Wednesday, November 02, 2005

BBC - 1, Working Title - 0

Last night I had the privilege of using free tickets to see an advance screening of “Pride and Prejudice”, courtesy of the San Francisco Spinsters (no, I’m not a member, thank you very much). My friend Rana and I lined up with a gaggle of 300 or so giggling 25-35 year old women (OK, we giggled a little too, I admit it) and the question on everyone’s lips was, duh! – will this movie be as good as the BBC version of the movie?

The Scene
Before giving you my (humble) opinion on the movie, let me set the stage for you. We filed into the good old AMC Van Ness theatre #10 a good 45 minutes early and sat ourselves next to Token, a kindly gentleman who looked to be in his mid-40s and was for a brief moment one of the only two men in the entire theatre. (Another boy-man of 24 or so appeared about 5 minutes later with his girlfriend. Good God, man, do you shop at Benefit with her too?). Anyway, after 3 seconds of chatting my gaydar confirmed that Token was completely straight and somehow he and his movie-reviewing female companion were supposed to be seeing “Chicken Little” at the same time at the Kabuki. Movie Reviewer got wind of the mistake and pulled him by the arm out of the theatre saying something like “there is NO WAY I’m staying in this theatre to see THAT movie with all these GIRLS!” I was briefly insulted then realized that she was glaring at me for chatting it up with Token. And then I was briefly delighted at being called a “girl”. Tee-hee, giggle, giggle.

Shortly after that, Rana and I and the rest of the audience experienced an Oprah moment when we each got giant gift bags full of full-sized Bliss products -!!- and a cute lil baby tee that anyone over 5’4” will most certainly have to stretch over a chair to wear that says “Mrs. Darcy” on it. (I feel sad that Token missed out on this.) If this is buttering up, Working Title, consider me fully buttered and ready.

The Hullabaloo
Before I tell you what I thought (as if the title didn’t give it away) I have to say, if you haven’t read “Pride and Prejudice”, then you should be flogged. I love reading and I love reading Jane Austen so it’s hard for me to understand why self-respecting, smart women who also like to read and especially LOVED “Bridget Jones Diary” (the book and the movie) cannot also sit themselves down and read the Real McCoy. It’s an excellent read. In fact, it’s a page-fucking-turner. Janie A. is brilliant, funny, clever and witty. Her words are beautiful and she’s a master of details and no detail can be ignored because it adds an important layer to the story somewhere down the line. But my blog is a safe, welcoming place, so if you haven’t read it, that’s cool. Just please promise me you will someday. Once your brain adjusts to the language, you’ll be in…. hook, line and sinker.

In 1995, the BBC produced a 6-hour sheer-fucking-genius mini-series version of “Pride”, much to the chagrin of men everywhere. It was so long because it was absolutely true to the book, a fact I’m sure many film snobs in the world thought was the wrong way to go due to the fact that movie people like to do their own creative version of stuff. Understood. (Although I say bollocks to that). To me, it was perfectly cast and the locations, houses and details within were incredible. The period experts also say that the dancing, costumes, hairstyles and make-up were also spot-on. All of a sudden, people who’d never read the book picked it up because the movie was just that fricking good. When does that happen? When is the movie as good as the book? Almost never. Well done, BBC peeps.

…and finally, the movie
So the poor bastards at Working Title had a tough row to hoe (as my dearly departed Grandmother might’ve said) going into this one. If you’ve never read the book or seen the movie, you’ll probably really like this version. You won’t know that you’ve missed out on 75% of the details and back-story that make this one of the greatest books ever written. You’ll miss out on watching the development of one of the steamiest, most sexually tense, love/hate relationships of all time. You won’t get to see the relationship between Elizabeth and her oldest sister Jane (which the real Jane would have hated…that’s an important part of all her books). In fact, you won’t get to see any of the characters really develop enough to care as much about them as you do in the book or in the BBC version. You won’t catch it when the writers slide in some random, non-Jane Austen period speak-ese in order to compensate for time and catch you up. And you won’t be annoyed by the super cheesy ending.

