Pride and Prejudice

I had finally recently watched “Pride and Prejudice”, the 2005 version, starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Mcfadyen. I can not believe that I skipped it after all these years, choosing other alternatives like “Unleashing Mr. Darcy”, the Hallmark Channel's adaptation, which delivered a comedic chemistry that somehow worked. Then, there is “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”, which was a more gory version that totally swayed away from the traditional view of the story. In that version, the sisters are Zombie hunters. I doubt Jane Austen would have liked it, if she were alive today.

Pride and Prejudice is probably the most beloved love story, if not one of the most beloved story about preconceptions and misjudgments. How wrong can you be about a person? What you hear and what you see may actually be wrong. In other words, do not judge based on misconceptions.

The most powerful scene in the movie is where the protagonist, Elizabeth, stood on a round stone structure to shade herself from the rain. Out of nowhere, it seemed, Mr. Darcy appeared. Shocked, she immediately faced him.

Mr. Darcy says, “Miss Elizabeth. I have struggled in vain and I can bear it no longer. These past months have been a torment.”

Elizabeth asks, “I don’t understand.”

Almost immediately, he responds, “I love you. Most ardently.”

She responds in the most eloquent manner, “Sir, I-I appreciate the struggle you have been through and I am very sorry to have caused you pain. Believe me, it was unconsciously done.”

-Pride and Prejudice, 2005

Things take the turn for the worst, as Elizabeth tells Mr. Darcy about how repulsed she is with him after finding out it was he who was responsible for her sister’s engagement being canceled, based on his misconceptions about her family. For a woman whose family is everything to her, thus her pride, the confession of love by the man standing in front of her is deliberately an insult.

Elizabeth then explains the reasons why Mr. Darcy is the last person on earth she would ever marry, using his disregard for other people's feelings as the focal point. Very direct, but effective.

One can not watch that scene without being affected emotionally in one way or another.

Elizabeth later learns the truth about Mr. Darcy through a letter he wrote and through his servants and his sister, Georgiana Darcy. Through his love for his sister, Elizabeth realizes that indeed he is not a man incapable of loving.

Jane Austen, the author of the beloved story, understood that the concept of pride and prejudice in human psych would resonate decades into the future. It is not a surprise many adaptations have been made over the years.

Director Joe Wright's brilliance truly shows in this film. The mixture of simplicity and sophistication in each scene makes you not want to leave your seat. He invokes mood in his scenes. In the scene where Mr. Darcy confesses his love for Elizabeth, it is raining and is in the surroundings of lush trees in the background, hinting that something so beautiful like love can be just as chaotic. The stone structure, in my view, stands for the strength of love. Though it is chaotic outside, it is safe standing by the stone. Love will be there after the chaos ends.

I would have loved to have seen more of Mr. Darcy's aunt though. I find her an intriguing figure in the film. She is brash, full of confidence, and you just fear her. When Elizabeth talks back to her, her reactions are just memorable.

I am not the type normally into period films, but I certainly liked this one for its effective dialogue and smooth transition of the story, bringing much justice to an all-time literary classic. The fact the film did not win an Academy Award has no bearing to its greatness.

If you had not seen the movie, you can catch it on Netflix.