PRIDE AND PREJUDICE tops U.K. box office
The title says it all.
Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” has once again been successfully adapted to film, with Keira Knightley’s new movie entering the UK charts in first place, Screen International said on Tuesday.
The film, based on the 1813 novel, stars Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew MacFadyen as Mr Darcey (sic) and has received strong reviews since it opened in cinemas across the country.
The Hampstead and Highgate Express has an article about Deborah Moggach, the screenwriter.
She loves Austen, but not excessively, which allowed her a coolness and distance which seems to have stopped her work being too reverential, unlike some.
“Those Jane Austen people are so nerdy” she said, describing some critics’ trainspotting obsession with period detail. “But just because they were a Regency family didn’t mean everything was exactly of its time - they were very old-fashioned, like me,” she said, waving a hand round her sitting room.
Well, the Editrix is one “Jane Austen person” who is proud of her nerdiness, and waves it like a flag. And is it just us or is there a whiff of Mary Sueishness in the article author’s comparisons between Ms. Moggach’s house and Longbourn?
Alert Janeite Erandika wrote to tell us that there are some new clips up on the U.K. P&P3 site. We’re unclear exactly where they are (she said they are the ones formerly marked “coming soon”) but will post that information when we find out.
Meanwhile, the Bridget Droopy Drawers late reviews are still straggling in. Wakefield Express likes the film even though it’s “one for the ladies.”
Pride and Prejudice has been adapted so many times, from the 1940s film starring Lawrence Olivier, to Gurinder Chadha’s Bollywood version, I didn’t believe anything new could be brought to the film, but director Joe Wright has picked up on his audience’s need for gossip and fashion and thrust these elements with force.
The film is like a copy of a Georgian Heat magazine brought to the big screen – the audience are treated to a sneaky peek into the class, gossip and scandal of the period, and also get an insight into who’s wearing what this season. For these reasons I was hooked.
“My Kinda Place” reviews the film favorably! With lots of exclamation points! Lots!
Period dramas are always a bit iffy! It’s all corsets, flowing skirts and what sounds to us like a whole load of people talking in funny code. But somehow, by taking a classic story and adding the hottest Brit actress around, its magic has simply been magnified. Packed with talent and nostalgia, it’s an absolute must-see! We dare you to not to blub!
We TRIPLE DOG DARE YA not to blub!
The Edinburgh Student Newspaper is unclear if it likes it or not.
Ultimately, Wright’s Pride and Prejudice is a rather sobering experience – some would say entirely contrary to the spirit of Austen’s original. But its beautiful filmic exterior is often overwhelming, and more than compensates for its shallow interior substance.
Huh?
Lastly, USA Today says that, despite many hints dropped, nay, hurled at the media with the velocity of a Billy Wagner fastball, that P&P3 would be raking in the Oscar gold, there were no obvious Oscar contenders among the offerings at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Toronto Film Festival closes Saturday with no Oscar film coup in the works like American Beauty achieved in 1999.
The overall tone of the festival is that the disappointing movie year will not be salvaged by the fare found here.
“While there’s a lot of good stuff here if you look for it — not so much in the gala section (films that get the red-carpet treatment) -it’s carrying over what’s been sort of a rotten year in general,” says Liam Lacey, film critic for the Toronto Globe and Mail. “And right now I don’t think that the overall feeling from critics was that Toronto is going to be the year’s savior.”
September 20th, 2005 at 11:02 pm
I figured it would do well. I still don’t understand why I have to wait two more months to see it! So to keep me satisfied I started at the begining of the book, when I didn’t finish the end. I hate suspense!
September 21st, 2005 at 12:57 am
The new clips on the U.K. P&P3 site that I have not seen anywhere else yet include:
-Charlotte telling Lizzie her news on Charlotte’s character page (quite a good scene from just the snippet)
-Lizzie’s arrival to Hunsford on Mary’s character page
-Darcy and Lizzie’s dance at Netherfield (go to the Prejudice located right under the grass and click on Lizzie)
-the Lizzie and Darcy Diaries (interviews with the director, KK, MM, and TR), which can be found by going to Darcy’s page and then clicking on the Lizzie box next to the wallpaper box
- Adapting the Novel on Wickham’s page (which wouldn’t load for me)
There are also clips on Lady Catherine’s page (dinner at Rosings), Mrs. Bennet’s (”He’s single!”), Mr. Bennet’s (”You must make her marry.”), and under Prejudice and then the Darcy link under the grass (the first meeting at Pemberley), all of which are scenes I’ve seen on other sites.
No, I’m not obsessed with tracking down clips for this movie. Why do you ask?
September 21st, 2005 at 6:13 am
Oh, a new label for Austen-purists:
Necrophiliac Nerd
It’s an alliteration… nice!
September 21st, 2005 at 7:40 am
I see another group T-shirt coming?
September 21st, 2005 at 8:30 am
Is the first T-shirt out yet ?
Oh, Kerstin .. maybe we can just add in that -Nice- word so it’ll be “Nice Necrophiliac Nerd” .. ;)opps, too much!
September 21st, 2005 at 10:20 am
Marybeth/ Thank you for the clip info. I happen to think MM is a genius(yeah, I said it, oops, but go see In My Father’s Den! You doubters) and am looking forward to seeing it, Gritty Realism or not. Gotta wait for another several months…Grrr.
September 21st, 2005 at 10:41 am
Triple alliteration? Why not?
Instead of Nice, we can use naughty… For our “naugthy” days!
September 21st, 2005 at 7:50 pm
Ohh, thanks for the info. I figured P&P would do well in the UK. I hope that it’ll get enough publicity here(in the USA) to do the same. All I know, is based on reviews I have seen, that I’ll probably end up watching this film more than once in theatres.
I have been wanting to see In My Fathers Den for aaaaaaggggeeesssss, but I cant find any place that sells it. Help, please?
September 21st, 2005 at 8:06 pm
It looks like In My Father’s Den will be released on DVD on October 3rd. You can order it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000AND8MO/qid=1127347140/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-1622248-1202014
September 21st, 2005 at 8:58 pm
Thanks for the link Mary, but I’m afraid that’s the region 2 DVD, so it won’t be of use for those in the other side of the Atlantic (that is region 1 users). Unless Bridget has a DVD multiregion and multisystem player, it would not be recomendable for her to acquire this DVD
September 21st, 2005 at 9:42 pm
There’s an online petition for the kiss to be included in UK/Europe. The link is here.
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/PP2005/petition.html
September 21st, 2005 at 11:31 pm
Cinthia: I live in the USA myself, so I know about the regions.
I bought a cheap multiregion player here, and that’s really the best way to go when it comes to DVD-players. Besides, Amazon.co.uk is great when it comes to shipping to the USA, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
I haven’t heard anything about the movie being released in the theatres here, so buying the DVD is probably the only available option at this point.
September 21st, 2005 at 11:33 pm
Yay P&P3!!!!
I hope it does as well in the US, I am dying to see it!!!!
September 22nd, 2005 at 6:02 pm
Uh oh, I ordered my P&P soundtrack from the amazon.co.uk. I’m in the US-will the CD work? I totally forgot about that…grrr…
Is there any website that would have the USA style DVD for In My Father’s Den?
September 22nd, 2005 at 6:21 pm
/Bridget I think, CDs don’t have a region, only DVDs. So don’t worry!
September 22nd, 2005 at 9:38 pm
Yep, CDs work anywhere.
And check this site — you may have an all-region player and not know it. Sometimes you can set your DVD player for all region by entering a few codes on your remote control.