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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Pride & Prejudice for those who appreciate Jane Austen, 20 Mar 2004
By A Customer
This is undoubtedly the best dramatized version so far of Pride and Prejudice. In offering a review of this adaptation, I feel that it is also necessary to compare the two BBC versions, to demonstrate the need for both to be available on permanent format.Whilst the 1995 version may be more sumptuously filmed, Fay Weldon's adaption contains far more passages of Jane Austen's prose. The importance of using Miss Austen's words wherever possible (apart from the literary courtesy due to the original by the adaptation), is that Miss Austen is one of the wittiest writers in the English Language. Unfortunately, as evinced by "Game On", Andrew Davies is not able to prove an acceptable subtitute. Both portrayals of Elizabeth Bennet are fine overall but Elizabeth Garvie gives a better characterisation. In particular, in the final stages, she manages to express the realisation that her views have been in error, which realisation is one of the fundamentals of the book. To my mind this is never achieved by Jennifer Ehle, whose expression of different moods is too often achieved by alternating between a frown and a simper. She also seems to lack clear enunciation at times. As to the portayal of Mr Darcy, although David Rintoul gives a good performance, I have to say that Colin Firth is a more rounded portrayal. The famous "lake scene" is however too far out of character to be anything but an embarrassment. Mr Collins is supposed to be ridiculous and in this version is given a fine comic performance by Malcolm Rennie. He is not supposed to be played as Dud (from Pete & Dud), as in the 1995 version. Speaking of comic performances, one can only wonder at the inspiration that gave Alison Steadman the idea to play Mrs Bennet as a pantomime dame (1995); by contrast the Mrs Bennet portrayed by Priscilla Morgan is a believably empty-headed but not farcical character. In defence of the 1995 version, it is good in many respects and is acceptable as a reasonable rendering of the book. Nevertheless, in terms of being definitive, it is fatally flawed in several ways, which takes off the shine. We desperately need a DVD of the Fay Weldon production, so that fans of each particular version are equally well served.
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