someone please tell me why I torment myself so....

[plumapen]

Pass the brain bleach, I've just made myself sit through that Keira Knightley version of Pride & Prejudice--you know, the one I was staying so resolutely away from? Lord, the things I do to write well-informed scholarship. Thank goodness I love the book so much otherwise I would have thought Jane Austen the worst writer who ever set pen to paper

Comments

[ex_galadhir]

LOL! It's awful, isn't it? It's as though they deliberately went through the dialogue cutting out the punchline to every joke, and anything that might be remotely witty, and then substituted soft focus mawkishness and childish pettiness. A production that makes me terribly sorry for *Mr Collins* because of how appallingly rude all the 'good guys' are to him, and how obviously he feels it, though prevented by status from being able to say so - is a production that has got just about everything wrong.

[plumapen]

It's terrible! The pacing didn't it help it At All either. I've never heard people race through dialogue in every single scene so much! And yes, I did feel a twinge badly for Mr. Collins--moreso in the proposal scene where he actually took his time and Keira just slapped him with quick replies which did nothing but make Elizabeth seem petty.

Also, is it just me or did it seem like they were trying to bank on some of CotBP's success in casting that Orlando look-a-like as Mr. Wickham? I was gobsmacked by Mr. Wickham's only real screen time (maligning Darcy) as he brooded rather ambiguously like Will, down to the pigtail, and tried to look pouty and confused like him too! That and the funktastic costume choice of putting Keira in a man's jacket with echoes of the Marines coat she sported for a while there at the end. :D Go on, laugh. This movie was so bad I reverted to taking note of the details (which only added to my dismay). :p

[plumapen]

and it does actually improve on closer acquaintance.

Oh my giddy aunt, noooooooooo! Get the cross and the silver bullets! :D

And yes, there was a decided resemblance to Mr. Bloom. And this wasn't wishful thinking brought on by dismay and boredom either! Look! What's more, Mr. Bingley in the proposal scene? He was so going for a cheeky Mr. Bettany thing there. Just, no.

[plumapen]

LOL! Ok, so maybe I was grasping at straws then trying to stay awake watching it. Truly, I kept looking at the clock thinking, is this almost done? And, yes, I agree some of the cinematography was quite lovely, although I must say the portrait staging of some shots got old real fast. And don't get me started on the Museum of Pemberley! Seriously, WTF!

[plumapen]

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. :D I don't think we were allowed to care enough about the characters to see her growing awareness as believable. I can't get over how badly they got character development with that heinous pacing.

[ex_galadhir]

I tried to watch it twice (on DVD), but the revulsion was so great that I didn't manage to finish it either time, so I don't actually remember Wickham at all. Mind you, having clicked on the link below, this bloke looks *far* handsomer than Orli to me. Heh, maybe I should watch it again just for him?

I think you'd have to go a long way before you could find a Mr.Collins who was as superbly slimy, self-satisfied and repulsive as the one on the BBC version, but I didn't really get the impression they were even trying. The impression I got was they thought 'I know, let's cast someone short and emphasise his height all the time, then everyone will assume he's horrible.' Whereas, in fact, I think Tom Hollander is pretty sexy, and didn't quite manage to overcome that hurdle as he needed to for the part.

[ex_galadhir]

Actually, that made me think about Ugly Betty and wonder what the hell was up with the USA media industry that they can't even bear to have ugly people played by ugly people in their films, but they have to take good looking people and unconvincingly *pretend* that they're ugly. It's like they want to flirt with the idea of physical imperfection but don't ever want to be exposed to its reality. Pah! I spit in their general direction :)

[plumapen]

As strange as this sounds, I wondered whether the producers or someone had been reading Austen criticism and were trying 1) to "liberate" her from the label of "authoress for the gentry" and 2) picking up on recent criticism regarding height and the perception of power in her novels. The Bennett squalor and the height issue with Mr. Collins was so forced. Even Charlotte was cast short and having Mrs. Bennett comment on her 'imminent spinster' status because of her 'plain looks' was too heavy handed for my taste.

Regarding Ugly Betty (and I do agree with you here), in the original Colombian production they did the same thing casting a model and 'dirtying' her up to play Betty. They've actually used that casting model in a number of Spanish language soap operas for quite some time. Heaven forbid intelligence and one's abilities *not* be tied to their physical appearance! Ugh.

[ex_galadhir]

I think you're probably right - they were trying to do 'Austen for the masses'. She's an author whose stuff depends very much on the reader's appreciation for words and subtlety, and that's always going to be elitist. And you know, if this version *was* Austen for the illiterate, it was a huge success - it did exactly what it set out to do; attract people who wouldn't have otherwise had the patience for her stuff.

Whether that's a good thing or not, I don't know. Will it make some of those people read her and come to appreciate the wit? I guess it might. But it really should have been advertised as AustenLite - then we would have known what to expect :)

[plumapen]

:D Isn't it fab?! It's by fire_icons.

[ex_galadhir]

LOL! Oh yes, I remember an interview with the actress who played G'Kar's sidekick on Babylon 5 and had to be made up to look like a large, kickass reptile lady, and it just flabberghasted me to hear the interviewers say how 'brave' it was of her to take a part which didn't involve looking pretty. Yeesh! She's an *actress* for goodness sake - it's her job to represent the human condition from worst to best, not to compete in some kind of beauty contest. Very annoying!