Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Pride & Prejudice - 2005

Our next film is 2005's "Pride & Prejudice".  Here we have that classic story about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy as they navigate the waters of family, friends, class, and feelings in the English countryside.

The film's cast includes Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Carey Mulligan, Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn, Claudie Blakely, Simon Woods, Rupert Friend, Tom Hollander, Judi Dench, Penelope Wilton, Pip Torrens, and Kara Holden.

Elizabeth Bennet lives with her family (her parents and four lively sisters) at Longbourn.  She is the second eldest of the family and probably the one with the most level head.

Some new arrivals in the county make an appearance at a country ball.  Elizabeth, her sister Jane, and her best friend Charlotte crane their necks to see the new residents of the countryside.  They are wealthy Mr. Bingley, his sister Caroline, and his best friend, the doubly wealthy and broody Mr. Darcy.

Mr. Bingley is very affable and he and Jane hit it off almost instantly.  They dance the night away together, totally taken with each other.

Elizabeth takes the opportunity to chat with Mr. Darcy, but she quickly finds he feels himself above such society and is very haughty in his manner.

He, however, is quite taken with Elizabeth, and takes the trouble to tell Miss Bingley so.  Miss Bingley can't quite believe it.  She, herself, thinks of Mr. Darcy as a suitor for her own hand.

When Jane visits the Bingleys and is taken ill, Elizabeth comes to nurse her.  Mr. Darcy is thrilled with the chance to see Elizabeth again.  She remains aloof from him, though.

Things couldn't be more different between the two households.  At the Bennet residence, pigs walk through the front door.

It is nothing compared to the Bingleys' opulent residence at Netherfield Park.  During her stay there, Elizabeth gets the opportunity to scrutinize the personalities of the Netherfield's residents.

Back at Longbourn, a visitor in the form of Mr. Collins arrives.  He is to be Mr. Bennet's heir.  He's also an insufferably tedious man who enjoys reading sermons for one or two hours aloud after dinner.  He comments on the goodness of the potatoes.  He says it's been years since he's had such an exemplary vegetable.  Elizabeth isn't impressed.

A regiment of officers passes through the area, and Elizabeth makes the acquaintance of one Mr. Wickham.  The two hit it off and spend a lot of time together.  It seems Mr. Wickham was a ward to Mr. Darcy's father, and a living was promised to him.  However, when it came to time receive it, Mr. Darcy refused to give it to Mr. Wickham.  Elizabeth is horrified that Mr. Darcy could be so cruel.

At a ball at Netherfield Park, Elizabeth is surprised when Mr. Darcy asks her to dance.  The two trade sarcastic barbs throughout the evening.

Mr. Collins later surprises Elizabeth by proposing marriage.  She is repulsed by him and rejects his proposal, fleeing from the house with her mother frantically in tow.  Mrs. Bennet wants to secure their future by having Elizabeth marry Mr. Collins, but Elizabeth has the support of her father in rejecting him.

Inexplicably, the Bingleys leave Netherfield for London.  It comes as a shock to the Bennets, especially Jane, who believed that her relationship with Mr. Bingley was going somewhere.  The note that she receives tells her that they have no idea when they will return.

Elizabeth's best friend Charlotte Lucas visits and tells her that she's become engaged to Mr. Collins.  When Elizabeth protests, Charlotte tells her that she's been offered a comfortable home and would be a fool to pass on the opportunity.  She is scared of becoming an old maid, and she tells Elizabeth not to judge her for the choice she's made.

Time passes by, and Elizabeth is left at Longbourn after Charlotte leaves to get married and Jane leaves to visit their aunt and uncle in London.

She decides to patch up her relationship with Charlotte, who is overjoyed when Elizabeth comes for a visit.

Mr. Collins' patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, summons them to dinner, and Mr. Collins is eager to show Elizabeth the splendor's of Lady Catherine's residence, Rosings Park.

Elizabeth is surprised to see that Mr. Darcy is also a guest at Rosings.  We find out that Lady Catherine is Mr. Darcy's aunt.  Elizabeth is also surprised to find that Mr. Darcy seems to be much more friendly than he was in the country.

