<p>ummmm. Colin Firth in the bathtub? Who cares what the story is…I’m there!</p>
<p>Oh my goodness…I have stumbled upon kindred spirits!!! We are huge fans of the Colin Firth verison and I really had a hard time watching the lastest one. I kept comparing it to the favored one…in fact, I left the theatre so disappointed I put in the DVD to watch the 5 hour one! Called D at college to see what she thought since we watch the marathon one every time she comes home…she actually liked it. She loved the ending with Lizzy and Darcy kissing…I hated it! Oh well…but I never complain…</p>
<p>I think Colin Firth is a good actor- but I have to admit- I don’t get his attraction as a heartthrob- he’s too “boy next door” looking for me.</p>
<p>It could be I have just seen him in the wrong movies.( I don’t get Ewan McGregor either)</p>
<p>“She loved the ending with Lizzy and Darcy kissing…I hated it!”</p>
<p>You should have seen it in England:</p>
<p>“The US release is eight minutes longer than the UK version because British test audiences hated the extended romantic ending.”
<a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4454510.stm[/url]”>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4454510.stm</a></p>
<p>We saw B&P in the theater last yr—loved it! It is just fun to watch…</p>
<p>For those of you who have seen the Colin Firth BBC version (1995) but not the earlier BBC version (1980), I commend it highly. Courtesy of IMDb, here is the no-name casting:
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<p>From among the three versions–the current film and the two BBC productions–I prefer the 1980 BBC for the Elizabeth, Darcy, Jane, Mr. Bennett, and Mr. Collins.</p>
<p>There’s a nice 6-DVD set of BBC Jane Austens that includes this version.</p>
<p>TexasMom, we’re on the third tape of re-watching the Colin Firth one after seeing the current movie, just to wash the taste out our eyes, if I may mangle my metaphor.</p>
<p>Garland, exactly right about the squalor being misplaced for the Bennett’s estate as a country gentleman. I think the downscale, or more properly, mixed scale portrayal of the village has much to commend it…much less “Regency Main Street at Disneyland” than perhaps other versions would have it.</p>
<p>FFS, I thought <em>everyone’s</em> teeth were far too perfect.</p>
<p>One thing I always enjoy watching is the various interpretations of Regency Dance. I’ve done a little bit of it as it’s a staple of evening entertainment at many science fiction conventions…why the strong cross-over, I’m not sure, but there surely is.</p>
<p>PretEtManger…I enjoyed reading your post and note that this has to be one of your first posts on the board. And yet while I am not a forensic literary analyst, nor do I even play one on TV, your posting style is very reminiscent of someone with another screen name but I can’t put my finger on who…it’ll probably come to me at 3am. Or perhaps not.</p>
<p>EmeraldK, well, it’s difficult for me to transpose myself into a female outlook but I don’t get Ewan McGregor either…now Viggo Moretensen would be a different story whereas Orlando Bloom would be a “Huh?”
I’m so glad that I look like Johnny Depp instead, though I wish more females of my acquaintance would pick up on the resemblance.</p>
<p>Finally, I’m bemused that this thread took off so…one never knows what on-line conversations will catch fire and which will evaporate into silence as soon as they come into being.</p>
<p>Oooooh. I must have seen the British version of the latest movie. They just looked into each other’s eyes as far as I remember. Very chaste.</p>
<p>Surely someone suggested they blacken and yellow the teeth. Would modern audiences tolerate such sights? Hmmmmm. They must have decided they wouldn’t.</p>
<p>At least, being British, the breasts were real. The weird grapefruit look hasn’t taken off in the UK like it has in the US. </p>
<p>Not only is Keira too pretty, her entire carriage is too light for an Austen heroine. She completely outshines Jane with the sheer bouyancy of her personality. </p>
<p>Great thread, Dad.</p>
<p>ummm…what does this have to do with college?</p>
<p>What does this have to do with college?</p>
<p>Well, I seem to recall a flashback scene in the Colin Firth version that showed Darcy and Wickham at Oxford.</p>
<p>Not to mention that P&P is usually required high school reading.</p>
<p>As far as Donald Sutherland’s being too American, in fact, he is Canadian. I learned this tidbit from the info session at Univ of Toronto, he is an alum and he narrates their video.
I love the factoids gained from being a mom at the info sessions. Did you know Queen Latifah is a graduate of Rutgers???
