Film Reviews

Pride and Prejudice

• Rating:
• Director: Joe Wright
• Starring: Keira Knightley
• Details: UK / 127 mins (U).

In maintaining a remarkable fidelity to Jane Austen's novel, and favouring period authenticity over frou-frou glamour, director Joe Wright has created a version of Pride and Prejudice that is far superior to the Colin Firth-Jennifer Ehle TV series of a decade ago. While the basic story remains the same - feisty Lizzie Bennet (Knightley) and the dour Mr Darcy (MacFadyen) project their twin faults pride and prejudice onto one another despite the physical and emotional chemistry between them - Wright has constructed a mature, intelligent film that doesn't go out of its way to point up the differences between the severely patriarchal society of Austen's era and the (allegedly) more advanced times we live in today. Instead he cuts straight to the heart of the story and its intertwined themes of love versus money and necessity versus desire, making a virtue of what we might today consider the unnecessary formalities of gender politics. One scene in particular sums up his intent, as the camera drifts through a series of thronged rooms at a ball, touching upon a dozen characters, and as many storylines, in one five-minute single-take shot. It's as formal a cinematic construct as you're likely to see in a mainstream movie this year, and yet it's delivered with an irresistibly natural fluidity. The performances too are strong, with Knightley and MacFadyen creating a believable chemistry that doesn't need bodice-ripping to convey its intensity, although Donald Sutherland, as Lizzie's long-suffering father, quietly steals the show, while Brenda Blethyn contributes an hilariously histrionic Mrs Bennet.

Review by Declan Burke