The Best Film Adaptation Ever Done of Pride and Prejudice

Moments reveal character. More than anything else, the makers of the 1995 BBC/A&E mini-series Pride and Prejudice understand that. In a five hour adaptation, they give us countless moments that help us come to know and understand the fascinating characters and intricate relationships of Jane Austen's most beloved novel.

There are many reasons why this film adaptation is the best of the several Pride and Prejudice adaptations (both mini-series and feature film length) available. With a well-paced 300 minutes at their disposal, the filmmakers were able to retain the complete storyline, all of the major and most if not all of the minor characters from the novel. Shorter versions inevitably have to shortchange the plot and thereby usually some of the characters too. The Wickham subplot is often gutted to the story's detriment. Not so here.

This mini-series glories in the details of Austen's masterpiece -- its language (most especially), but also its manners, dress, landscapes, morals, and wit. I am tempted to say that they "brought the story to life" as no other film has done, but that cliche isn't really quite accurate. The story on the page already has an amazing life and vitality of its own, thank you! What they've done is translate that vitality to the moving medium of the screen. And in the process, they've created a masterpiece of their own. I'm sure this film has attracted many a new admirer to Jane Austen's writing, and deepened the admiration and understanding of many other readers. I know that it was through viewing this film that I really came to understand the "music" of Austen's dialogue. I credit my initial watching of this film with giving me the ability to read and enjoy all of her six finished novels, many of them more than once.

Andrew Davies' screenplay is a monumental achievement. On the one hand, he doesn't write a lot of original dialogue, preferring to stick with Austen in every key and important way. Considering her giftedness as a prose writer, this was a happy choice indeed (as Elizabeth Bennett might say). Where he brings his influence to bear is in the passages of dialogue he selects, the way in which he arranges them, and the ways in which he lets the non-dialogue parts of Austen's novel (the narration and description) work like stage directions for so much of the action.

Carl Davis' brilliant, lilting score also sets this production apart. The rapid, rolling pianoforte notes capture the liveliness and lightheartedness of the romance, and the use of the period instrument, different from modern piano, evokes the early 19th century in which the story is set. Dancing is a key element in most Austen tales, especially in this one, and that's not shortchanged in this adaptation either. Beautiful period dances, set to old English country dance tunes, mirror the intricacy of the plot with their intricate weaving steps and often serve to heighten the underlying romantic intensity between Elizabeth and Darcy.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

As a love story, Pride and Prejudice presents some unique challenges for modern viewers. It has very little of the overtly romantic or intimate moments that we have come to expect in 20th-21st century romance. Some might say that's to its credit, but even so, it still presents challenges of cultural "translation".

The driving force of the plot centers around the attraction and miscommunication between Elizabeth Bennett (Jennifer Ehle) and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy (Colin Firth). Elizabeth and Darcy's romance takes a long time to blossom both because of the very real obstacles of class and wealth that separate them, and because they get off on the wrong foot and continue to miscommunicate and misunderstand one another for many months.

The latter obstacles are universal to human relationships at all times, perhaps especially romance, and are part of what make the story timeless. We may have a harder time wrapping our minds around the former obstacles of class distinction, but they were very real in Austen's day. Her clear writing helps us to understand the dire situation of the five Bennett daughters, even when she plays upon the humour of the situation whenever appropriate. Indeed sometimes one gets the feeling that Austen heroines and their families must laugh at themselves and others in order not to give into despair.

These girls desperately need to make good marriages since they have no fortune (the family estate has been entailed away to a male cousin). This is a perilous situation; unmarried women often found themselves vulnerable in early 19th century England. Yet Mrs. Bennett (Alison Steadman) doesn't have the sense to realize that her own shrewd and shrill manipulative efforts on behalf of her daughters might hurt their chances for matrimony rather than help them. And both she and Mr. Bennett (Ben Whitrow), who is far more intelligent and perceptive than his wife --and thus more culpable -- lack the patience and wisdom needed to insure their daughters are brought up with the moral grounding needed to make the best choices regarding love and mates. That wisdom is hard-won for Jane (Susannah Harker) and Lizzy, the two oldest Bennett girls, and not won at all by Lydia (Julia Sawalha), the youngest daughter whose high energy and romantic spirit has not been curbed at all. This leads her into bad decisions which almost ruin the marriage hopes of the entire family, who end up partaking "of her moral disgrace."

The Cast...a Happy Thought Indeed!

That the family is not ruined, and that Jane and Lizzy do finally make good marriages -- marriages with men of integrity and wealth whom they also happen to love -- is due in part to the hidden heroic depths of Mr. Darcy. The revealing of his true character is a delight to viewers, and to Elizabeth too. This gradual revealing of a man of tenderness, strength and integrity who tends to hide those qualities underneath a frosty and arrogant exterior, makes Darcy an extraordinarily difficult part to play. Some of the revelations we and Elizabeth make about his character only reveal the real essence of the man as he has been all along, though unable for various reasons to show it. And some of the revelations come about because of the subtle but real transformations taking place inside Darcy, as Darcy's pride and ingrained reserve begin to thaw like glaciers in the sunlight of the love he feels for Elizabeth.

Colin Firth's bravura performance as Mr. Darcy deserves all the accolades it's received and then some. He gives us the definitive Darcy, not just because he's handsome and can act arrogant and bored at the beginning -- lots of actors who have played Darcy can lay claim to those qualities too. But Firth gives a subtle performance where, even from the start, viewers unfamiliar with the story will catch glimmers of the tender man underneath and of the "thawing" taking place as his heart begins to melt. It is a masterfully contained performance because Darcy is a very still character.

