"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in
possession of good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
Hello everyone!
"Ice hockey runs all afternoon."
"Yep."
"You know what we should watch in the meantime?"
"What?"
Movie theme song plays.
It's been absolute AGES since I've seen this movie to begin with, and it's always a pleasure watching it with someone who's more than fine discussing certain issues that crop up or that are being argued about on screen.
Without further ado then - let's time travel back to 2005 and Pride & Prejudice.
The 2005 famously stars Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in the titular roles of Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy (funny story: my sister had no clue the man's given name was Fitzwilliam), and stellar cast in supporting roles such as Donald Sutherland, Rosamund Pike, Rupert Friend and Tom Hollander.
It also opens up with Lizzie walking along back to the house while reading a book, giving us our first glimpse of the family abode, while her mother is inside losing her nerves over the fact that the big hall in the neighbourhood finally has tenants. She wants her husband to go visit said tenant - Mr. Bingley - so that the women of the family can afterwards make themselves known to him.
Mr. Bennett, being the vexing person that he is, teases his wife, but eventually admits that he's already paid the guy a visit, and as we skip towards a public assembly where the girls are indeed having a ball (and discussing the merits of future prospects) we finally meet the rich patricians descending among the plebs.
Mr. Bingley is accompanied by his sister as well as his best friend, half a head taller than all the rest and about half gloomier (also, ironically, half richer), Mr. Darcy.
It becomes immediately obvious that Bingley's got eyes only for Lizzie's older sister Jane, while Darcy condescendingly says not even Lizzie's handsome enough to tempt him. I'm reasonably sure the poor guy's so introverted and emotionally constipated (based on latter conversations at the same assembly with Lizzie) that he doesn't even know what to do with himself, whereas Lizzie at least has the benefit of being witty and outgoing.
Anyway, Jane falls ill on a trip to visit the Bingleys and convalesces there, where Lizzie hurries to visit her and surprises Darcy completely by not caring whatsoever what she looks like. In the meantime, a regiment arrives to be quartered in town for the duration and Mrs. Bennett, along with her two youngest daughters Lydia and Kitty, are all aflutter about the possibilities - and officers in red uniforms, of course.
Once Jane recovers, they actually meet one of the officers, a Mr. Wickham, who is apparently on Darcy's blacklist as it becomes immediately obvious, and Wickham explains that Darcy's jealous because Darcy Sr., while living, had preferred Wickham and wanted to leave him a sizeable inheritance which Darcy has blocked.
This infuriates Lizzie, but she's also slightly side-tracked because the Bennetts receive a visitor - a Mr. Collins, who is to inherit the estate since none of the five girls can inherit after their father, and he sets his sights on marrying one of them. My sister and I are of the mind their problems would have been solved if they'd only just married him to Mary, the middle sister who's endearingly awkward and can't seem to fit in, but no, they have to try and pull a fast one over Lizzie seeing as they're expecting Bingley to propose to Jane.
Speaking of, Bingley hosts the promised ball at his home where Lizzie tries to figure out Darcy as a character and where Darcy actually asks her to dance, in a novel upgrade since the last ball. The most important thing that happens, however, is that Lizzie's friend Charlotte urges her to have Jane encourage Bingley a bit more and not be so reserved, or else he won't know where he stands.
Lizzie maintains that Jane's just shy and if Bingley can't see her moon eyes then he's an idiot, but she's got her own problems in turning down Collins' proposal, suffering her mother's wrath. This then turns upside down as CHARLOTTE eventually accepts Collins, feeling the need for marital security as she can't really be romantic, and Bingley's group hastily departs for London.
Lizzie sends Jane to their aunt and uncle after them, convinced that it was Bingley's sister who cooked up the scheme, but she herself is absent afterwards as Charlotte invites her to her new home.
It's there, at Rosings, home of none other than JUDI DENCH, IF YOU PLEASE, where she once again meets Darcy, who just so happens to be there visiting his aunt and cousin. Darcy gravitates towards Lizzie, so much so that he drops in for an unannounced visit where he says about five words, mangles his riding gloves, and runs out with tail tucked between his legs while she and Charlotte try to figure out what the heck happened.
Turns out, the poor man was trying to declare himself, but before he can do this - and after being rather abominably treated by his own aunt - Lizzie learns HE's the one who separated Jane and Bingley.
This all comes to a head in the rain where he announces his feelings and asks her to marry him, but she throws her new knowledge at his face. While he can't quite defend himself in Jane's case, things turn sideways when Lizzie brings up Wickham and his patience snaps. Both of them say regrettable things and go separate ways, but Darcy later delivers a letter to Lizzie to address her accusations - because at this point it's obvious he needs time to figure out what to say and how to say things.
