follows, this film really takes off. In addition to telling Austen's story really well, B&P adds enormous fun by being a Bollywood musical.

Famous Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai is well-cast as Lalita - she has the chops for the musical bits and she also gets the smartness of the character. Martin Henderson's Darcy, though not being nearly as dashing as Colin Firth or Laurence Olivier, is quite perfect as an obnoxious American. It's amusing to see Darcy interpreted this way. And for some fun, against-type casting, check out Naveen Andrews (tortured ex-torturer Sayeed from "Lost") as Bingley and Gilmore Girl Alexis Bledel as Georgie Darcy.

The casting is just another fine feature of this very canny adaptation. Overall, this version of P&P captures the spirit of the story better than most, and even outs forth a compelling and believable premise, despite the ramdom outbursts of song and dance.

The courtship of Elizabeth and Darcy takes a very different direction in Bridget Jones's Diary. Renee Zellweger's Bridget bears little resemblance to our Lizzy, at least at first. This character is best known for her flaws - her (over)weight, her propensity to get drunk and then stumble into work hungover, her "verbal diarrhea" tick, etc. In other words, she's a normal, lonely, single woman in her early thirties. Her main problem is that she has no confidence. Her discontent comes into a focus when she meets stuffy Mark Darcy at her mother's New Year's party and she overhears him insulting her. And like a modern-day Lizzy Bennet, she soon finds herself sleeping with Darcy's nemesis, Daniel Cleaver, who also happens to be her boss.

And thus, we have a contemporary tale of a questionably marriageable woman. In this rendition, our heroine suffers more from personal demons than social constraints, but our hero is just the same. In fact, this Darcy is also portrayed by Colin Firth, who, along with screenwriter Andrew Davies, carries much of the 1995 P&P mini-series into this story. His interactions with Zellweger bring out her inner Lizzy, as she unwittingly mocks his high class world with her nervous banter. Hugh Grant's Cleaver is the best Wickham that ever graced a P&P adaptation, bearing the perfect balance of sleazy and sexy. Even though you immediately sense his danger, you understand why Bridget falls for him.

A beautifully paced collection of hilarious vignettes, BJD is one of the most beloved Austen adaptations. In an era where an Elizabeth Bennet is no longer ahead of her time, it is so refreshing to see, instead, a woman who embodies all of our common fears. And in the end, that very average lady can still get her Darcy.

Jane Addiction Part 6 - Pride and Prejudice Vol. II

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.

Jane Addiction Part 5 - Pride and Prejudice Vol. I

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" began it's three week presentation of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series this past Sunday. 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 mini-series.

Pride and Prejudice
Synopsis: Mrs. Bennet is hell-bent upon marrying her five daughters: gentle, sunny Jane, the eldest; witty Elizabeth, who takes after her father; prudish, pretentious Mary; stompy whiner Kitty; and baby Lydia, an obnoxious flirt who greatly resembles her mother. When wealthy, single Mr. Bingley moves into nearby Netherfield estate, Mrs. Bennet decides that he must become her son-in-law.

The very affable Bingley is instantly struck by Jane and their courtship commences at a village ball. On that occasion, he introduces his sisters and his best friend, Mr. Darcy to his new neighbors, who are thrilled to discover that Darcy is even richer and just as eligible as Bingley. But Darcy's stuffy manner makes a bad impression, especially upon Elizabeth, who happens to overhear him criticizing her appearance. Her contempt for Darcy sealed, she finds much mirth in making fun of him.

As Jane and Bingley's romance blossoms, two new suitors appear on the scene - sniveling Mr. Collins, a cousin of the Bennet girls who stands to inherit their father's estate and Mr. Wickham, a dashing young soldier in the local regimen. Elizabeth and Wickham hit it off immediately and he confides in her that he was once close to Darcy, hinting that he was responsible for ruining his intended career as a minister. The two bond over their shared antipathy for Darcy. Meanwhile, Mr. Collins tells Mrs. Bennet that he intends to marry one of her daughters and that he is leaning toward Jane, but since she expects Bingley to propose to Jane, she pushes him to choose another. He fixes upon Elizabeth, who is mortified when she finds herself receiving Collins's long-winded proposal. At the same time, she has no idea that she has also drawn the attention of Mr. Darcy.

