This film shows the culture of the English society during the Regency era. It gives you a feel of the struggles and aspirations of women. It is an English classic and it should be watched at least once to appreciate the story.
“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
These are the apt lines of this magnificent book turned movie which summarize the main character of Elizabeth Bennett's strong views which were ahead of the times where women when reached a certain age were beautified to get suitors and wedded off.
This book written by Jane Austen is one of my favorite books of all time. it had everything you want: A strong female lead, a handsome male lead, Mistakes and finally redemption and realisation. It is a perfect book which was adapted to the perfect movie by director Joe Wright and Keira Knightly as the beautiful and smart Miss Elizabeth Bennett. Matthew Macfayden dazzles as the stoic and handsome Mr Darcy perfectly capturing the characters of Mr Darcy.
Though the book has lots of media adaptions be it the 1940 film starring Laurence Olivier or the popular BBC tv series starring Colin Firth or the film Becoming Jane starring Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen and how she wrote Pride and Prejudice based on her love for the character played by James Mcavoy ( the movie plot is fictional) or most recently the 2016 film called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies( for me the stupidest adaption anyways.) The 2005 version directed by Joe Wright is the Best one.
The Plot
The plot starts with beautiful Elizabeth reading a book and then entering her house where her 4 sisters live with their parents in the countryside.
The job which entertains her mother the most is marriage of all the daughter, as she says when Elizabeth or Lizzie questions her once, "When you have 5 daughters Lizzie, all you can think about is to get them married off, when you will have daughters, you will understand." This is a common perception of women in that era where their basic role growing up was learning housework and getting married. This is also seen when Lizzie's distant cousin is nominated to get all the property of her fathers once he passes away because his father doesn't have any male heirs and the property doesn't pass to females.
Her mother takes all the daughters to parties so that prospective suitors can appraise them and a good match can be forged. Lizzie is the second oldest and her best friend is her oldest sister Jane, who is shy and much beautiful than Lizzie, her mother also remarks this once by saying that Lizzie is paler in comparison to Jane who is the perfect ideal women. This also shows the perception of women regarding towards fairness and outward beauty and submissiveness.
Jane meets Mr. Bingley and both are smitten by each other. His friend Mr. Darcy doesn't like Lizzie's family as they are too outspoken and improper. He feels that they only want to marry for money so he breaks them up but in that time he starts talking with Lizzie and soon falls in love with her. After the breakup Jane is shattered and goes to London and Lizzie goes to meet her friend Charlotte who marries her cousin where she meets and gets to know it was Darcy who broke Jane and Bingley up. When the realisation dawns upon her at the same time Darcy proposes and she declines.
Both hate each other but secretly start falling in love. As the movie ends Darcy fixes his mistakes and helps Lizzie's family which leads to both Lizze and Darcy reevaluating their pride and prejudice towards each other. We learn how pride and sticking up for vanity shows an ugly side and how prejudice ruins the chances of a great relationship. It shows how the main characters realise their mistakes and rectify it.
The Scenery
As one dialogue in the film states perfectly: “What are men to rocks and mountains?”
My god, the shooting of the landscape was breathtaking. The location shoots were awesome. English countryside is so beautiful which is amazingly captured in this film. The lush greenery, the exquisite manors, the lake and the countryside are perfect to represent that era. Truly it felt like being transported to that Victorian era whilst watching the film. It felt like a painting. These Google images cannot capture the beauty, for that you definitely need to watch the film!!!!
The scenery accompanied by soft piano like music and beautiful dresses completes the time travel. The director has not left any loopholes. The actors look amazing, the background is amazing and the line delivery is flawless.
Why You Should Watch This Film?
This film gives insight into the society of the Victorian era and the condition of women during those times. Women were expected to know how to cook, sew, play instruments not read or voice their own opinions and finally they were prepared to be married off. The film also shows the affinity of people with marrying their daughters to rich businessmen, army men and pastors. This earned them good social standing. In those times Lizzie raises herself and even though Darcy proposes she rejects it later on when she is actually in love does she agree not because of his social standing. She rejects the proposal of her cousin who later on marries her friend who marries him because she is already 30 and doesn't want to be a burden to her family. She say at least she will have a man who will look after her even if she doesn't love him because she can't afford love.Elizabeth stands up and believes that its better to be single forever than just blindly falling for a man. She is responsible and smart.
This film shows the culture of the Regency era. It gives you a feel of the struggles and aspirations of women. It is a English classic and it should be watched at least once to appreciate the story. The 2005 adaption has beautiful cinematography and acting. Keira Knightly received a Oscar Nomination for her role in this film. If not for anything, watch this film to view the magnificent countryside and also the simple beauty of this wondrous tale by Jane Austen. You can watch the full movie on Hulu and Amazon Prime.