November 17, 2005

Jane Austen fans will be happy to hear that the new Pride & Prejudice is looking like a winner.

It's set in a slightly different time-period than the much-loved A&E version. This version is different enough to make it worth seeing the story retold.

The Bennet sisters are played by Keira Knightley (Elizabeth), Rosamund Pike (Jane) and the noteable new girl Jena Malone (Lydia). Donald Sutherland plays the complaisant Mr. Bennet. The luscious Mr. Darcy is played by Matthew MacFadyen and Mr. Collins by Tom Hollander, both of whom you might know from the movie Enigma. Judi Dench is perfect for the role of Lady Catherine de Bourg.

Roger Ebert liked it, too!

The movie is well cast from top to bottom; like many British films, it benefits from the genius of its supporting players. Judi Dench brings merciless truth-telling to her role as a society arbiter; Sutherland is deeply amusing as a man who lives surrounded by women and considers it a blessing and a fate, and as his wife Blethyn finds a balance between her character's mercenary and loving sides. She may seem unforgivably obsessed with money, but better to be obsessed with money now than with poverty hereafter.

When Lizzie and Darcy finally accept each other in "Pride & Prejudice," I felt an almost unreasonable happiness. Why was that? I am impervious to romance in most films, seeing it as a manifestation of box office requirements. Here is it different, because Darcy and Elizabeth are good and decent people who would rather do the right thing than convenience themselves. Anyone who will sacrifice their own happiness for higher considerations deserves to be happy. When they realize that about each other their hearts leap, and, reader, so did mine.

More at: :: rogerebert.com :: Pride & Prejudice

Check out the official P&P website, too!