pride and predudice report reveiw

The cinematography is outstanding and you’d have a hard time naming a film released in 2005 with better costume and set designs. But in this case the old saying ‘beauty is only skin deep’ definitely applies as there’s simply nothing appealing below the film’s skillfully designed surface.

Positive marks do go to the filmmaker for casting actors closer in age to the characters in the book than usually found in adaptations of Jane Austen’s classic novel. A handsome and talented group, the cast of “Pride and Prejudice” do justice to the piece in parts, but the film fails to connect with its audience. There’s an emotional pull to the story that’s completely missing from Wright’s film. It’s all too cold and distant, as if the entire production was taking its cue from the brooding character of Darcy.

The most engaging performances of the cast were turned in by the film’s older generation of actors: Donald Sutherland, Dame Judi Dench and Brenda Blethyn. The younger group headlined by Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen never came close to achieving the same caliber of performances as their more senior co-stars. I never felt drawn in by Knightley’s Elizabeth and Macfadyen as Darcy left me cold. Darcy’s supposed to be standoffish – that’s how Austen wrote the character – yet Macfadyen plays him so completely dour that he’s rendered uninteresting. He’s so unengaged in what’s going on that Elizabeth’s attraction to the man is unexplainable.

The actresses cast as Elizabeth’s sisters, including the lovely Rosamund Pike and Jena Malone, just simply aren’t convincing as siblings. None of the women cast as sisters look anything alike and their interactions never sell the bond of sisterhood.

As strange as it may sound, I actually preferred the Bollywood/Hollywood mix of “Bride and Prejudice” more than this slick yet stale adaptation of Austen’s book. At least writer/director Gurinder Chadha’s colorful and engaging take on the novel was something completely different from the same old rehashed, warmed-over story. This “Pride and Prejudice” is a flat, tired regurgitation that’s been done better many, many times before.