I love Pride and Prejudice. The book. So naturally when I was looking at the movies and watching them (I've only seen the two in the title. :) naturally I was looking for something that stuck to the book and had actors who really seemed like Jane Austen's characters.
The BBC adaptation with Colin Firth was fantastic. Perfect. (Almost. I still don't like the Lake Scene.)
I watched the 2005 one purely to make fun of, insult, and condemn it. Harsh, yes, but I was not disappointed.
It was terrible. Ghastly. Shocking and scandalous. To quote Mr. Knightley, "It was badly done indeed!"
There's too much to compare, so I'll only compare some characters and then if you want a good bashing of the fake movie, go to the Pride and Prejudice '95 Forever Club's blog:
I completely agree with everything they said.
And now I want to add my own thoughts and comparisons.
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| Not Mr. Darcy (left) and Mr. Darcy (right) |
That guy on the left IS NOT MR. DARCY!!! He's not. That is Matthew MacFadyen. He is not Mr. Darcy and never was and never will be. Why?
1. He is too shy and awkward to be Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy is only quiet because he is to proud to speak to people. He is NOT shy.
2. Mr. Darcy would never say "You have bewitched me body and soul." (I will have to rant about the proposal scenes later.)
2. His nose! That is NOT Mr. Darcy's nose, ladies (and gentlemen).
Just to reiterate--the guy on the left is NOT Mr. Darcy. The gentleman on the right is. Mr. Darcy would not go out at any early hour in the morning in his nightclothes etc. People, you can try to cast up the Lake Scene to me insulting the Pajama Scene in the Fake one, but let me remind you--Jane Austen didn't write either of those scenes and her book is still the best.
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| NOT Elizabeth Bennet and Elizabeth Bennet |
I hope the difference is quite clear. Lizzy Bennet is NOT a tomboy. She is not a slovenly peasant. She is a gentlewoman's daughter and she is very proper about her appearance. Also, Keira Knightley just wasn't Elizabeth like Jennifer Ehle. She was too unladylike and too flirtatious towards Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth Bennet was a wonderful character and Jennifer Ehle played her perfectly.
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| Not quite Mr. Bingley (left) and Mr. Bingley (right) |
So the Fake P&P made Mr. Bingley a minor enough character that he doesn't strike me particularly as awful, but just the same--He was not nearly as good as the Real Mr. Bingley on the right. (You may notice that all the real ones are on the right--because they are always right. Whatever. I have this thing for lame puns and stuff.)
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| Jane Bennet |
The one person I don't have too much of a problem with in this movie is Jane. This Jane is all right. She's still not Perfect like the real Jane is, but she's all right. I have no complaints. In fact, many P&P '95 fans still prefer this Jane because she's "prettier" and in the book it says she's the prettiest; many people think Susannah Harker as Jane was not pretty enough. However, read
this post by Elegance of Fashion explaining why she's still the prettiest.
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| Lady Catherine De Bourgh (on the right) |
Lady Catherine de Bourgh is the one on the right (Yes, thank you, Mary). The Lady Catherine in the fake one was just not quite her, whereas the real one is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. I adore that Lady Catherine. Also, in the Fake One, that scene where "Lady Catherine" shows up to question Elizabeth--in the middle of the night??? Why???
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| Lydia Bennet (on the right) |
The Lydia in the Fake one is rather underdone. You just don't get who she is or anything. The real Lydia is perfect. She's obnoxious, flirtatious, and completely boy crazy in a really annoying sort of way, and she snorts like she's supposed to. I would hate to know her in real life so I love her as Lydia Bennet. She's perfect.
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| Not Mr. Bennet (left) and Mr. Bennet (right) |
I honestly cannot see how anyone could like Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet in this movie. Mr. Bennet is NOT supposed to be how "Mr. Bennet" was in the Fake One. He only said a couple of things, and those funny lines he was supposed to say?--he mumbled them. Mr. Bennet, on the right, was perfect. I adore the character of Mr. Bennet in the book, and this Mr. Bennet did a perfect job of capturing that character.
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| Not Mr. Collins (left) and Mr. Collins (right) |
Tom Hollander is not Mr. Collins in this movie. He is far too dull and boring and he is not amusing at all. Mr. Collins, on the other hand is soooo perfect. He is the perfect caricature that Jane Austen wrote her character to be.
I absolutely ADORE Mrs. Bennet. (In case you thought I was talking about "Mrs. Bennet" from the fake one, let me tell you I am actually talking about Mrs. Bennet. Herself.) Jane Austen created such an awesome character in Mrs. Bennet. I copy her a lot (esp. after reading/watching Pride and Prejudice) by saying things like "You have no compassion on my poor nerves!" and "Oh, Mr. Bennet!" I can do a pretty fair impression of her, too, and my sisters find it quite funny.
This leaves little room to say anything about the other "Mrs. Bennet" but that's okay because there's really not anything to say. She just wasn't Mrs. Bennet, she didn't have "nerves" and she was far too bustling-motherly. Too much like a proper mother (though not quite) and not enough like Mrs. Bennet.
I was thoroughly disgusted with the Fake Caroline Bingley. She just wasn't. She was far too modern for one thing (That dress she's wearing? Ladies in Regency England did NOT wear sleeveless dresses. Umm...) Caroline Bingley in the Real One, though, was really, really good. She was perfect as Miss Bingley. She said those snarky things with perfect insinuations and her interactions with Mr. Darcy were exactly what they should be. Perfect.
When "Mr. Wickham" first showed up in the movie, I thought, "Wait...is that Mr. Wickham?" I doubted it as long as I could, sure that it probably wasn't Wickham...but who else would it be? Of course it was "Wickham." Yeah, I think he was a pathetic Wickham. Not at all right for Wickham. In the Real One, however, Mr. Wickham is a great Wickham. I do think he was a little too old and he was a little too...slimy...or something, but still, overall, he did a fantastic job of being the character of Mr. Wickham. Infinitely preferable to the fake one.
That concludes our character comparison. Now...There are a couple of things I need to rant about:
-THAT FIRST "PROPOSAL SCENE" Was. Horrible. Horrifying. Absolutely dreadful. Positively shocking. It was quite possibly the worst scene in any movie I have ever seen. To begin with: The rain. That was such an American attempt at making it a romantic drama movie instead of a Jane Austen adaptation. Next, their conversation! What on earth possessed them to make up that nonsense when Jane Austen wrote such a masterpiece of a scene? "You have bewitched my body and soul." "I love you...most ardently." That is sooo not Jane Austen. That second line is a poor attempt to faintly echo Jane Austen. This is Jane Austen: "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." That is Mr. Darcy. That is perfection.
-The Second Proposal Scene: In. Their. Pajamas. Early in the morning. "Your hands are cold."????? Horrors. Chills (not good chills). Screams of agony. Why, oh why, must you butcher the name of Jane Austen in such a manner? Could you not content yourself with something less awful? No? Well. And the scenes before and afterwards are also quite dreadful.
-The whole movie was so different from the book. I sincerely hope nobody thinks that movie is an accurate representation of Jane Austen. It isn't.
So...I hope this offended no one and if you were
previously a fan of the 2005 version I'm sorry...that you were so mistaken and I hope you watch the real version and read the book. :)
My faces when watching the Fake Pride and Prejudice. :)
(For Mr. Darcy quotes, click
here.)
