Mostly Prejudice - an attempt at fair trial for the 2005 Pride and Prejudice

Right off the bat, I would like to admit that I am seriously prejudiced in favour of the 1995 edition. And I’m not particularly keen on Keira Knightley. I am going to try to give this a serious chance as a modern (not-1940) feature-length adaptation. 

I like the music at the start here. Is this a classical piece or composed specifically for the movie? Will google later.

I’m not a fan of her traipsing through the washing and things. All the open doors, that looked like a cold morning and you really would have wanted to keep the heat in. How did they get that much washing out before sunrise? 

<fair trial fair trial> 

Why does he have an orchid? Again it is useful for these two scenes to have been rolled into one. 

Why so argumentative. Such noise! 

The house really does look genteel enough. Nice ballroom! That’s a lot of people and a big orchestra! But not as big as it sounds! 

The hairstyles are soooooo far off the mark for any time. The pigtails shouldn’t be seen on anyone above the age of about 12. Ever. And Bingley’s hair. Oh dear*. Queues on the men seem to fit with the earlier-dated costumes, but in general the costuming seems a bit all over the place, from 1780 to 1820. 

The orchestra would NOT stop for the entrance of anyone, not even if he had 5000 a year. I’ve been to dances where people fell over and it didn’t stop like that. Let alone restart like that. 

Again we appear to have left the Hursts out. Why are Lizzy and Charlotte lurking underneath some tiered seating arrangement? 

Ah, this is a line from the visit at Netherfield, this may mean we are spared Mrs Bennet at Netherfield. 

Oi, Liz, how about you don’t stomp down the middle of the set like that? 

Not sure what’s going on with the lighting in the Lizzy-Jane scene. Sunshine, or is something on fire? Oh no it’s night but the curtains are open. 

I’m not doing well at the fair trial thing here. 

Costuming points for the cap on the housekeeper? Also points for having more than one servant. 

Oh no, “shame of such a mother” you wouldn’t have said in earshot. They appear to be using 

That’s a very big breakfast room. Unreasonably big? Why are they having breakfast in a ballroom? 

Oh not the hair down? Honestly, that’s completely unreasonable. And Bingley in a bedroom saying awkward things. That’s fully as inappropriate as a PIG IN THE HOUSE! 

Caroline appears to be wearing actual Regency fashion. But her hair is some sort of modern wedding updo. 

Again, we’re rolling all the Netherfield evenings into one I believe. Without the Hursts one can’t make a card table, I suppose. The dialogue has been made a lot more direct. 

Oh god all the Bennet’s. Looking like shepherdesses and a governess or something. And Mary gets Caroline’s line about conversation at a ball. 

And straight to Mr Collins. Bonus points for background servants, not sure why they look so dishevelled. The conversation here is rather Collins-dominated. I think this Mr Bennet looks a bit too old. 

“Are you familiar with Fordyce’s Sermons?” Is the weirdest pick-up line I’ve ever heard. 

Nice market square, must look up the locations they used. 

Oh look it’s Will Turner. Those girls’ behaviour is atrocious. A-tro-ci-ous. A. Tro. Ci. Ous. *In Gollum voice* It hurts us! *end Gollum voice*

 

Ah we’re doing the Wickham explanation outdoors, with just the two of them. Improper. 

No, we’re not tight lacing in this era, stop pretending you’re tight-lacing those corsets. Points for having them, points immediately taken away for tight-lacing them and you’re now in negative points for the gratuitous Jane boob shot.

 

Fair. Trial. 

 

Apparently we’re all wearing feathers in our hair and Caroline has forgotten to put her dress on. Mind you Lizzie’s dress also looks like she should have been wearing more. 

 

No touchy! 

 

I know this music… Is there a slow dance like this in English Country Dancing? Not sure you would keep it with just one fiddle all the way through. 

 

Cinematically interesting choice to remove everyone else there for a bit. 

 

Wow, there’s a full foot in height between the two. Again I doubt the whole room would fall silent like that. Also don’t close the piano on her fingers… Don’t sit on the table… it’s like talking to toddlers this. I get the point is to show they’re uncouth, but honestly. 

 

I don’t think the piano would be in the breakfast room. Also why send everyone to the drawing room, rather than the two people who want to be separate? 

 

Oh not the stupid weed flower? 

 

Fair trial fair trial fair trial. 

 

He does a creditable proposal. I actually rather like the actress who plays Mrs Bennet. Again, nice detail of the servants wrapping up Netherfield and the doors closing. 

