Pride and Prejudice
I recently watched the Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth miniseries. It was great.
- Lizzie’s face and manner conveyed so many emotions that she could not utter acceptable words for. For instance, when Wickham brought up the matter of the vicerage he was to have had, instead of upbraiding him on his lie, she dismissed him with contempt although her words were mild.
- The dialog was always on point, molded to the character, while the scenes rarely strolled to the mundane, conflict was always present.
- Wonderful compression of scenes to only that portion that carried essential meaning.
- Casting and supporting characters were excellent.
- I loved the sharp choreography of Mrs. Gardner taking her husband from Mr. Darcy at the grounds of Pemberly, easing Darcy to shift from Mr. Gardner and attend to Lizzie.
- Darcy’s ‘FU’ face when Lady de Burgh wanted her part of the conversation he was having with Lizzie with Col. FitzWilliam by the piano
Some little things to pick at:
- Some transitions, esp. towards end were not done well. Carriage leaves, new carriage arrives. Too abrupt.
- It irked me that not 5 miles from Lampton was said numerous times in dialog, by different people as if it had cosmic significance.
- I didn’t understand why Mrs. Bennett left without a word in the scene when Wickham approached her and her sisters at Mrs. Phillips’ soiree. I would have expected a reason for her to leave her daughter and potential suitor.
- I found Mrs. Gardner facial expressions often not conveying a recognizable emotion. She looked like her face was frozen under make-up. She was much better with dialog.
Image from Pride and Prejudice BBC series. By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63115300
