Depression Movies #2 [Partie Un]: The Feminist

*there might be spoilers*

So tonight, as my very particular form of masochism I decided to watch for the millionth time Pride & Prejudice. Surely some will disagree with me, but I haven't seen lately such a perfect movie. I'm considering the last two years releases, at least. I'll give you three reasons why I think so.

The first and main one is that few film adaptations from novels, especially historically favourite ones such as this, remain so faithful to the original. When I first watched P&P I haven't read the book, although I was already familiar with the author's fame and prestige. The film however, like few others have, gave me this great urge to read the book as soon as possible. After I did all my screenings of the movie are always filled with even more praise on Deborah Moggach and Joe Wright's delightful transfiguration of Jane Austen's humor and writing. Other Austen films like Emma and Oscar winner [for best adapted screenplay] Sense And Sensibility, although being lovely and marvelous have failed to catch me as much as P&P.

The way Wright's camera chronicles the Bennets' lives is so voyueristic that you feel immersed in the movie. There are two specific scenes I never get enough of: at the first ball, during the dance Mr. Bingley is having with Miss Lucas but he and Jane Bennet can't take the eyes from each other, we see Eliza and Miss Lucas peeking at them in way that it feels like it's us who's peeking them all through a keyhole; later when the Bennet girls are leaving Netherfield, Mr. Darcy helps Eliza to get on the carriage... there! That scene is enchanting! It's their first touch and the film filled it with such life and meaning as we see Lizzie's expression and later the close at Mr. Darcy's hand. It reminds me of their first glance at each other back at the ball. It happens so quickly like in real life, hence setting for the public the charachters' passion.

The second point I must once again talk about is the cast. I've hardly seen such a charming ensemble in my life; all the actors worked perfectly in their actings, making those adorable characters coming to life with such naturalness as if we lived in the 18th century. This time I especially got impressed on Kelly Reilly's Caroline Bingley; Mr. Bingley's sister's snobby attitudes and falsehood were performed by Reilly in such a bitchy-yet-discreet way that I was amazed and surprise I never gave much attention to her before. Donald Sutherland's Mr. Bennet's laidbackness is as funny as the book describes; and I totally have no words for Brenda Blethyn and Tom Hollander's performances, they're simply hilarious and captivating; same goes for Carey Mulligan and Jena Malone's as the silly youngest Bennets and the subtle and mesmerzing Rosamund Pike, making Jane the most beautiful of the Bennets indeed [I just wanted to hold her everytime she was onscreen]. Talk about that Dench woman! In her almost-cameo performance she delivers a Lady Catherine de Bourg as bitchy and grand [despite her size] as you imagine that you just hate the hag. Oh and Simon Woods's Mr. Blingley is so cute and innocent you'd put him in a vial and admire him forever.

But surely my favorite actors in this movie are Mathew Macfadyen and Keira Knightley. Mathew has the power of making us fall in love with him at each and every screening. His Mr. Darcy is so poignant and honest that it is kind of cruel how he makes us desiring him to pop out of the screen and coming to us in that final scene. He's as stiff as an 18th century Brit man should be and as charming and thrilling as any Brit man is. As for Keira... well, the woman is G-d! Maybe because I read the book only after I saw the movie, I cannot imagine anyone else as Elizabeth Bennet. As the headstrong and determined woman that Lizzie is, Keira showed us with grand smiles and subtle gestures the character like perhaps Austen had imagined. Lizzie's fierce honesty and deep and sarcastic intelligence burst with life from the eyes and expressions of Knightley. Her voice goes up and/or stumbles at the right moments and the way she's always sweaty and dishevelled is genius!

The third and last reason of my P&P loving is more about the novel than the movie itself. The women from Austen's book are typical 18th century women, except for Eliza of course. Eliza is ahead of her time, that craves for the things women from her time crave, but with a patience, sense and dignity that was rarely found on feminine characters from that period. In a society which a woman had not many options than getting married, Eliza's desire for real and earthquakingly love was groundbreaking. On the plot we know that in case Mr. Bennet died before his daughters got married and left the house, they'd all be thrown to poverty and homelessness. So marriage was a question of survival; still Eliza stood for her beliefs in spite of the dreadful circumstances. Ironically, though, the most heartbreakingly line of the novel, that shows the twisted part of women in that society, is not from Eliza, but from Miss Lucas: "Not all of us can afford to be romantic, Lizzie."[Song: Drowned World/Substitute For Love - Madonna]