The tv mini-series is undoubtedly the best potential format for a Jane Austen adaptation. It's all about having enough time to get the story right. It takes a good five or six hours to tell a tale that truly resembles the book. However, it takes great direction, screenwriting and acting to tell that story well. Both the 1980 and 1995 mini-series versions of Pride and Prejudice trump almost all other performances of this or any other Austen novel in meeting that criteria.

Simon Langton's 1995 adaptation became the gold standard P&P and remains so, even after the much lauded (and overrated) 2005 Keira Knightley feature film. Again, veteran Austen adaptor Andrew Davies delivers a script carved out of Jane's own prose, adding no more filler than a few gratuitous Darcy bath scenes. And when Colin Firth is playing our unlikely hero, what's so bad about that? Firth (not to be confused with slimy Peter Firth from the 1986 Northanger Abbey), with his proud jaw and stilted speech, is Darcy inside out. His chemistry with Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth, which must have certainly reflected their real-life on-set romance, builds steam from the moment they meet. Her manner of speaking through half-choked up laughter is the perfect foil to his urbane stoicism - just the way that Lizzy and Darcy ought to be.

Director Langton succeeds exactly where so many others fail in grasping the proper tone. The story is largely funny, especially when we see the acerbic Mr. Bennet (Benjamin Whitrow) needle his nutty wife, played by the expertly shrill Alison Steadman. But it also succeeds in conveying the Bennets' serious dysfunctionality, from Mrs. Bennet's bald-faced manipulation to her husband's careless indifference toward his daughters' future financial stability. But no one is more deliciously fucked up than Julia Sawalha's Lydia. If you are familiar with Sawalha as bookish, conservative Saffron from "Absolutely Fabulous", you will be blown away by her portrayal of this vain and trampy troublemaker.

Overall, this P&P triumphs in thoroughness and detail, vividly capturing every key episode and plot turn. Only in comparison to Cyril Coke's 1980 version of the story do it's shortcomings appear. This earlier P&P has every quality that the latter version boasts - including a stellar adapted screenplay by Fay Weldon and a just-as-sexy Darcy (David Rintoul) - but adds to that a more convincing and likable Elizabeth. Elizabeth Garvie's Lizzy, though not as pretty as Ehle's, is more subtle, more dry. Her ceaseless laugh is less in her voice and more in her eyes. Sabina Franklyn's angelic Jane is appropriately radiant, whereas in the 1995 version, the producers chose horse-faced Susannah Harker to play the eldest Bennet girl. This is the single biggest flaw in the latter version; it is simply unbelievable that she could be the reputed beauty of the neighborhood. The producers fall into the common trap of casting a lead actress who is exponentially prettier than the other women, simply because she is the heroine.

If it can trump the much beloved 1995 version, the 1980 version is surely the best P&P around. Besides being thorough, well acted, and beautifully shot on one of those BBC dollhouse sets that they just don't make anymore, it is exceptionally nuanced. Through some unusually elegant voice-over narration, we get to know Elizabeth's mind and really feel her discomfort in realizing that her crazy family is quickly imploding.

Jane Addiction Part 4 - Miss Austen Regrets

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: Since the following film is a biopic and not an Austen adaptation, I will be reviewing it alone. Alas, I have not seen the 2007 biopic Becoming Jane (due out on dvd February 12th) and am unable to make a comparison.

Miss Austen Regrets
Synopsis: Nearing age forty, popular novelist Jane is still a very single Miss Austen. Though an old maid by definition, she is flirtatious and funny and finds endless amusement in playfully mocking her peers - much to the glee of her impressionable young niece, Fanny. But Jane is at odds with other family members. Her mother resents her for never marrying. Her brothers are embarrassed to have a wage-earning sister. These rifts deepen when Jane convinces Fanny to refuse a stuffy minister's marriage proposal, thereby placing her niece in the same shaky financial straits that she, herself, faces daily. Despite her family's palpable anger and Fanny's mounting bitterness, Jane is nevertheless steadfast in her devotion to writing, but when health problems arise she begins taking account of her past choices.

Director Jeremy Lovering's Miss Austen Regrets is brimming with cinematic and narrative delights, not the least of which is the title, a play on Cole Porter's wonderfully macabre melody "Miss Otis Regrets". But instead of detailing the demise of a woman spurned, screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes tells the story of a woman who spurns, for a number of fascinating reasons. This characterization of Jane the Heartbreaker is expertly carried by the lovely Olivia Williams, who may be best known as Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman's shared love interest in Rushmore. Williams's Jane is exactly what Austen fans want her to be - beautiful, clever, sarcastic, and singular.

