Different Worlds Apart

From the first trailers to the interview of the director who happily claimed he had never read the original book, I was not expecting a lot from the new Pride & Prejudice film with Keira Knightley. And I was right. HOLY COW!! Poor Miss Austen. She is probably rotating in her grave as we speak.

The time setting: 1790 ... nothing wrong with it ... late Georgian/early Directoire. IF the costume designer would have made his/her research s/he would have come up with some fabulous clothes, late style Anglaise, Chemise Gowns and Redingotes ... WHAT she came up with was a mix of Anglaise, Romantic Era (1830's) clothes and late Regency (1810 -20). HELLO?????

The plot: Miss Austen's book, all of her books in fact, play on the very strict almost rigid rules of gentle living. The gentry as well as the nobility had strict rules to interact, males and females were following rigid day to day living that gave almost no chance to interact in a more intimate manner. The only way to actually meet and be merry between two ppl of the opposite sex was on balls and soirees and even there, males and females kept to their own sex. In a society where it was improper to be alone in the same room with a male not of your immediate family, the movie has lots and lots of scenes where the heroines of the film are frolicking about with unattached gentlemen.

The movie is just a secondary modern school essay picturized with the dress rejects of the local theatre.

The complete story of the Bennets, the Bingleys and the Darcys is completely destroyed. Characters that have such an inmistakable voice in the book, look either bland or daft or have been completely dropped out of the picture.
Mrs Bennet - a mother hen not selfish at all ARGH!
Mr Bennet - he is far too egocentric, not the gentle but absent-minded gentleman at all.
Jane - she was okay though I really was annoyed about her daftness
Elizabeth - Keira, Keira, Keira, you CAN ACT, why didn't you in this movie? You looked most of the time like a cross between a drowned rat and Winona Ryder and even acted like it. She is nothing liek the cheeky, witty young woman who is lovable and has fine eyes.
Mr. Darcy - he is kind of okay but NO Colin Firth or even David Rintoul.
The list could go on and on and on.

All in all, not a version I really liked. If you want to see a very fun version of it with the wittiness of the book, watch Bride & Prejudice by Mira Nair, a Bollywood-ised version of the book.

From the first trailers to the interview of the director who happily claimed he had never read the original book, I was not expecting a lot from the new Pride & Prejudice film with Keira Knightley. And I was right. HOLY COW!! Poor Miss Austen. She is probably rotating in her grave as we speak.

The time setting: 1790 ... nothing wrong with it ... late Georgian/early Directoire. IF the costume designer would have made his/her research s/he would have come up with some fabulous clothes, late style Anglaise, Chemise Gowns and Redingotes ... WHAT she came up with was a mix of Anglaise, Romantic Era (1830's) clothes and late Regency (1810 -20). HELLO?????

The plot: Miss Austen's book, all of her books in fact, play on the very strict almost rigid rules of gentle living. The gentry as well as the nobility had strict rules to interact, males and females were following rigid day to day living that gave almost no chance to interact in a more intimate manner. The only way to actually meet and be merry between two ppl of the opposite sex was on balls and soirees and even there, males and females kept to their own sex. In a society where it was improper to be alone in the same room with a male not of your immediate family, the movie has lots and lots of scenes where the heroines of the film are frolicking about with unattached gentlemen.

The movie is just a secondary modern school essay picturized with the dress rejects of the local theatre.

The complete story of the Bennets, the Bingleys and the Darcys is completely destroyed. Characters that have such an inmistakable voice in the book, look either bland or daft or have been completely dropped out of the picture.
Mrs Bennet - a mother hen not selfish at all ARGH!
Mr Bennet - he is far too egocentric, not the gentle but absent-minded gentleman at all.
Jane - she was okay though I really was annoyed about her daftness
Elizabeth - Keira, Keira, Keira, you CAN ACT, why didn't you in this movie? You looked most of the time like a cross between a drowned rat and Winona Ryder and even acted like it. She is nothing liek the cheeky, witty young woman who is lovable and has fine eyes.
Mr. Darcy - he is kind of okay but NO Colin Firth or even David Rintoul.
The list could go on and on and on.

All in all, not a version I really liked. If you want to see a very fun version of it with the wittiness of the book, watch Bride & Prejudice by Mira Nair, a Bollywood-ised version of the book.

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Hmm you know with the new trailer out I am still not sure if I like the new adaptation of Pride & Prejudice or not. Lizzy looks like a cross between Jo from Little Women and Mad Cathy from Wuthering Heights.
I already was appalled when the first stills came out as the whole feeling of the costumes were all wrong. Especially Lizzy who is not yet one and twenty would have never worn dark colours (apart from being in deep mourning) at that time. And I have never seen so badly fitting costumes in a movie in recent years :s Did they raid an re-enactement store room?

And the sexual undertones really get on my nerves ... What did they adapt? Jane Austen's P&P or Linda Berdoll's The Bar Sinister?? They had the chuzpe to stage the scene of Lizzy's refusal of Mr. Darcy's proposal with an implied kiss (both moving their heads together as if they cannot resist each other). Let's face it folks, at that time Lizzy was so angry with Darcy she would have never thought about kissing him. Smacking him in the face would be more like it. *sigh* I hate it when ppl try to put things into a context that are just not there.
Perhaps I'm jaded ...

Hmm you know with the new trailer out I am still not sure if I like the new adaptation of Pride & Prejudice or not. Lizzy looks like a cross between Jo from Little Women and Mad Cathy from Wuthering Heights.
I already was appalled when the first stills came out as the whole feeling of the costumes were all wrong. Especially Lizzy who is not yet one and twenty would have never worn dark colours (apart from being in deep mourning) at that time. And I have never seen so badly fitting costumes in a movie in recent years :s Did they raid an re-enactement store room?

And the sexual undertones really get on my nerves ... What did they adapt? Jane Austen's P&P or Linda Berdoll's The Bar Sinister?? They had the chuzpe to stage the scene of Lizzy's refusal of Mr. Darcy's proposal with an implied kiss (both moving their heads together as if they cannot resist each other). Let's face it folks, at that time Lizzy was so angry with Darcy she would have never thought about kissing him. Smacking him in the face would be more like it. *sigh* I hate it when ppl try to put things into a context that are just not there.
Perhaps I'm jaded ...