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Pride & Prejudice AKA Pride and Prejudice
R1 - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Cameron Murray (26th March 2006). |
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The Film
 Jane Austen‘s classic 19th Century novel of the same name has been adapted for film many times to obviously varying levels of success. This particular incarnation of this timeless love story is an enjoyable romp through the 18th century English country side. With a talented cast, and beautiful English backdrops it transports you into a time that was simpler but with a lot of complicated rules. The Director (Joe Wright) successfully creates the atmosphere of the period and also gives the film a nice light tone, which too often is frowned upon when filming classic stories such as Pride and Prejudice. Set in the late 18th Century, the story tells the tale of the five Bennet Sisters - including Elizabeth (Keira Knighgtley), witty and strong willed, and Jane (Rosamund Pike), the shy and pretty one - who have been raised in a time where marriage is the only way to ensure a secure future. The sisters’ hopes of wedded bliss are peaked when a young and wealthy bachelor, Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods), comes to stay at a country house for the summer bringing along his also wealthy and available friend, Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen). Upon meeting the young Mr. Bingley one of the sisters falls in love while Elizabeth falls in loathing of the apparently snobbish Mr. Darcy. From this setting the rest of the story unfurls, with love, wrong impressions, greed and marriages of convenience being the cornerstones of this piece. Although Keira Knighgtley did a solid job of her role as Elizabeth; I believe that she has not yet found her feet as a leading lady. Though with a supporting cast including Dame Judi Dench and Donald Sutherland it is not the most conducive environment to stand out, as to out shine these two masters of their craft, for a lot of actors, would be the performance of a life time. Both Dench and Sutherland are fantastic in their respective roles but didn’t seem to be particularly challenged by them. Brenda Blethyn who plays Mrs. Bennet I found incomparably irritating and I’m not entirely sure if that is a credit to her acting or not. Every time the character (I can only assume she is in there as comic relief) appeared on screen or spoke, I found myself writhing in annoyance and hoping that the movie would differ from the book and kill off the mother character and early on in the piece to boot. Matthew Macfadyen was less than impressive in his depiction of Mr. Darcy and didn’t seem to grasp the difference between emotionally subdued and emotionally void. The rest of the cast I felt did competent jobs of their relevant roles. Joe Wright has decided to make this film quite stylized in its delivery, which personally not being a huge fan of period dramas made it easier to watch. With beautiful long and intricate tracking shots following one character, chasing another and then meeting up with the original character seamlessly gave the scenes a very nice flow. Also, having ‘main characters’ interacting in the background while the main action is in the foreground gives a great impression of the size of the setting, the timing of these interactions were flawless and in no way detracted from the main action. I did find however on a couple of occasions that style seemed to take precedence over actual substance. Particularly in a ballroom scene where Elizabeth is dancing with Mister Darcy, and during the dance everybody in the ballroom disappears, I understand the premise behind it, but it was inconsistent with the style of the rest of the film. The costuming of Mr. Darcy also had a certain amount of cringe factor to it, as when he is first introduced he is dressed very proper without a hair out of place, but as Elizabeth gets to know him and he starts to become more open, the way he dresses becomes more casual, again it is obvious what they were trying to achieve but in my eyes they should give the audience a little more credit than the blatant display of his emotional state through his clothing. This is one of the few times in my life where I have actually read the book before the movie and this movie does not do justice to the book. The movie is very ‘pretty’ from the cast through to the style, but unfortunately I found that this style lacked any major substance to back it up. Characters as well loved and timeless as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy seemed to lack depth, motivation and any sort of attraction or connection to each other. I feel that if you want to watch an enjoyable and light period drama with comic moments to waste away an evening then this is a good movie for you, if however you want a solid depiction of Jane Austen‘s novel Pride and Prejudice then the BBC version will leave you feeling more satisfied. I enjoyed this movie, but more for the style than the story it was trying to tell.
Video
Presented in the film’s original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1, this anamorphic widescreen image is excellent, infinitely sharp, the colors are warm and lush. Especially rich yellow-gold hues, skin tones are spot on and blacks are bold. Shadow detail is excellent, the transfer much like the production design is simply beautiful and something that Universal can be proud of.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included on this release they are in English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English soundtrack and was very pleased at the outcome. For a period film it perfectly encapsulates the times with its subtle directional atmospheric surrounds and most especially music is travels well throughout the 5.1 space utilizing all the channels in a balanced harmony. Dialogue is clear and distortion free which is important, I was generally pleased with this effort. It’s not a complete stunner of a sound experience but it certainly is a damn good one. Optional subtitles are also included in English, French and Spanish.
Extras
First up we’ve got a feature-length audio commentary with the director Joe Wright. Wright provides a very good screen-specific track here, commenting on various aspects of the scenes that include such things as shot selection, production design, costumes, to the performances and the casting of the various roles. Wright is incredibly honest here, talking about what he likes and dislikes about the film. It’s quite rare to find a filmmaker that talks candidly about shots they though weren’t great and shows Wright as a man with little ego. It’s rather refreshing and provides for a very interesting listen, once you get past his dry British droll that is. The first featurette we’ve got is "A Bennet Family Portrait" which runs for 6 minutes 2 seconds. This clip takes a closer look at the family’s universal appeal. As well as the importance of marriage at that time and what that meant for young women. The clip also briefly examines the characters, their motivations and Austen’s own personal influences that are interjected into the story. Next we have the "Jane Austen, Ahead Of Her Time" featurette that runs for 8 minutes 3 seconds. This clip take’s a look at Austen’s influence on more recent films, and how her work speaks to women and also covers a brief background of the literary figure. This clip has some informative segments but for the most part I think this extra should have been re-titled into People Talk About How Fantastic Jane Austen Is. Following that is the "Behind The Scenes At The Ball" featurette which runs for 6 minutes 17 seconds. No so much a behind-the-scene at the ball but more a look at the women playing the Bennet sisters and how they all bonded on set and how great it is working on this film with al these people. Blah, blah, blah I’d have actually liked to have seen behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of the scene referred to in the title of this clip but I guess we can’t always get what the extras promise us, right? (That last sentence should be read in a sarcastic manner). The final featurette is entitled "Pride & Prejudice: HBO First Look" and runs for 13 minutes 7 seconds, although the longest of the clip included here it’s also the lamest. This is your standard EPK fare, with all the actors and key crew telling us how great their movie is. It does what it’s supposed to, provides a preview of the film, although in a completely biased manner. The DVD also launches with a collection of start-up bonus trailers for: - "On A Clear Day" which runs for 2 minutes 18 seconds. - "Prime" which runs for 31 seconds. - Medium" which runs for 31 seconds. - "Brokeback Mountain" which runs for 35 seconds.
Overall
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