(1) Casting
Let me talk about the actors first. It must be said that the director drew a good handful of cards. Darcy is tall and handsome (although I think it should be more "text"), Lizzy is pretty and lively (Keira Knightley). A few supporting roles were also well selected, Catherine's arrogant style, Collins' awkward posture, and the Bennett couple's match and mismatch, and the nerd Mary's misfits are not bad. However, there are still two important flaws, and that is the pair of Bingley and Jane. The focus of "Pride and Prejudice" is of course Darcy and Lizzy, but without Bingley and Jane, the pair of "familiarity" and "kindness", it is difficult to see the true meaning of "prudence" and "prejudice". The meaning does not see the deep meaning behind a marriage novel around "civility". This small problem in casting is actually a big problem. According to the novel, at first glance, Jane should be prettier than Lizzy, so no matter Bingley or Collins, it was Jane who was chasing after him at first. However, now this Jane is old and ugly, not pretty at all. From the beginning, Bingley was a small follower of Darcy. Of course, his image is indeed more suitable for Jane, but the problem is that this actually completely destroys the structure of the novel. In the novel, not only the character design, but also the overall structure, they all use the so-called "Zuo Zhuan". On the surface, the novel is the world seen from Lizzy's perspective. It seems that the marriage of Bingley and Jane should be the focus of the novel. As everyone knows, Lizzy, the observer, is the true protagonist of the story. The plot of the novel is arranged through Lizzy and his family worrying about Jane's feelings (until the end of Volume 3), so that we can indirectly understand the person Lizzy. This writing method not only adds a layer of connotation and implication to the novel (although James I don’t really appreciate Austin, it’s actually somewhat similar to James’s compliments), and more importantly, this is the virtue of the era of civility re-explained in Austin’s novels: Lizzy, like Elinor and Emma, her virtue is not romantic. Regardless of the personal authenticity of others or even against others, but caring for relatives and friends "Compassionate" and "Knowledge of Li". However, because the director did not understand this at all, in order to accompany Darcy and Lizzy, he chose two actors who looked completely shameless to play Bingley and Jane, which completely defeated the effect of Austin's careful arrangement.
Another bad choice is Charlotte's actor. Charlotte Lucas is Lizzy's friend, but because of his personality weakness, he chose Collins. The novel makes it very clear that she should be a smart and lovely lady, but she seems to be too "smart", but the director can't understand why Austin arranged such a role, so she chose a stupid girl to play it. You know, unlike the first rejection of Darcy, Lizzy's rejection of Collins is a more difficult choice in reality. Austin herself had a similar experience, and the result was that she was never married for life. The difference between Lizzy and Charlotte can be seen in Austin's attitude towards marriage, prudent (reasonable) but not mercenary: marriage is impossible without money, but only money without feelings and absolutely no happiness. Now this Charlotte makes the audience feel that she and Collins are a good match, and Lizzy's surprise and opposition seem unreasonable.
(2) Character and performance
With a good hand, how did the director play? It sucks. Except for the more comic characters such as Collins and Catherine, and the Bennetts are relatively medium-distance, almost all the actors performed too revealingly and too publicly. In a word, Austin became Charlotte Bronte. Lizzy, the actors are too beautiful at first, but this is a popular movie. Audiences like me like to see beautiful actresses, so it's not a problem. But having to play the good-looking Lizzy as a girl with flowing eyes and always flirting with people seems to turn Lizzy into a smarter Lydia. However, compared to the director's handling of her sister's character, Lizzy is still better. In the novel, Jane is a good person with a simple and dull mind. He has no idea that there are evils in the world. And the current Jane, in order to make way for Lizzy's beautiful face, a lot of scenes have been deleted, without any characteristics, I often mistakenly think that she is a maid. And as soon as Bingley left Netherfield, she lost faith in love, and asked Lizzy to comfort her, making people wonder why these men are so stupid and want to pursue this girl with no brilliance. Although her boyfriend Bingley looks terrible, his acting still matches his wealth. Although Darcy is very handsome, it doesn’t seem to show how he is "proud". It seems that he fell in love with Lizzy at first sight, but he was too stupid to chase after him. Like Aunt Qiongyao, he has to make a good love. Flying dog jumps.
(3) Script adaptation and structure
Looking at the front, we know that this director almost doesn't understand Austin at all. Even Austin's enemies know that she is definitely not a romantic or sensational writer. Only our director does not believe in this evil, and has amazing courage to film "Pride and Prejudice" in Marianne's way.
The writing, contrast and development of the novel are completely invisible in the movie. Some of the most exciting passages in the novel, Lizzy's writing by Darcy in the living room of Bingley's house (Volume 1, Chapter 10), Darcy's first courtship and his letter (Volume 2, Chapter 11), Lady The confrontation between Catherine and Lizzy (Volume 3, Chapter 14) failed to grasp the main points, and the handling was either too gentle or too exciting. If you read these three chapters carefully and compare the movies, you will know the difference between the master and the soap opera.
There are many details in the movie, which are different from the novel. In particular, the difference between the director's taste and Austin can be seen:
First, Lizzy and her uncle's family visited Darcy's mansion while he was away. This paragraph is very important. Later, when Lizzy explained to Jane the change in her feelings for Darcy, she half-joked that she had fallen in love with Darcy since then. How to understand this sentence has become a key to the history of criticism of Pride and Prejudice in the 20th century. What weight does wealth occupy in Lizzy's love for Darcy? Let’s not talk about this big issue here. At least one point of the novel is clearly written. When Lizzy is visiting the mansion, what fascinates her most is not the elegant decoration or art collection in the mansion, but the heights and heights seen in the building. Different natural landscapes. There have always been different opinions on what this benefit of the Darcy mansion means, but our director can hardly contain his romantic feelings, so that Lizzy was stunned at a statue of a veiled girl. I was sitting in the cinema and wished to rush. Going to the screen, knocking over the hypocritical statue, and pulling Lizzy's head to the window. However, the director who had been afflicted for a while finally remembered the window. He let Lizzy walk to the window, and outside the window was actually a French-style manicured garden, which looked almost like the front of the Lincoln Memorial. Fainted on the spot.
Second, when watching the movie trailer, there was a scene of Lizzy falling into Darcy's arms and kissing. I kept praying secretly, but don't end it. However, what are you afraid of? In the last scene of the film, Lizzy sits on his knees in front of the mansion with faintly illuminated lights, and first gently strokes the standing Darcy's calf (it turns out to be naked! Down). Then Darcy called Mrs Darcy and kissed all the way from the hair, Poor Lizzy, is this the lively Lizzy who wants to teach Darcy sister what is the freedom of women to her husband after marriage? I thought it was a slave girl who was conquered by the proud but stupid Darcy with wealth and old-fashioned romantic tricks.
In fact, I should have known this result from the beginning of the movie. At that time, Lizzy was holding a book in his hand and walking to the audience. I whispered to the friends who went with me, how can I still take the book? It was really hypocritical.
Finally, maybe there is something worth watching in this film, that is, there are some good scenery, especially in the movie theater. If you watch the disc, this advantage is not possible; in addition, some good animals, especially the one The pig crossing Bennett's house is the most realistic passage in the whole romantic soap opera. I like it the most. I suggest you don't miss it when you watch it.
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