You WILL see Dame Judy Dench playing a fucking brilliant Lady De Bourg. And Tom as an excellent nervous, smarmy little Mr. Collins. Everyone else is fine. And not “fine” in the British compliment kind of way, just “fine” as in OK. Lots of Keira Knightly looking pensive, smiling big with her tongue between her front teeth to show how girlish and full of life she is. Lots of really beautiful people with huge, luminous eyes (what causes that? Is this a coincidence?) Jenna Malone, as annoying as she is to me, actually pulled off a good Lydia, maybe because Lydia, that dumb scandalous whore, is just so fucking annoying. And Bingley’s sister – SCARY – she could seamlessly have gone from 1850s England to 2005 San Francisco and pulled off a bitchy milkmaid look down in the Triangle, no problem.

Last but not least, Matthew MacFayden as Mr. Darcy. He really didn’t bother me. I can’t say he was Colin, but he wasn’t bad. Got me at the end a little. But he didn’t really get a chance to shine with the limited time so it’s hard to say.

All in all, I say see it. If you love the other movie and the book, you won’t feel good until you see this one. I’m still convinced that even the worst cast of actors (me, the guy at Starbucks on Union and the #7 bus driver) could get together, read this and pull off a masterpiece simply because of the brilliance of Jane’s words. I’d love to know what other people thought, both people who’ve never read or seen anything else and people who are tainted like me. Anyone?

Note to Typepad users: I just tried 7 times to post a photo of Colin Firth. See? The free service sucks too.

16 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

11:37 PM  
Blogger gina said...

Oh, Ms. Brown - I couldn't agree more about Jane Austen!!! All of her books are amazing. I wasn't holding out much hope for this movie - Mr. Firth ruined it for everyone by being so perfectly beautiful in the BBC version. If he showed up as Mr. Darcy in a hemorrhoid commercial I would have to watch it over and over! Just like I do Bridget Jones. Besides the aformentioned "Nice Boys" scene, that look Colin gets on his face when Bridget is interviewing him just KILLS me! I will have to see this movie, no matter what because its Jane Austen. Even though I am disappointed that Working Title didn't give us credit for being intelligent and know that we would sit through a decent length movie and give us those wonderful details!

7:37 AM  
Blogger Jaime Schwarz said...

I'm finally beginning to see why every single girl/woman/lady I know owns a copy of that huge BBC movie. I mean no exception! What's up with that bookcase filling collection, my goodness gracious!

7:57 AM  
Blogger concha said...

even with my english major...never read jane austen. i even specialized in 18th century british literature. go figure. so this is an official comment from someone who is completely ignorant to her.

but i read clarissa. every freaking page of it. does that count?

8:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Agree with the whole blog. and so happy to see you're back blogging again. i feel like it's been days.

being that i always find myself a misplaced Jane Austen character, i adore her as well. what woman wouldn't? the first thing i did when i was out of ad school and without a job and with time on my hands was rent the BBC P&P again and watch it....twice.
(then i went on a firth binge and rented Posession and Bridget Jones as well). BTW, I would highly suggest reading Possession -A.S.Byatt-and then seeing the movie. An excellent interpretation and steamy love scenes with Firth.

thanks for the info RBrown. and p.s. i kind of hate kiera and her tonguey smiles, so it might be hard to swallow her as elizabeth bennet, my soul sister.

9:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok, I was going to comment here about Jane Austen, the excellence of the BBC version and the miscasting of Keira Knightly.

BUT...then I read Shopping Diva's comment about Mister Darcy being in a hemorrhoid commercial and now I can't get the damn visual out of my head!

"Blimey! Just rub a wee bit on your bum and it's blooming likely you'll be jolly good to go!"

10:17 AM  
Blogger Jaime Schwarz said...

I don't care what Keira Knightly does, she's fucking hot!

12:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You are so right about new the PP film. There is nothing largely wrong with the film, except perhaps the twirling camera shots. For me there was not enough depth. I didn't yearn for Mr Darcy, although I did enjoy the ludicrous Mr Collins and Brenda Blethyn's Mrs Bennett. Spent the following day curled on the sofa in front of the television with Mr Firth - satisfied at last.

6:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Colin Firth, Colin Firth, Colin Firth - Oh my. I would so do him anytime, anywhere - just as long as he was in character. (Although I am an Austen Slut, so any actor portraying any of her characters would do - Alan Rickman from S&S comes to mind!) P&P, S&S, Emma- pretty much all of them and any ripoffs as well. I am DYING that you saw this! I have GOT to find a sitter and go. Or leave the kiddos in the bathtub with some cookies and loads of toys, you won't tell will you? Jealous, Jealous, Jealous, Jealous...

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