 

Why are we packing? Oh straight off to London. I’m not sure that’s the appropriate carriage. Father’s hair also shouldn’t be loose and why is the swing in a barn? 

 

Charlotte’s explanation is probably necessary for a modern audience but I dislike it being quite so heated. Time passing on the swing. Not sure the yard should be so muddy. 

 

Ah again only Lizzy visits Rosings. And the regiment has already left, to the North? 

 

That is not a phaeton and ponies…. Wow, which house is that? Is that actually Blenheim? Some sitting room. 

 

Mr Collins looking like he needs the loo! 

 

Ah we do love us a bit of Judy Dench. And I do like the old-fashioned hair on her. Surprise Darcy! And so many servants. What’s with all the men standing up? I do like they kept the dialogue here. 

 

Surprise Proposal Darcy? Nope, just Surprise Weirdness Darcy.

 

Ooh, dull preacher Mr Collins. That’s a nice touch. Not convinced about the chatting in church though. So Inappropriate! And Fitzwilliam isn’t supposed to know about it being Bingley. 

 

Ooh very surprise Darcy. I do not like the change of the lines here. That book proposal is iconic… and here it goes into a shouting match. For fuck’s sake Lizzy let the man finish a single sentence will you. 

 

Much introspectiveness and here another man in a ladies’ bedroom. While I agree with abbreviating the letter in principle, I think it can be done better. 

 

They seem to love answering a ‘how is Jane’ question with a ‘where is Jane’ answer. 

 

Is that Uncle Gardiner? Oh he seems better when he speaks. But it does always look like they’re hanging around in the kitchen. 

 

At least we get to go to Pemberley in this one. That’s a majestic tree and excellent deer. Which house is this then? The statue hall could be the V&A… I’m not sure all the naked bum shots are required here. And the portrait is a bust! Novel, but for a moment I was expecting it to turn out to be a full nude, so I suppose we’re still winning. 

 

Oh nooo, not Georgiana at home? And spying on them? I suppose it’s marginally less anachronistic than jumping in a lake. So there’s that. 

 

I like Georgiana in this but again the hair down. Darcy after the letter has a lot of Brandon vibes - “give me an occupation or I shall run mad” vibes. 

 

Oh, early explanations, but not so many. And now Lydia telling all the secrets and how much he paid for the wedding and the regiment. 

 

Remember this visit is supposed to be awkward. I’m glad they didn’t put in the pointed politeness from Mrs Bennet to Mr Darcy here. And it’s good to have a glimpse of Lizzy liking Darcy here. The lead-up to the proposal is more awkward than it needs to be, and I’m not sure we need to use that sort of language. Oh no don’t all barge in… 

 

That’s one hell of a tree Lizzy is sitting at. (The house appears to be part English bond and part Flemish bond brick, which means two different parts of the house are from different times, the later after 1775. More on this in a later blog post). 

 

Ah no please? Lady Catherine after bedtime? They’re all in their jimjams. That’s awful. Why? At least they kept the dialogue their. 

 

He isn’t dressed either. But they kept the dialogue again. Except for the bewitched bit, that seems unnecessary. YOU’RE NOT MARRIED YET!!!!!!1!!!! STOP KISSING!!!!! Why leave him pacing around the courtyard? Surely there is a room to pace in? 

 

No weddings :( 

 

What they did well:

The servants, in general. It’s good they’re visible, and in accordance with the status of people. The actress who plays Mrs Bennet, and the Bennet parents seem to have a better relationship here although he seems rather old. Keira Knightley is growing on me. Mary seems less staid and formal in this, which is quite good. Cutting out Mr Collins’ visit after Lydia’s running away is wise in terms of saving time.

 

What I didn’t like: 

Inconsistency in costume eras. Points for hats, but removed again for hair styles. Everyone would have at least tried to look fashionable, so having young ladies with good incomes dressed in styles several decades apart is jarring. How poor the Bennet’s are portrayed. All the inappropriatenessessessess: touching, shouting, going out in all weathers, and at all hours, and effectively undressed, sitting on tables, pigs, listening at doors, men in ladies’ bedrooms, impertinent daughters, kissing before marriage. I’m not saying these things didn’t happen, but I expect a P&P adaptation to be almost entirely Corona-proof, except for the hand-touches while dancing. 

 

All in all, there's still more in here to annoy than to enjoy, for me personally. I'd rather watch an hour of the 1995 than all of this one. I'm sorry to pain anyone, but there it is. 

 

I may not have succeeded at the fair trial.  

* Apologies, I googled and it appears Bingleys hair is in fact rather on point. It is almost exactly a Titus hairstyle as in this link