Sunday, July 30, 2006

Pride & Prejudice – Movie Review

Miky wanted to watch Pride & Prejudice yesterday and so we dropped into the video shop on the way home following taekwondo. The only version available starred Keira Knightley, who may otherwise be known as that girl with an awful, impish smile and horrid giggle.

Oh, what tedious tittering. What most unbecoming juvenile behaviour of the younger sisters. What painful expressions we had to endure from Miss Knightley.

I quite enjoy timepieces and found this movie to be mildly entertaining, apart from the main actress, particularly with the manner in which conversation was conducted. The proud and prejudiced people of the era were too pretentious for my liking.

Due to the hideously overacted rapid speech undertaken in the movie, Miky wanted to have the subtitles, which were poorly done in my opinion, turned on. This ruined the first 20 minutes of the movie for me as I find that I have to read subtitles. If my gaze was averted from the subtitles I found that I was unable to concentrate on that which was actually said. Miky decided to turn the subtitles off and it made a difference to the watch ability of the movie.

Not having read the book I did enjoy the movie, but it could most certainly have been much better. That’s probably enough for me. Miky said that it was quite different from Jane Austen’s novel. But, she did read it in Korean after it had been translated and you really on the translator’s skills in this situation to convey the same meaning. You are bound to lose something in this case. Perhaps it had more to do with the acting and the directing than meaning lost in translation.

NYM was correct with her surmising of the movie. Of that I am in agreeance.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Take a tip from your ol' Ma. See if you can get the version with Colin Firth ans Jennifer Erhle in it. It is far superior in my opinion. I have the double video set, and have watched it several times and never tire of it (except for Mrs Bennett and Lydia!)

Anonymous said...

I've never read Jane Austen. But I've watched bits and piece of whatever movies they've made from her novels. What I heard her put in the mouth of the men are shocking. Victorian mentality shocks me to the core: sexist and macho e.g: "I expect obedience and loyalty". Give more example.

NewYorkMoments said...

Listen to hammysmum. The Colin Firth version is superb.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the vote of confidence, newyorkmoments.

Hammy said...

It's hard to believe that such opinionated women existed in times of such male chauvanism. Was it poetic licence or based on fact. The Bennett sisters didn't appear to be upper class. Were they just upper class on the decline and trying to hang on by a thread?