I think I'll just make a long list of "Things I LOVE about my favourite movie." Because it's the only way I can write this and make my thoughts sound like they are organised.
(Yes, I'm afraid some of them are rather low-cut. (Lydia's 'I want to go to Brighton'-scene-dress *cough*) It's basically the only thing I don't like about this movie. Plus the fact that they talk too much about 'beauty' in episode one. That's all.)
6. The Lines. And I'm not just talking about the amazing quotes of literature. (Talking about that later - it deserves a paragraph of it's own, y'see.) I'm talking about the way they talk. The Jane-Austen-ism, the 'one-and-twenty' rather than 'twenty-one' - the glorious accents. (I'm British, but I still adore all the UBER-British accents in here. I mean, Lady Catherine's 'preyyyy.')
7. The quotes. It goes without saying, that. I don't know why I said it.
8. The Music. I mean, seriously, that intro-music; it gives me such
chilllllls. The Prm-'s. YOU know. And then we have the epic Lady Catherine de Bough song, and the Canon Collins song, and the gorgeous romantic theme played on the grounds of Pemberly. Ohhhh.
9. Elizabeth Bennet. Jennifer Ehle, my goodness, does SUCH an amazing job as Elizabeth. Every time I watch it, I'm in awe. The way she ges about performing all those Jane Austen lines! The way she kind of has those mocking-lights in her eyes - and oh, her sweet little smile to Darcy when she turns the pages for Georgiana! Yes, she looks a bit older than 20 - but she's just perfectly awesome. She's a lady and yet sassy - she's kind and yet snarky. She's just... GAH.
Also, her accent. I mean, one would have never assumed Jennifer Ehle was half American. I mean seriously.
10. Mr Darcy. Poor Mr Darcy.
He's so overrated that he's underrated. (Isn't that a clever thing to come up with? I had to make that sentance a little bigger, hahaha.) I agree, all the hype about him - y'know the 'sex symbol'-thing and the 'wet-shirt-scene-craze' (BLEHEEEHHHH) - makes me actually like him less than I would like him without the hype. So, let's push away all the weird-things-people-do-with-poor-Mr-Darcy, and look at him as if we look at him for the first time.
I can say this: Mr Darcy is amazing. Colin Firth does an
amazing job. He's not only 'tall and handsome' just like he is in the book, he also does a brilliant job portraying the noble-ness as well as the pride and OH WHEN WE SEE HIS TRUE CHARACTER AT PEMBERLY. That's when I start to love him like crazy. When I see THIS face:
Yes, in the beginning he's very arrogant. I don't like him at all - we aren't supposed to. We look at the movie through Elizabeth's eyes, which, duh, means we're supposed to LOATHE HIM.
Little things I like about Mr Darcy:
- His green coat.
- The way he turns off candles.
- He loves windows.
- His HANDWRITING. Um, not fair.
- His many teensy smiles. (Click
here to see them all.)
- His TRUE character. He has an outer shell. Which, yes, is admittedly wooden and robot-like. But the real him isn't. And ohhh, the real him is amazing. I love Mr Darcy, and I'm proud of that. :-)
11. All the Lizzy-Darcy scenes. Not necessarily the ones in the first two episodes (Although those are awesome too. I mean, duh, their dance.) I'm talking more of the ones later on. Especially those at Pemberly. (Gosh, I love Pemberly.)
Some of my favourite Lizzy-Darcy scenes:
- Their dance. "What think you of books?" (Mr Darcy want to talk about BOOKS. Mr Darcy is a bluestocking - he has huge libraries and ohhh, Mr Darcy, can I visit you?)
- Their meeting at Pemberly. Yes, the wet-shirt-hype bothers me. But I never said that I didn't like the wet-shirt-scene. I rather like it. In fact, I love it. "Mr Darcy!" "Miss Bennet!" "Um-er-are your sisters in good health? And your parents?" "Yes, thank you sir, they are all well." "Where are you staying?" "At Lambton Inn." "Ah yesocourse. And - um - are your sisters in good health?"
- The scene in the picture above. I mean LOOK HE HOLDS HER HAND.
- The 'Dearest, Loveliest Elizabeth' scene. BECAUSE OHHH. All the quiet happiness is killing me.
- And of course I love the Wedding scene. I mean, DUH, peoples. Because we get to see Mr Darcy's teeth there, and their sweet kiss and their happy arms interweaving, and them going off in the carriage.
- I also find Mr Darcy's first proposal very epic. Although I feel bad for them both. Very bad.