And yet she remained inexplicably single. Little is known about Austen's life, especially since most of her letters were burned upon her death. The well-know fact that she didn't marry is a puzzle to those of us readers who see ourselves in her thoughtful tales of love and marriage. How could she know so much about the things she never experienced?

As this version has it, Jane is very familiar with yearnings of the heart. She's entertained advances from more than one suitor and she has even been in love. Her stated claim for never getting hitched is that she has never met a man rich enough for her taste. This is as shocking to Fanny as it is to the viewer. "But all of your heroines married for love and not money!" she insists, to which her father replies, "If you think that's what her books say, perhaps you should read them again." Certainly, all of Jane's heroines wed for love, but most of them also marry into greater wealth (those who don't either come from money or find ancillary support in a sibling's more fruitful marriage). Even in Austen's world, where the virtuous seem to always find true love, marital bliss cannot be had without an ample income.

But Jane herself is no mere fortune hunter. She has at least as much to lose in betrothal as she could ever possibly gain, and the illustration of this quagmire is where Miss Austen Regrets gets really brilliant. It is reminiscent of Elizabeth I, in which Helen Mirren portrays Englands other most famous virgin as a painfully passionate woman who must forgo matrimony to maintain her power. For Jane, her power is in her ability to completely own the time and space she needs to write. The filmmakers capture the sanctity of this time and space in one perfect shot, in which we see Jane's scrawling pen abruptly rise from the parchment at the sound of a servant bustling through the room, hang in midair, and just as swiftly continue writing once the servant has leaves. These artful details elucidate the subtly tragic irony behind this woman's wordy gift of wit.

Miss Austen Regrets will be a bonus feature on the 2008 Sense and Sensibility dvd, to be released on April 8. But if I were you, I would figure out when my local PBS affiliate is rerunning it and watch it as soon as I can.

Jane Addiction Part 3 - Mansfield Park

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!

Mansfield Park
Synopsis: 10-year-old Fanny Price, the impoverished daughter of a drunk, disabled sailor and a once wealthy woman, is sent to live with the Bertrams, her wealthy, estranged relations at Mansfield Park. Being timid and awkward, Fanny is initially overwhelmed by those she encounters: her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, the imposing patriarch; her Aunt Norris, the domineering moocher; her well-bred cousins, Tom, Edmund, Maria, and Julia; and her aunt, the listless Lady Bertram. Though most everyone is pleasant toward Fanny, only Edmund reaches out to her as a friend. His scholarly interests shape her mind. She learns to find solace in books, being helpful and her secret love of Edmund. Though never treated as the equal of her cousins, Fanny quietly accepts her second class status and is grateful to her relatives for their generosity.

When Fanny is 18 years old, Sir Thomas leaves the family to tend to investments abroad. No longer oppressed by the shadow of his grave presence, the inhabitants of Mansfield Park rejoice in their newfound freedom. Maria Bertram becomes engaged to the very stupid but very rich Mr. Rushworth. Tom continues to indulge in drinking and gambling. And at the same time, brother and sister duo Henry and Mary Crawford descend upon the neighborhood. The Crawfords charm all of the young Bertrams, but Fanny is not impressed. She quickly notices Henry’s inappropriate flirtation with Maria and is further appalled and heartbroken to find Edmund enamored of flippant, money-hungry Mary.

After Sir Thomas returns home and Maria marries Rushworth, Henry is left to find another conquest. He surprises his sister by announcing that he plans to make Fanny Price fall in love with him. Fanny shrugs off all his advances and unwittingly becomes Henry’s obsession. He then determines that she will marry him and everyone but Fanny believes that this is her best and only chance at marital bliss. When she rebuffs his proposal, an infuriated Sir Thomas sends Fanny to her parent’s broken home in Portsmouth to contemplate her situation. Pressed between her wretched past and an uncertain future, Fanny is forced to make an extremely difficult decision.

Mansfield Park may be Austen’s most aggravating story. It is long and dense, full of ignorant, spoiled children, starring a seemingly un-heroic heroine who barely exists until the second act. Sure, there will be a happy ending – there always is – but, ultimately, what can we hope for Fanny? To gain the respect of a rather cold uncle? To comfort her cracked-out auntie? To win her dupe of a cousin’s heart? No woman I know would want any of these outcomes. Sadly, as you get to know the circumstances of Fanny's upbringing, these endings appear happier, indeed.

The problem with Fanny Price as an Austen protagonist is that no reader would want her life, because it’s just too hard. The problem with Iain B. McDonald’s 2007 adaptation of Mansfield Park is that Fanny’s life isn’t hard enough. The right/wrong, good/bad of this universe is rendered too stark. For example, take Billie Piper’s Fanny – she’s entirely too pretty and not particularly shy. Instead of portraying a woman who struggles her entire life to feel comfortable with herself, she plays Cinderella. Contrary to the Mary Crawford we find in the novel, who is so painfully perfect in her wit and charm, Hayley Atwell gives us a Mary no more complex than a bitchy flirt.

But that isn’t her fault. The worst part of this Park is Maggie Wadey’s script. She imported little dialog from the text and replaced it with vapid, plot-moving banter. She reduced every character to a paler, less complicated version of the original, including an Aunt Norris who barely harasses Fanny, and a Lady Bertram who sits up straight instead of lying in a stupor. These particular people just aren’t fucked up enough. And worst of all, we never see Fanny’s return to Portsmouth, because in this version, Sir Thomas isn’t quite so mean that he would send his niece away.

In the end, we have a heroine who doesn’t struggle that hard against circumstances that aren’t too unfair, only to triumph over a couple of really awful villains that you would never imagine liking in the first place. This is a complete waste of time.

Yet, it is no more maddening than Patricia Rozema’s 1999 Mansfield Park, which stars Frances O'Connor as Fanny. This adaptation is quite enjoyable, so long as you've never read the book. Who can resist the rich cinematography, the brilliant acting, the inherent feminist messages – the WHAT? Rozema, who also adapted the screenplay, brazenly recasts Fanny as an outspoken tomboy. Though O'Connor effectively wows the audience with her very modern pluck, she just doesn't have anything to do with Austen's Fanny. Harold Pinter's Sir Thomas winds up a true villain - brutish and cruel - and lest you think that he has any redeeming qualities, he’s revealed as a rapist slave owner in the New World, to boot!

To be fair, it is certainly true that the enterprising Sir Thomases of Austen’s time, the men who colonized the East Indies, were slave owners. But, Ms. Austen did not consider the issue in this or any of her texts. If you want to write a screenplay about an English abolitionist, by all means, do. But why make Fanny Price that person? By espousing modern-day "liberal" values, Rozema certainly makes Mansfield Park more palatable to the art house crowd for which it was intended, but in doing so, she completely overlooks the essence of Fanny’s majesty – her silent, infectious integrity.

David Giles’s 1983 Mansfield Park is truest to the text’s events and themes. With an ample 312 minutes spread over six episodes, Giles takes the time to develop a large ensemble of characters. The results are delightful. Sylvestra Le Touzel’s Fanny is appropriately invisible at first, with her unnervingly ghostly face and manner. She’s a disappointing heroine at the start but becomes more engrossing and sympathetic as we see the events unfold from her point of view. Socially sequestered from her wealthier peers, Fanny is able to see others for who they really are.

Within this crew we find a stoic but kindly Sir Walter, an equally tender and thoroughly doped Lady Bertram (portrayed brilliantly by Angela Pleasence), a pair of truly charming Crawford sibs, and an Aunt Norris that you long to smack from the get-go. The characters actually resemble those that Austen crafted, Fanny’s interactions with them even make sense, and her eventual triumph is all the more thrilling and believable.

Jane Addiction Part 2 - Northanger Abbey

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!

Northanger Abbey

Synopsis: Young Catherine Morland, one of ten children, is pleasantly shocked when her neighbors, the Allens, invite her to vacation with them in Bath. Unaccustomed to urban society, Catherine is immediately awed by the sights and sounds of this bustling city. She befriends Isabella Thorpe and the two bond over their shared love of tawdry Gothic romance novels. Isabella's dopey frat boy older brother John pursues Catherine, but she is too busy pining for the far more charming Henry Tilney to notice. Though pressured by John, Isabella and her older brother James (who turns out to be Isabella's secret beau) to dismiss the friendly society of Henry and his sister Eleanor, Catherine agrees to visit the Tilneys at their ancient estate, Northanger Abbey. General Tilney, the stern patriarch, rules the spooky castle with the same tight grasp he holds over his children's lives. Catherine's imagination is stoked by the General, the Abbey and the mystery surrounding the late Mrs. Tilney's death, and she begins to imagine herself a character in one of her cherished horror novels.