BTW I loved the new P&P but the BBC version is IMHO definitive.</p>
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<p>not much. That’s why TheDad posted it in the parent cafe forum ;)</p>
<p>btw, Orlando Bloom is hot too.</p>
<p>Well, I loved the movie and the scenery, but I did not see the other versions to compare. I highly recommend seeing it and deciding for yourselves! I plan to see it again someday and will check out the older versions at some point.</p>
<p>Whoa! Great review of the new P&P. I own both BBC productions and watched them after going to a screening of the Kiera Knightly version two weeks ago. IMO the 1980 version wins hands down.</p>
<p>If you have not read the novel then the current production is a beautifully filmed diversion. My husband saw the director interviewed and learned that he had never completely read the book. If you are a P&P purist then you will be annoyed by this film. In my opinion, Kiera Knightly is not playing Eliza Bennet…with all of her striding about I thought that she was a heck of a lot closer to Jo March.</p>
<p>I knew I had missed someone…</p>
<p>Cangel, I liked the S&S that came out about 10 years ago very much. Even where liberties were taken, they did not diminish and they often improved the production. I was struck that D, at about age 9, watched without a word while completely transfixed at the movie theater. </p>
<p>I need to re-remind myself of the Emma…mayhap in the morning the brain cells will be working better.</p>
<p>MikeP3, P&P is often taught at college. In fact, my D is taking 1-unit J-term course on it this year.</p>
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<p>Just saw P&P today. I have to agree with you, TheDad, about the above (although I thought the 2005 Jane was on par with the 1980 Jane). The 1980 Mr. Collins was just PERFECT! The 2005 Mr. Collins reminded me of a nervous chihuahua. The 1980 Wickham was also very good–I know the 2005 P&P doesn’t focus on Wickham as much–the 2005 Wickham just isn’t “smarmy” enough.</p>
<p>ellemenope; agree. The 2005 Wickham looked like he’d just stepped out of a Versace ad. I bet I’m right, because he could not act his way out of a paper bag.</p>
<p>Oh, I hope it stays in our theater long enough for DD to get home!</p>
<p>TheDad - Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma - I thought it was pretty much fun. I didn’t like S&S as much, not because it wasn’t a good movie, but because I read a book once about “What Happened after Sense and Sensibility” (yes, I know, I shouldn’t be such a fan that I read that stuff), and it was so sad and depressing that it ruined the movie for me.</p>
<p>?Regency Dance? at sci-fi conventions. I have visions of Klingons doing a quadrille. Do you allow the waltz or do the ladies of Almack’s hold court? Do you have the girl in the green bodysuit from “Return of the Jedi?” - you know, the one with the proboscis coming out of her head that gets fed to the monster in the pit? Have you ever read “Falling Free”?</p>
<p>The 2005 Wickham isn’t smarmy enough because he never had the chance. They had to cut somewhere to get the story to fit into two hours, and most of Wickham’s scenes and lines got cut.</p>
<p>P&P is W’s favorite story. In fact D1’s middle name is Elizabeth - after Elizabeth Bennet. </p>
<p>The question I’ve always wondered about is which charater is Jane Austen herself? For example, the character Tom Sawyer was a slightly fictionalized version of the young Mark Twain. Sometimes I think that Charlotte Lucas (the “old maid” at age 27) is Jane Austen. Other times I think it is Mary Bennet (bookish and unmarried), and still other times I think it is Elizabeth herself (the cleverest and most appealing of the women).</p>
<p>I think Elizabeth is Jane as she wished she could be - Elizabeth has Jane’s wit, intelligence, and perspective on life, but was fictionally given opportunities that Jane may never have had. Now, would Jane have taken that opportunity if offered? Perhaps Charlotte reflects Jane’s own pragmatism, which she also never had the opportunity to exercise. What a loss if she had married and had “a conventional life”, of course she probably didn’t see it that way, she may have wanted a more conventional life. In the post-Napoleonic war period, a lot of young women were in the same boat.</p>
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<p>But this is true of the book as well. Elizabeth completely outshines her older sister. Jane is always good, sweet, and amiable, but she is essentially a static character - never evolving or changing as the story progresses. The same is true of Mr. Bingley - setting up a sharp contrast between the Bingley/Jane couple where neither evolves and the Darcy/Elizabeth couple where both do.</p>
<p>The more I tihnk about it, the more I think the reason why the new P&P, and especially Elizabeth, seem too modern is their speech. This story was written and is set 200 years ago - about halfway back to Shakespeare. But they all speak with thoroughly modern English accents. I think they did a much better job, for example, in “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” of capturing the speech of 200 years ago.</p>