Pride and Prejudice mini-series (Jennifer Ehle)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s over twelve years since we watched the excellent BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’. It’s a lengthy DVD, about five and a half hours in all, with six episodes. A friend and her teenage daughter had just read the book and asked if they could see this, so - over the course of three evenings - we watched it together.

Jennifer Ehle stars as the delightful Elizabeth Bennet, the most vivacious and intelligent of the five Bennet sisters. Jane, the eldest (Susannah Harker) is considered to be the most beautiful, but we all thought Lizzie to be considerably more appealing and attractive. We meet the family as the Mrs Bennet (brilliantly played by Alison Steadman) is in raptures at the thought of a young and wealthy man, Mr Bingley (Crispin Bonham-Carter) moving into the neighbourhood.

The story is well-known; Mr Bingley is ready to be friendly with everyone and to fall in love with Mary, but his friend Mr Darcy (Colin Firth) is arrogant, and professes his dislike of country balls and social expectations. Mrs Bennet is loud and emotional, changing her mind and preferences as circumstances alter. Her main aim in life is to see her daughters well-married, but this is for her own sake rather than theirs. She is shallow, unable to think beyond her own prejudices and ideas; a caricature, but in places a very amusing one.

I very much liked Mr Bennet (Benjamin Whitrow) who clearly regrets his marriage, but takes refuge in his study whenever he can. He is extremely fond of Lizzie, and also Mary, but does not enjoy the company of his three younger daughters. Mary, the middle one (Lucy Briars) is the academic, ‘bookish’ daughter, played also as a caricature, offering homilies and advice in situations about which she knows nothing. The fourth sister, Kitty (Polly Maberly), is somewhat bland, but I thought Lydia (Julia Sawalha) very well done.

The storyline is familiar, but I had forgotten some of the scenes and interactions, and also the beauty of the photography. The settings are perfect, the costumes exactly right, as I have come to expect with the BBC, and the main characters realistic. Mr Collins (David Bamber) is smarmy and snooty, exactly how I imagined him to be, and Lady Catherine de Burgh (Barbara Leigh-Hunt) as rude and arrogant as the book demands. Perhaps some of the balls are a little sparse, and the rooms smaller than might be expected, but overall I thought the film very well done.

A film of this length can cover a novel well, and we all felt that it was, for the most part, very faithful to the original. If lines were changed here and there, they still fit in with the original theme, and enabled some lengthy dialogue or thoughts to be included in a way that worked for visual drama.

Definitely worth seeing if you have any interest in Jane Austen’s books, whether or not you have read them. Also highly recommended to anyone studying ‘Pride and Prejudice’ for a test or exam.

Other recommended adaptations of Jane Austen books include:

• Sense and Sensibility
  
• Mansfield Park (BBC mini-series)
• Persuasion
• Pride and Prejudice (2005 film)
• Emma (ITV version)

Review copyright 2019 Sue's DVD Reviews

Pride and Prejudice (starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth)

(Amazon UK link)

I have liked Jane Austen's classic novels since first reading 'Pride and Prejudice' at school, and although I do not re-read them regularly, I find them very enjoyable when I do so. In general I am biased against film productions based on books, as they often stray far from the originals; not just in cutting out scenes, but sometimes including entirely different storylines and subplots.

However, several people had recommended that we watch the BBC mini-series version of "Pride and Prejudice' which made Colin Firth (as Mr Darcy) a household name. It was long enough, I was assured, that it kept fairly well to the book, and was beautifully done. So I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for my birthday. We've watched it over the past few days - it really is over-long for one sitting, as it's 330 minutes (five and a half hours!) in all.

My husband has not read the book, but was happy to watch it with me as he generally likes BBC period dramas. He was as eager as I was to continue watching, too, after we had seen the first two episode. And I was surprised at how much I liked this production. Jennifer Ehle isn't really how I had imagined Lizzie Bennett, but she plays the part well and I could believe in her fairly easily. Colin Firth is magnificent as Darcy, snobbish and proud, and eventually admitting, unwillingly, that he was wrong.

Mrs Bennett, played by Alison Steadman, is absolutely wonderful as the match-making mama who is so dreadful as to be comic, and I loved Benjamin Whitrow's Mr Bennett - he was exactly as I had imagined him, with just the right amount of irony.

It was obvious in a few places that the budget for this production was limited; the balls have very few dancers, and there's not much glamour. But it really didn't matter; the outside scenery is attractive, and the story is character-based, which worked very well. Although it's some years since I last read 'Pride and Prejudice', I felt that it kept pretty closely to the storyline, and overall was very impressed.

Definitely recommended.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews