Breakinger
A Brilliant Conflict
Seraherrera
The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Darin
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
Samantha Ritz
I would like to start by saying I am a huge Austen fan. I've read Pride and Prejudice multiple times and the Keira Knightly version of the movie is a favorite of mine. That being said, I loved this adaptation of the Bennets/Darcys. I think the casting is excellent. As for Lizzie being too old, I disagree. Lizzy would have been close to 30, and the actress playing her is well within appropriate age. I also think her "fairness" is closer to the novel's version of Elizabeth than Keira Knightly. In this adaptation, Darcy is truly his broody self, not a pretty, sad, misunderstood gallant. The actors have been chosen not for their "beauty" but for their acting. The rest of the cast plays their parts with easy believability. The story line is wonderful mix of murder-mystery and flashbacks to the original novel. The story gives plenty meat for the characters and satisfies in many ways the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth that was not continued in the books. I was happily surprised by the ending, it caught me by complete surprise and that made the wait all the better. I only wish this excellent cast could create more story for this beloved novel. I've watched it 3 days in a row, no regrets!
tweatherlake
If you are like me and enjoy your Pride and Prejudice, and a good murder plot, then you would love this series! The choice of the victim is good, but the one of the suspect is very smart, and I also love the way it delves into the soft points of the characters - Darcy's possible regret of marrying Elisabeth, or her not understanding of duty. I was fascinated by the re-creation of an inquest and trial from that period (who knew that judges were allowed to drink brandy during the trial?) and particularly by the depiction of the characters. Elisabeth in particular is just like I would have imagined, she is the same spirited outspoken person we know and love, while Darcy is more brooding, quiet and responsible (while I may have chosen other actors in terms of appearance, I think they portray the characters very well as reactions). I also enjoyed the way Lady de Bourgh is portrayed, and remarkably, I even grew a different understanding of Wickam!All in all, definitively worth to watch by P&P wit a murder twist lovers!
joesgirljeri
The book was an anachronistic festival of weak plot turns and loose ends, that the movie could have tightened up and made into a compelling story. The locations are gorgeous and the pacing has that deliberate BBC period drama feel. But that's about all that's good.Darcy has regressed into WORSE than the beginning of P&P - an overbearing, bull-headed cuss with no regard for the feelings of his sister or wife. Col. Fitzwilliam as the baddie? Puh-leaze.In 5 years, Elizabeth has apparently aged into a nagging, care-worn fishwife. She is haggard and tired. Her dresses are dowdy. She was awful and I REALLY LIKE this actress.And in all this mess, Wickham and Lydia emerge as the likable characters? I mean, Matthew Goode would be sultry and delicious playing a bridge troll. But the mis-casting is really obvious here.Overall a swing and a miss. Watch it with no sound and just make up your own dialogue. It will be better. I promise.
mrbell-1
Had this pvr'd so didn't get to watch it until recently. The main characters were mis-cast. Rhys as Darcy just didn't work, but he would have made a great Wickham. Matthew Goode should have been cast as Darcy, and not as Wickham. And seriously, who would have thought to cast AMM as Lizzie? Her presence was paper-thin, and had difficulty carrying the role and the dialogue to make Lizzie spring to life and be the object of Darcy's adoration. And by the end of even the first episode, I was seriously tired of seeing her in the same, ugly blue dress. I was beginning to think it was the only one she owned until they came up with the same dress in episode two, but this time in green. And that little bolero jacket, and the pickle-barrel bonnet was just too much for me. For a woman of means, after 6 years of being married to a wealthy man and representing the estate, you would think she had more than two daytime dresses, that she wore everywhere. Did she get them at the church jumble sale or the bottom of the missionary barrel? And Rebecca Font as Mrs. Bennett? Really??? That was just too painful to watch.
