PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Director: Joe Wright (No major film work)
Starring: Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFayden, Simon Woods, more

Here is a film that paints much of the same subject as Memoirs of a Geisha, yet shows how much more sharply the image can be conceived. Most of my arguments against Geisha could apply to this film. P & P is sappy at points, there are helpless women galore searching for their prince. This film just does everything better, both in the framework and in the details of the story. P & P is a very good movie because each piece fit perfectly with each piece next to it and as an artistic whole. Of course, maybe if Memoirs of a Geisha had been written by one of the great writers of western literature it would have been better. Makes sense, huh?

Pride and Prejudice is yet another of the Jane Austin stories put to film. Austin is surely one of the most influential female writers of all time, and justifiably so. In her tale of the struggles of women in her society to find a mate, all of the facets of the story are extremely well balanced: The plot is twisting and perfectly maintained, the emotional highs and pacing extraordinary, and all of this is wrapped in a delightfully lighthearted theme and subject. This is definitely a story almost perfectly suited to its setting.

The plot follows a family of 5 girls (I think …) searching for their husbands. They are a landed family, on the lowest fringes of the upper crust. These noble girls were raised far away from any city on a small country estate more concerned with farming pigs than learning the etiquette of court. They all have their struggles with men, but it is Keira Knightly, in an excellent performance, as the second daughter that is the center of the story. Over the course of the film she learns that prejudice against the rich and powerful can be as wrong as theirs is against the poor and downtrodden. In the end she gets the rich husband that she at first so disliked. Basically, this story again shows how a book should not be judged by its cover. Almost every character in this film is misjudged at first. Whether the rich are seen as foolish or uncaring, and the poor are seen as uncouth , they’re all wrong in the end. Certainly this is a wonderful story.

Keira Knightly deserves credit for holding this film together. It would have failed mightily if she hadn’t been up to the task. Luckily she was. This English period piece was quite good in most every facet. It’s not nearly at the level of the greats such as Howard’s End or Remains of the Day, but it certainly deserves a seat at that table of frilly, and wonderful, anglophile film literature.

Standouts: The story itself, most every other facet was well done.
Blowouts: A sappy moment here or there that seemed to go just a bit to far.

Grade: A-

1/23/2006