Pride and Prejudice

[tamaradixon]

Did a search and couldn't find a topic......so hope this is okay.

The trailer for the new film with Keira Knightley is now online and I hate to say this, being the die-hard Firth fan I am, but it looks pretty good.

Trailer on Yahoo!

[proper stranger]

I'm also a huge fan of the Ehle/Firth BBC miniseries, but I do have to admit that this is a pretty good trailer. I still don't know what I think of Keira as Elizabeth Bennet (from the trailer it was difficult to tell if she shows that sly, witty side of the character that Jennifer Ehle portrayed). Also--not a fan of Lizzie's hairstyles.

Loved Matthew MacFadyen's >>little "lean in" towards Elizabeth after the "inferiority of your circumstances/last man I would ever marry" exchange, as well as the look that passed between Lizzie and Darcy.<<

I'm looking forward to seeing Dame Judi as Lady Catherine.

[monkeypants]

Well.

As yet another Firth/Ehle fan, I dreaded this movie like nothing else.

However, after watching the trailer, I'm actually somewhat interested.

I'm still not sure Keira can completely pull off the high-spirited Lizzie, (she seems to think fast talking = angry in the trailer), nor am I sure that Jena Malone can do the accent, (in all honesty, it sounds like she's been dubbed over in the trailer) but I'm actually going to be looking foward to this now.

Word to Proper Stranger re: the comments on Matthew MacFayden. Love how his eyes study her as they argue.

[Karen]

This trailer is a horror. They've wrecked so many aspects of proper behaviour that I can't even begin to list them.

Darcy's not just aloof and superior, he's rude - and also uninhibited, what with his twirling Georgiana about in a most out of character manner. Elizabeth and Mrs. Bennet? A comforting hug, how accurate. Personal matters must always be discussed in public. Elizabeth is a brat when defending her refusal to marry Mr. Collins, not an intelligent woman with a valid point of view. And that's just the beginning - a Janeite like me could go on and on about how false this rings.

Everything's so bloody modern. They've tossed accuracy out of the window in favour of supposedly more "sympathetic" and "understandable" characters.

Yes, Elizabeth was wiser than those around her, but she was still a woman of her time. This dowdily dressed brat is not Elizabeth.

[Deleted]

KarenK, you hit it on the head. I loved this story since I was a girl. They took a period piece and updated the characters within it to make it have more mass appeal, bad idea.

Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle were about as perfect as one could get. Colin was a perfect Mr. Darcy who is every (straight) woman's dream, bookwise that is.

[Deleted]

I saw this trailer at Cindrella Man. Everyone in it is so Ugly! I guess that is the remake style---go for the Ugly this time to distinguish it from its prettier predecessors.

Mr. Darcy looks intriguing despite the Uglification, but Miss Knightley?---oh, oh shades of Emma! She looks pretty, but her dialogue and her delivery---Fed EX. Miss Blythen, however, looks like perfect casting---she's doing her harpy act from Secrets and Lies---which by the way, this film could use some of those character actors from that movie.

I think that I'll rent Bride and Predjudice instead. They are still going for Pretty in that remake.

[Deleted]

I'm also a huge fan of the Ehle/Firth BBC miniseries

Word. I want my Jane Austen stories pure and intact, like a virgin. So I have mixed feelings about the trailer. Maybe it was the editing, but I saw what looked like way too many intimate-looking close encounters between Elizabeth and Darcy. In my Jane Austin world, there shall be NO KISSING UNTIL YOU'RE MARRIED!!! The setting and costuming, however, looks great. Did anyone catch when this movie will open??

[Deleted]

I'm not sure of this movie. I'll diddo the love of the a&e version with Firth and Ehle. I think Kiera is an ok actress, but the's not a very subtle one and she seems too in your face with her parts. That's what I didn't like about her in Pirates, but it worked for Bend it like Beckham and such. They would have been better served to get an older actress playing a younger one. I also think that Kiera plays parts that are way too old for her.

[Deleted]

I love the Firth/Ehle version, but not enough to be resistant of other adaptions of P&P. However, this version has always put the chill in my bones. I knew from the moment I saw Keira Knightley on the cast list that it wouldn't be my cup of tea. I don't think she has much range as an actress, and her one trick doesn't fit Elizabeth Bennet. Actress nitpicking aside, I'll say this about this interpretation of the character:

As witty and outspoken beyond fashion she is, Elizabeth is still first and formost a lady. She's not so avant garde that she dismisses social norms altogether. Elizabeth Bennet doesn't slouch or prop her feet up on the couch. Five seconds into the trailor and I knew they'd pissed all over the character.

It's hard to say what I feel about the rest of it, but the cliche shot of the hero and heroine with their foreheads pressed together in front of the sunset does nothing for my gag reflex.

[emersende]

Well, I watched the trailer and darn near hemorrhaged, so I guess I'm offended. I don't exactly blame the filmmakers if they wanted to modernize the story for today's viewers, but damn. It's Jane Austen. Why don't you just go into the Louvre and give the Mona Lisa highlights and a fake tan? Because if there's one thing I realized after watching Mansfield Park, it's that you'll never come up with anything as good as what Jane Austen already wrote.