Jon Jones's 2007 version of Northanger Abbey, featured as the second installment of PBS's "Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen", is another successful Jane adaptation that manages to get the tone just right. This is due in large part to Andrew Davies's screenplay. Davies, a veteran adaptor of classic texts, is responsible for numerous Jane-based screenplays, including the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series and the P&P derived chick lit megahit Bridget Jones's Diary. This will surely stand amongst his best work. Northanger Abbey is Austen's silliest story, a playful satire of the sort of trashy gothic horror that she herself loved. This verson of that story is appropriately light and, at times, appropriately suspenseful and frightening. It's also about as sexed-up as Jane Austen story should be. Sex is always hanging around the periphery of every Austen tale - it is often the downfall of a caddish, would-be suitor or a wayward lady - and Davies manages to insert it into believable scenarios, like Catherine's dark fantasies and Isabella's eventual (and predictable) betrayal of James.

A large credit is also due to Felicity Jones, whose sprightly, wide-eyed Catherine is winning from start to finish. Catherine might be Austen's least remarkable heroine but Jones brings such a charming good nature to this character that she comes off as one of the most relatable. Her chemistry with JJ Field's Henry really carries the story and is beautifully sealed by an awkwardly hormonal and truly funny romantic climax. Fields is a suitable Henry and, despite his indie rock band bassist hair-do, manages to pull off flirty without being smarmy. As always, the jerky characters are my favorite to watch and William Beck's cro-magnon John Thorpe is exactly right. His half-assed marriage proposal to Catherine is the funniest scene in the film.

In principle, Giles Foster's 1986 version of Northanger Abbey has the same basic qualities as the more modern adaptation. A script that balances horror and humor? Check. Sexed up depictions of Catherine's morbid daydreams? Check. Now, imagine yourself, as a filmmaker, taking those elements and then dropping several hits of acid before going into casting and production. That's how you end up with this sort of Abbey.

I can't say that I enjoyed watching this, but I couldn't stop watching. The tone is very '80's avant garde, very Kate Bush video-esque. Katharine Schlensiger's Catherine is frankly hideous, which brings me to the single biggest problem with so many Austen adaptations- often, Brits be ugly. Many of these actors come from theater, and they've got the faces for it. They should stay on stage and leave the close-up shots for those less homely. It doesn't help Ms. Schlesinger's situation that she is surrounded by other ghouls, outfitted in garb straight out of Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" video. Bonus points for eschewing the customary empire waistlines and curly tendril-ed up dos that are practically mandatory in Austen-based productions, but does it have to be so garish? The soundtrack sounds like porn. Peter Firth's Henry acts like he's in porn and maybe that isn't inherently bad except that you would never want to even imagine these people having sex. Sadly, this only other Abbey completely loses the allure of its source and falls far short of it's successor. Yet it distinguishes itself by being so freakin' weird.

Your local PBS affiliate will surely rerun Northanger Abbey in the coming weeks and it will be available on DVD January 22nd. Look for the 1986 Northanger Abbey at your public library, if you dare invest the time. You would be a fool to invest a single dollar.

Jane Addiction Part 1 - Persuasion

I have the unfortunate luck of being a Jane Austen fan. We devotees are pretty obsessed with her work, and that's tough considering the woman wrote only six complete novels. We pore over those texts again and again, searching for newer nuances. When that becomes tiresome, we turn to screens big and small for those inherently less-nuanced adaptations. While the book will certainly always be better, Hollywood and the BBC have made up for quality with quantity and have supplied us with seemingly endless hours of Jane-based films and mini-series. Nearly 200 years after her death, this is how we make do.

I thought I had seen just about every English language movie or program based on an Austen novel until I discovered that there are four – count 'em, FOUR – new TV versions of her books, including Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility. I was further elated to find that all of these programs would be aired as part of PBS's ten week "Masterpiece" series, "The Complete Jane Austen". In addition to those current takes on Jane, the series will also include a new biopic Miss Austen Regrets, a 1996 adaptation of Emma (TV version – Kate Beckinsale in lieu of Gwyneth) and the much beloved 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth (you can check out the schedule at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html).

