Saw Pride and Prejudice (thanks, Kim!) Its punches were a bit pulled for me, as I am fairly familiar with the TV mini-series. It is not shocking to me that X falls in love with Y after all or what have you. Refreshingly, in this period-piece there is almost no silly are-they-or-aren't-they and instead the more imperative will-they-or-won't-they (the questions have become essentially synonymous in modern rom-com.) I wish they had stuck closer to the cliff-hangers of the plot however. When Elizabeth finishes her epic rejection of Mr Darcy they have this weird almost-kissing moment, which kind of undercuts the preceding awesome tirade. I think we are meant to be reassured, but I would rather have been left in suspense.
Tremendously fun in the margins, this film has excellent business (the mother swinging her legs, Mr Collins' banal horribleness) that it shows off here and there. I'm of course being greedy, but I wish that the humor had been a bit more center stage because what humor there was was perfect. I'm also glad that the attitudes of the characters are accessibly modernized. Only one scene I remember where the girls are talked of as chattel and that one was intended to be distasteful.
My favorite scenes in the film are when it's being swooningly sentimental. There is a scene shot from the inside of Lizzie's closed eyelids that is intimate and wonderful. Later, the camera lazily drifts from window to window, sort of benignly looking in on its occupants. It's a bit treacly but it's artfully done and interesting. A film without any bite, but very sweet, and very kind.
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