Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Many devotees of Jane Austen cite the BBC's 1995 mini-series adaptation of Pride and Prejudice the best ever done, and it's hard to argue with them. The series, told in six episodes over five-and-a-half hours long, covers every beat of the book, and was a cultural phenomenon in England, where the final episode was watched by 40 percent of the audience.

Directed by Simon Langton, and written by Andrew Davies, this Pride and Prejudice tries to get at the heart of the book--sex and money (of course, almost all books are about those two topics). But in extending beyond the normal two hours of a film, the production is able to show more fully developed characters, and to showcase relationships that I didn't pick up reading the book (indeed, if they are even there).

To quickly summarize, the book is about the five Bennet sisters. Their father's estate is entailed, which means it can not be inherited by a woman. Therefore, the girls must marry well to prevent living a horrible life of poverty. When Mr. Bingley rents the neighboring estate, Mrs. Bennet, who is pretty much a screeching harpy, is thrilled. Tagging along with Mr. Bingley is Mr. Darcy, a glowering sour-puss whom everyone correctly tags as being far too proud.

Over the course of the series, the eldest Bennet girl, Jane, will fall in love with Mr. Bingley, but Mr. Darcy will squelch the romance, enraging the second sister, Elizabeth, who already hates Mr. Darcy to begin with. Elizabeth will refuse the proposal of the cousin who will inherit the estate, the unctious clergyman Mr. Collins, while the youngest daughter, Lydia, runs off with an officer, Mr. Wickham, imperiling the entire family's reputation. But Mr. Darcy, who loves Elizabeth in spite of himself, will save the day, and the two are wed at the end.

Elizabeth, one of the most beloved female characters in English literature, is played winningly by Jennifer Ehle (the daughter of Rosemary Harris), while Darcy was a star-making turn for Colin Firth. I believe the ladies had much to do with that, as a scene in which Darcy stumbles upon Elizabeth on his estate after taking a swim, sopping wet, is one of the most famous scenes in all of British TV. Firth certainly is a dashing figure, but early on he's so antisocial it's a wonder how he has any friends at all.

Also in the cast are Alison Steadman, a veteran of many Mike Leigh films, as Mrs. Bennet, and Benjamin Whitlow as Mr. Bennet, who is also a beloved character (and the one that may be most like Austen herself). Julia Sawalha was Lydia, and though ten years older than the role calls for, she was certainly as silly and flirtatious as the role required. What I appreciated was that the other two younger sisters, Mary and Kitty, had more screen time, with Mary, the plain bookish one, getting a lot of good lines, but still Kitty is the one who we know the least.

The mini-series actually adds some scenes, such as Darcy in London attempting to hunt down Wickham, and flashbacks mentioned in Darcy's letter to Elizabeth, explaining his relationship with Wickham. There are also shadings that either aren't in the book or I missed them entirely, such as Elizabeth's fancy for Wickham when she first meets him, and Caroline Bingley's attraction to Darcy (Caroline is one of the great snobs in literature, and here she is played to a "T" by the long-nosed Anna Chancellor).

This series requires an investment of time, but it is well worth it, and in fact I almost wish I had watched it before I read the book, which would have made the book make more sense to me.