12. The Wallpaper in Mr Collins' house. I know, I know, very random. VERY random. But still, I rather love it.
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| Hint, hint, HIIINT |
13. All the characters. I won't put a different 'number' before each one, because then we'd end up having a miiiile long list. There are SO many amazing characters in here. I'm not only talking about the 'main' ones such as Mr Bennet (My favourite character in whole show) and Lydia (Julia Sawalha was SO AMAZING) and Mr Bingley (his cuuurls though) - I'm also talking about all the less important ones.
For instance, Maria. She's adorable. And then we have this guy. In our family, we call him the Capital-Capital Man.
I personally think all the actors were splendid. Then, I am biased, but yeah. (Oh yes, the sisters did look a bit too old. Especially Mary. Poor Mary. I have to say, I adore her singing. It's MIGHTY entertaining.)
The only character I never really seem to warm-up to is Jane Bennet. I don't know why (and this might cause controversy in the comment box as I know one of my dear commenters is very fond of Jane's character) - it wasn't really Susanna Harker's performance that troubled me (although I like certain aspects of Rosamund Pike's performance better) - I even think she looked all-right; the beauty standards of that time were very much like Susanna Harker's - the Grecian look was extremely popular, and this Jane Bennet looks very much like a Regency Grecian-inspired Fashion plate. It's just that the 'Awww-everyone's-perfect' thing annoys me a bit sometimes.
Also, this Jane Bennet sometimes seemed to lack in 'sweetness' - and sometimes you can really see that the actress is pregnant.
Still, I love Jane, but she's just not my favourite character, is all.
I have to talk a bit more about Mr Bennet. Benjamin Whitrow just IS Mr Bennet. THE WAY HE SAYS THINGS - it's just not funny how funny and dry and sarcastic and witty it is. The 'I will never see you again scene' is probably my favourite scene in the entire movie. Ohhh, I just love Mr Bennet.
I also love Alison's portrayal of Mrs Bennet - no, she's not very likeable. But Mrs Bennet isn't supposed to be likeable, hello. She's supposed to be annoying and SCREEAAACHY. Also, she's hilarious and I JUST LOVE IT. :-)
Mr Wickham is slimy but yet charming - I can see why Lizzy liked him at first. (Although he kind of looks guilty from the start.) Also, LYDIA. I love Lydia. Her giggles and snorts are seriously contagious. She's stupid, and a reckless flirt, but goodness, Julia Sawalha as Lydia is IMpeccable. (Aside, yes, from the fact that she doesn't exactly look 15.)
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| Look at all zee clothes. |
Then we also have Charlotte Lucas, who, goodness, marries Mr Collins, who, goodness, is absolutely frightful and HILARIOUS in here. Yes, his hair is disgustingly oily and yes, he's vile. But goodness, what a good Mr Collins - his proposal is so creepy and hilarious at the same time; and the way he puts his finger to his mouth when Lady Catherine shushes him.
Oh, and Lady Catherine's perfect in here too. "Obstinate HEADstrong girl! I am most
seeeriously displeased." We love to quote her here - Lady Catherine is the favourite character of many of my siblings, including a seven-year-old. Wonder why she charms children? Hmmm....
Caroline Bingley and her sister are disgusting (and don't look at all like their brother) but they really do an amazing job (the actors who play them. Not the characters. *Lydia snort*) I also am endlessly impressed by their fascinating head-pieces. Goodness, it's almost more impressive than the ones they have in Wives and Daughters.
And then we have Kitty, who's one of my favourite characters in the show. I also love her hairstyle and how she SO improves when Lydia buzzes off.
Basically, this movie is my favourite movie of all time.
I adore it to pieces, and I will never tire of it, ever. I watch it every year for my birthday - and that's the best tradition in the world. (In my humble opinion.) I've *only* seen it five times (the last episode six times, because yes, the last episode has the big smile and the kiss and the wedding and the autumn-walk) but I plan to watch it many more times in the future.
Have you seen this? (Don't you dare say no. That would be disastrously shocking, and I would ask for Hill about seventy times, and Oh JANE, my smelling salts - Ring the Bell, Kitty, for HILL!)
Do you love it as much as I?
And... *bites nails*...
Do Pride and Prejudice 1995 fans annoy you?
Oh,
What are YOUR opinions on Mr Darcy? Do you agree that he's so overrated that he's underrated?
(Oh I forgot to mention how much I love the balls! And the dances! And the elbow gloves. And the hairstyles. Hip, hip, hurrah to the hairstylist.)
THE END