In this letter, he reveals that while he may have mis-stepped with Jane and Bingley, he did it as a friend because he was convinced she didn't love him as much as he did her (precisely what Charlotte warned Lizzie about). He also explains that Wickham was, in fact, left a sizeable living, but wanted a pay-off, then asked for more money after gambling it away. When that was denied him, he tried seducing Darcy's teenage sister Georgiana, breaking her heart when her brother sent him packing before they could elope.
Confused because this image of Darcy doesn't align with the man she's painted in her head, Lizzie returns home where Jane has also returned, and Lydia is apparently heading to Brighton with a Colonel and his wife. Despite Lizzie's urging that their father needs to react more firmly, the man is convinced his kid needs to make a fool of herself, so he lets her go.
The Gardiners take Lizzie with them on a little field trip in the meantime, during which they land exactly at Pemberley, Darcy's home in Derbyshire, where Lizzie has more to rethink as she hears of all the good the man has done for the people living on his land. She also accidentally runs into him, and the most awkward conversation of conversations happens there.
I commented this was why they need a chaperone, to guide the chat along, but my sister said they had one: THE HUGE ASS ELEPHANT RIGHT THERE BETWEEN THEM.
Anyway, Darcy introduces Lizzie to Georgiana and the two families are happily co-mingling when a letter arrives from Jane telling that Lydia has run away with Wickham - precisely the type of thing everyone but Mr. Bennett were worried about when it came to her.
Hastily parting ways (and Lizzie probably convinced Darcy in his honourable manners won't want anything to do with them now) they return home, where they are eventually joined by a MARRIED Lydia after the girls' uncle apparently finds the renegades in London. Wickham has been posted to the North, so as far away from everyone as possible, and Lydia, with her big mouth, reveals it was Darcy who actually found them, paid off Wickham's debts and gotten him his commission.
This confuses Lizzie, particularly as very soon after, Darcy practically deposits Bingley in the Bennett's sitting room with a huge bow - though the man botches it, and Macfadyen's facial expressions in this scene are absolute gold when his co-star runs out. He's legitimately considering murder haha!
But eventually, Darcy marches Bingley back there and Bingley gets himself in line to finally propose to Jane, which is cause for much celebration in the house.
So of course it has to be ruined when Darcy's aunt drops in like a cannon ball in the middle of the night, demanding to know if Lizzie's engaged to her nephew. She tries to verbally out-match her, but Lizzie, after tolerating her for about ten minutes, eventually kicks her out saying she's not promising anything of the sort along the lines of "I will never marry Darcy".
This, in turn, sends him to her at the crack of dawn the next morning, when she can't sleep either and the two bleeding hearts meet in the mist-covered fields after both of them walked off some of their agitation. Lizzie, having realized Darcy's been fixing his past mistakes after Jane's letter arrived, waves off the insults of his aunt, and when he asks her to marry him again, this time also emotionally proclaiming his love for her, she accepts.
The family's shocked, the mother especially, since everyone thought Lizzie loathed Darcy to the ends of the Earth - Jane and Mrs. Bennett have a nice little chat of 'well wouldn't be the first time we were wrong then, huh?' and the British version of the movie wraps with Lizzie happily running out of her father's office to join her intended, but the American one has an additional ending.
It shows us the married couple at Pemberley in charming dishabille, just talking, and ends with a kiss - but also serves to show Darcy is perfectly affectionate and generous when comfortable with the company he keeps.
... also it's just the cutest thing, okay?!
With the movie nearing twenty years of age, one would perhaps think it hasn't aged well (since some movies made recently definitely won't) and yet it's actually really, really enjoyable to watch. It also hits different when you're not a teen-something yourself and can only see Collins' ridiculousness and Darcy's hotness (there, I said it).
It really is a very clever examination of human behaviour and what we respond to as individuals; Bingley and Jane are both relatively similar in temperament and both equally shy in trying to portray their feelings, which causes people to misunderstand. Darcy, quiet and aloof, is absolutely misunderstood by everyone and their mother before his inner knight in shining armour peeks through. And Lizzie definitely needs to check her opinionated self the more the movie goes on, learning and growing through her mistakes.
Most importantly, however, we have to have a look at Charlotte and Collins. Sure the man's ridiculous - and God, someone needed to rein in his word salad - but the truth of the matter is, he wasn't a bad prospect. He had his own home, his own living, a powerful patroness, didn't drink or gamble and certainly wasn't violent, so really, a woman could have done a whole lot worse in the end.
Charlotte made her own choice with eyes wide open, but also understanding that at her age she couldn't count on snagging a man with her looks alone, highlighting the practicality these women had to focus on. Just like Mrs. Bennett tells Lizzie, that with five daughters, marrying them off is literally the only thing on her mind based on what could happen if they aren't provided for.
It's a really great look into how society functioned at the time, and how choices of the heart were actually the exception, rather than the rule, but it's also supported by the brilliant acting of the actors in their roles.
It's a timeless epic, and has certainly gone down as one, just like the version with Colin Firth.
10/10 recommend!
xx
*images and video not mine
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