MOVIES: Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, 2005)

Jane Austen's devotees take her work very seriously indeed, to the point that one feels almost obliged to establish one's credentials before talking about the movie. But the sad truth is, I have no credentials. Pride and Prejudice was assigned reading when I was in high school -- a cruel thing to do to a 17-year-old boy -- and it was the closest I ever came to not finishing an assigned book. I hated it, hated it, hated it, and though I've tried several times over the years, I've never been able to get through any of Austen's novels.

And I have also not seen the 1995 BBC miniseries that everyone seems to agree is the finest film version yet made of Pride and Prejudice, so I can offer no opinion on how Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen compare to the critically acclaimed Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth in the roles of Elizabeth and Darcy. All I can do is judge this movie on its own terms, which when you get down to it, is all the criticism that any movie should be subjected to.

Despite my loathing for Austen's novels, I've often very much enjoyed the movies based on them -- Emma, Clueless, Sense and Sensibility. And I liked this one, too.

The plot is familiar to most, I'm sure, recounting the romantic travails of the five Bennet sisters, focusing mostly on Elizabeth. Lizzie detests Mr. Darcy on first meeting, and continues to loathe him strongly enough to turn down his proposal of marriage. This, despite the financial security it would bring, and Austen never lets us forget that marriage at the beginning of the 19th century was at least much a finanical proposition as a romantic one (and this particular movie seems to be even more aware of that than other Austen films I've seen). She ultimately realizes how harshly she's judged him, of course, allowing for the obligatory happy ending.

Knightley and MacFadyen are clearly meant to be together from the beginning, filmed in ways that emphasize their similarities. Early on, it's all about sharp angles -- his severe cheekbones; her collarbones, on which you could slice a tomato -- but both faces soften as they recognize how poorly they have misjudged one another.

MacFadyen is the movie's weak spot; he's a bit on the stiff side, and never the sweeping romantic hero that Darcy ought to become. Knightley, on the other hand, is quite charming, and plays Lizzie's sharp wit very nicely; this is a woman who knows exactly how to be viciously cutting without ever violating the strict rules of ettiquette.

There are a host of excellent supporting performances. Donald Sutherland is Mr. Bennet, slightly at sea in a home of women, but always in charge; Brenda Blethyn dithers effectively as Mrs. Bennet. Simon Woods is perhaps a touch too contemporary-geek as Mr. Bingley, but Tom Hollander is quite effective as the dreary Mr. Collins. Judi Dench does her now-routine aggrieved regal bitch performance as Lady de Bourg. Rupert Friend, as Mr. Wickham, looks so much like Orlando Bloom that you can practically hear the producers screaming, "What do you mean, we can't get Orlando Bloom?" (It seems clear that Wickham's subplot, involving his scandalous relationship with the youngest Bennet sister, has been hacked to shreds here; I'm still not entirely sure what the heck happened or who did what, except that -- as usual -- money was involved.)

The movie's sets are messier than we expect from this sort of period piece. Hems are muddied are hair occasionally out of place; laundry hangs on the line; animals occasionally wander through the Bennet house (it is a farm, after all). Class distinctions are sharply foregrounded here, making Elizabeth's rejection of marriage proposals (yes, she turns down two suitors) all the more shocking and dramatic.

A more emotionally involving Darcy might have allowed this Pride & Prejudice to be a great movie, but even with MacFadyen in the role, I enjoyed it a lot.