This is where I come full circle to my initial assertion that the makers of this film understand how moments reveal character. Darcy's character provides prime examples, though by no means all of them. But Firth, playing such an emotionally reserved man coming to inward terms with new and turbulent feelings, must often show us his struggles through one small look, the tiniest lift of an eyebrow or a corner of his mouth, either upward into a hint of a smile, or downward to show disapproval.

One scene in particular that always reminds me of the power of tiny gestures comes in a scene toward the end, when Darcy comes upon Lizzy in the inn at Lambton, where she's just received the devastating news that her sister has run off with Wickham. Their relationship has finally been building toward mutual love and respect, but that love hasn't been outwardly revealed yet from either side and this turn of events threatens the possibility that it ever will be. In the meantime, they find themselves facing one another with great awkwardness while Elizabeth, usually so unflappable, sobs as though her heart would break. It's obvious by Darcy's "compassionate silence" (Austen's term for it) and by the way he holds his body that it's taking every ounce of self-reserve he has not to simply gather her up into his arms. Firth takes this further by actually pressing the back of his hand momentarily against his mouth, as if to hide its trembling or to check impetuous words. It's a tiny, almost throw-away moment and one the weeping Lizzy doesn't even see, but we do.

And the film is full of such small but revealing moments. Jennifer Ehle's Lizzy is just as likely to be remembered as the definitive Elizabeth Bennett as Firth's Darcy. The two of them have wonderful romantic chemistry, but there's much more to her role than that. Indeed she carries almost the entire five hours, providing the viewer with the emotional entrance into this world. Ehle brings an unconventional beauty and an active, feisty independence to the role of Elizabeth that is often perceived when one reads the novel but has not often been translated so vividly to the screen. Some of this is undoubtedly due to smart direction, but her acting is superb.

There's not a badly cast actor in the entire mini-series, but it's impossible not to especially laud a few of the members of the main supporting cast. There's the classically elegant Susannah Harker as Lizzy's sister Jane. She again defines the role: she's the calm, serene older sister, herself often suffering from too much emotional reserve, and always so charitable in her view of others that she has a hard time understanding wickedness or vice in anyone (including the infamous Wickham). She provides an interesting emotional contrast to Lizzy, but Harker and Ehle bring such a rich and realistic closeness to their relationship that this film celebrates familial and sisterly love with as much depth as other, more obvious themes. Crispin Bonham-Carter, as Jane's quintessentially cheerful lover Mr. Bingley, brings a sprightliness and energy to the part that's seldom seen and his friendship with Mr. Darcy is given the screen time it deserves and rarely gets.

David Bamber as Mr. Collins, the cousin on whom the Bennett estate is entailed, is an acting wonder. He makes you feel all of Collins' pretentious silliness and yet actually manages to invest the disastrous proposal scene with Lizzy with moments of poignancy as well as ridiculousness. I also really like Lucy Scott as the calm and pragmatic Charlotte Lucas who scoops up Mr. Collins after Lizzy rejects him.

My highest praise is probably reserved for Benjamin Whitrow as Mr. Bennett and Alison Steadman as Mrs. Bennett. These are not easy parts to play but they carry much of the weight of this family drama, and often some of the wittiest (and probably hardest to deliver) lines. Steadman delivers a wonderfully over-the-top performance as the nervous, agitated, manipulative Mrs. Bennett who wants nothing more than to marry her girls off to rich men. It's a performance worthy of the novel, as is Whitrow's Mr. Bennett, arguably the most nuanced and amazing performance in the entire series. He manages to capture the caustic wit of Mr. Bennett but keeps it tinged with a tired weariness -- weariness of his own painful marriage and of his own not often admitted failures as a father. It would be so easy to turn Mr. Bennet's character into a mean cartoon version of who he should be, and Whitrow never does that. His sarcasm is counterbalanced by the very real tenderness he feels for his two eldest daughters, especially Lizzy.

I could sing the praises of numerous other cast members, but will just mention a few more I find especially outstanding: Julia Sawalha's inconsiderate and immature Lydia; Adrian Lukis as the only believably charming-yet- dastardly Wickman I've ever seen on screen; Barbara Leigh-Hunt as the appropriately scathing Lady Catherine de Bourgh; and Anna Chancellor (an actual descendant of Jane Austen!) as the snootiest, most painfully obvious Miss Bingley ever.

Five Hours of Pure Enjoyment

This is a mini-series, so even though it can be viewed either on two VHS tapes or two DVDs, the beginning/ends of the original six aired episodes are still clearly in evidence though not obviously so (i.e. you won't see the opening credits at the beginning of each, like you would have originally). Sometimes there's a slight fade or momentary lapse to a dark screen, just enough for you to recall that the original episode ended here. It's not obtrusive and doesn't keep one from the pleasure of watching more than one episode at a time, or if you're really a fan, sitting down for a marathon of the whole five hours at once.

The production values of this first rate mini-series will make it a favorite for years to come. The design of the sets, the beautiful costumes, the choice of locations (houses, parks, gardens) are all beautifully done and bring the early 19th century to life. That, combined with a fantastic cast and a screenwriter and director who understood the lively passion of Austen's characters, makes this the one screen version of Pride and Prejudice you won't want to miss. It's hard to imagine anyone ever coming this close again to realizing the look, sound and feel of a Jane Austen novel. But we have this one to treasure over and over...so maybe no one ever has to.

~befus, 2006

Pride and Prejudice
1995
Produced by Sue Birtwistle
Written by Andrew Davies
Directed by Simon Langton
A BBC/A&E Co-production

My review of the wonderful novel at its source: Pride and Prejudice