Features Blog - thebroadroom.net: Oscar Nominee Pride & Prejudice --DVD Review

Pride & Prejudice: DVD Launches February 28, 2006
Greetings!
This is Stevie ! I am part of Thebroadroom.net and am a fashion, beauty, lifestyle writer based in Los Angeles. Given that I cover pre-award show events, I often get to see and do things that most people read about in tabloid weeklies and see on TV in the various celebrity-based news shows.



I managed to score a preview copy of Oscar nominated film, Pride & Prejudice starring Keira Knightley Matthew Macfadyen, Judi Dench, Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn and a slew of other actors. This film is based on the classic novel by Jane Austen which has been done on film in 1940 ( Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson); as a mini-series in 1996 -- catapulting Colin Firth into stardom as Mr. Darcy along with Jennifer Ehle) and now redone for the big screen again with a splendid cast. Be forewarned, this is an edited down version of not only the book but that mini-series which was quite popular when it ran on PBS and BBC.

This version is quite different from the mini-series and you learn less about the inner-workings of the Bennett family and know less about Wickham that makes some of the drama more compelling--as well as understandable-- in the mini-series but loses a bit in the movie version. I watched the mini-series prior to seeing this DVD as a point of comparison for this review as well as being up to speed on what was going on in my child's English class because this book was part of the curriculum.


While dealing with the not-so-minor things missing from the movie, there is much that has been improved and make this film quite compelling. With a better cast, the acting and interaction between the characters is much improved. The nuances of actors Sutherland, Blethyn and even Knightley are so acute as to make one ache.. (the scenes with these three actors regarding the proposals of Mr. Collins are amazing).

The production values are fabulous. You see life as it was: weather, mud, animals and such--yes with some dramatic license. The photography for this movie is phenomenal. It creates a beautiful portrait that sets up a delicious setting for the actors and it's amazing to watch against the drama of the light, the shadow--both day and night. The costumes, make-up and hair are very much in key and provide a distinction between the social classes and aspirations of the various people- particularly Ms Dingley versus Ms Elizabeth Bennet. The effect is heightened by the musical direction and music underscores the drama and the locations of the action and creates the dynamic that has you waiting for the next essential bit of this unfolding drama.

At this point, comparing it against the mini-series, the movie wins hands down and the mini-series suffers for the comparison. It's like comparing a sketch against a gorgeous, detailed fully fleshed out painting done in vivid tones and with nuances that only careful direction and cinematography can provide.

The acting of Keira Knightley against Matthew Macfadyen is excellent. The costumes are on target and have given one an entirely new sense of the era in which women were given so little value other than their family's rank and financial standing in society.

I highly recommend this movie to everyone. I think those die-hard Austen fans will be sorry that so little of the book was featured.. and I have to say that the last few scenes left a bit to be desired as they edited out a bit of dialogue but it's quite a film and should win some awards and definitely distinguishes Keira Knightley as having serious ability as an actress

Hope you have a chance to see it!
Stevie

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