Since watching this series will complete my exploration of the Austen video archive, I figure there's no better time for me to embrace my fanaticism and at long last compile my Jane Austen Movie Guide! Over the coming weeks, I will take a critical look at the most recent "Masterpiece" installment and recommend other renditions of the same novel. I'll also include a brief synopsis of each story, in case you haven't read it before, which brings me to the point of doing all this. I want fresh meat to proselytize. If you aren't already, I will do my best to make you a Jane Austen fan. And then, we can talk about her stories. There isn't much else left for me to do. The woman only wrote six novels!

And so…

Persuasion

Synopsis: 27-year-old Anne Elliot has resigned herself to spinsterhood. She lives a somewhat lonely but peaceful life with her vain, spendthrift father, Sir Walter Elliot and her snobby elder sister Elizabeth. When the Elliots are forced to lease their estate so that they can repay their vast debts, Anne is stunned to find that the new tenants are the sister and brother-in-law of her old flame, Captain Wentworth. Anne had broken her engagement to the young and inexperienced Wentworth eight years earlier, at the insistence of her family and her friend Lady Russell. Now, she must contend with her long-regretted choice and face the newly wealthy and successful Wentworth, as he woos other women and barely acknowledges her existence. But Anne's mettle shines through when an unexpected tragedy forces her to take action.

Adrian Shergold's 2007 version of Persuasion is a perfect example of how Jane Austen gets a bad rap. The tone is all wrong. One of the most prominent myths about Austen's work is that it's stuffy, which this is, but it's so much worse than that. The director and screenwriter ripped away every ounce of humor from the story. One of the reasons Anne is so immediately likable, despite her plainness and her shyness, is that she is so patient with everyone else's retardation. She's the straight (wo)man for so many jokers, like her aging, narcissistic father or her hypochondriac sister Mary. But in this incarnation, Sally Hawkins's Anne is morbid, moody, sulky. She's as tortured as the stormy grayish-blue palate of the art design and the minor chord soundtrack that accompanies this relentlessly downbeat interpretation. There isn't anything to like about this her and if we can't fall for Anne, how is Capt. Wentworth going to?

For me, Austen's stories are drenched in a dazzling light, no matter what perils our leading ladies face. Howard Baker's 1971 Persuasion mini series features fairy-tale-ish costume and set design in deep pastel hues (I think that the early '70's were the heyday for trippy art design in Masterpiece Theater productions). It kinda reminds me of old school Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Probably more than any other Austen adaptation, this one does the best at visually capturing the inherent beauty and fantasy of her narratives. For that reason, it's worth checking out. Otherwise, it's only a decent achievement. While the overall tone is appropriately airy and satirical, Anne Firbank's Anne Elliot is a bit too stately and glamorous for a woman who is so accustomed to being ignored.

For the definitive adaptation, look no further than Roger Michell's 1995 Persuasion. This might be my favorite of all the Austen adaptations. Screenwriter Nick Dear expertly distilled the story into a screenplay, building dialog from Jane's own words and imposing that upon a very simple and elegant piano soundtrack. The acting is superb. With her wide-eyed gaze, Amanda Root's Anne looks shell-shocked at the outset but becomes softer and more graceful, appearing to grow younger as the story progresses. The amazing thing is that the transformation is entirely in her facial expressions. Ciaran Hinds's woolly Wentworth is tender and sympathetic, even as he pursues silly young maidens in front of Anne (and he's super hot). And the snobs are so deliciously abhorrent. Corin Redgrave proves in his portrayal of Sir Walter that "metrosexuals" existed long before the post-modern era. This Persuasion grasps both the subtle heartache and the sharp humor of the original text, all in a neat 90 minute package. Highly recommended.

Both the 1971 and 1995 versions of Persuasion are available on DVD. While neither title is likely to be at your average strip mall's Blockbuster, your public library is a good place to look. Librarians love all things British, especially Jane Austen. Or just commit yourself to one of those monthly-plan mail order thingies. Your local PBS affiliate will probably rerun the 2007 Persuasion in the next couple weeks, but I wouldn't bother. While Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason is both loosely based on this novel and very likely available at your nearest Blockbuster, I wouldn't bother with that, either.