He surprises Elizabeth by visiting her one day while the Collins's are out.  However, his arrival is tempered by his very quick and puzzling departure.

Later, Mr. Darcy's cousin tells Elizabeth that it was Mr. Darcy who sent Mr. Bingley packing to London, thereby separating him and Jane.  Mr. Darcy's reasoning was that her family was objectionable.  Elizabeth is shocked at this news and runs out in the rain to seek solace in her thoughts.

Mr. Darcy follows her.  He again surprises her when he tells her that he loves her against his better judgment, and he asks her to marry him.  Elizabeth refuses him on the grounds that he loves her against his better judgment, his breaking up of Mr. Bingley and Jane, and his treatment of Mr. Wickham.

Mr. Darcy writes Elizabeth a letter in which he explains his positions.  He explains his reasoning for breaking up Mr. Bingley and Jane, and he also talks about his past with Mr. Wickham.  It seems Mr. Wickham had designs on his sister, Georgiana, and he tried to seduce her and elope with her.  Mr. Darcy found out about it and turned him from the house.  After reading the letter, Elizabeth recognizes that Mr. Darcy may not be as bad as she thought, and that there is some truth to what he says about the nature of her family.

Once she returns from Rosings Park, Elizabeth's aunt and uncle take her on a trip to the Peak District.  While stopping one afternoon, they suggest that they visit Pemberley, the home of Mr. Darcy, the next day.  Elizabeth is extremely resistive to the idea, but comes around when she's persuaded that great men are never at home and Mr. Darcy won't be there.

When they arrive at Pemberley, Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle are overawed at the grandeur and magnificence of the house and grounds.  Elizabeth can't help laughing at the fact that she could've been the mistress of all that lay before her.

The inside of the house is just as beautiful as the outside, and Elizabeth wanders through the rooms admiring their beauty.  She gazes at the beautiful grounds from the windows of the house.

She unexpectedly sees Mr. Darcy in one of the rooms.  As soon as their eyes meet, Elizabeth turns from the house and runs away.  Mr. Darcy catches up with her and asks to accompany her back to the inn where she is staying.  She refuses, but he later prevails upon her aunt and uncle to stay around so that he can entertain them.

Elizabeth finds Mr. Darcy extremely agreeable and hospitable, a side she never got to see when she was with him elsewhere.

A letter from Jane breaks up the happy party.  Mr. Wickham has run off with one of Elizabeth's younger sisters and their whereabouts are unknown.  Mr. Darcy takes his leave, and Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle return home.

Eventually, Mr. Wickham and Elizabeth's sister Lydia are found by Mr. Darcy, who enables them to marry.  When Elizabeth is told that it was Mr. Darcy who discovered them and made all the arrangements, she is extremely grateful to him.

Mr. Darcy also has Mr. Bingley return to Longbourn.  Once he does he arrives and proposes to Jane, which Elizabeth takes great pleasure in overhearing.

Late one night, the Bennet household is awakened by Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who demands an interview with Elizabeth.  She's heard a report that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are engaged and she's hear to prevent it on the grounds that an alliance with the Bennets is unsuitable.  "Heaven and earth," she says, "are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?"  When she asks Elizabeth if she will refuse Mr. Darcy should he ask for her hand in marriage, Lady Catherine is disappointed when Elizabeth refuses, and she leaves in a huff.

To clear her head, Elizabeth goes for a walk in the early morning.  She comes across Mr. Darcy, who is also out for a walk after a visit from his aunt.

Mr. Darcy tells Elizabeth that his feelings for her are unchanged.  "You have bewitched me body and soul, and I love...I love...I love you," he says.

Elizabeth agrees to marry him, now fully realizing that she loves Mr. Darcy.

Of course, her family is extremely confused, because they all thought she hated him.  When Elizabeth explains the full extent of Mr. Darcy's involvement in the Wickham/Lydia debacle, her father naturally gives his consent to their union.

After their marriage, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are back at Pemberley and bask in the glow of newly married life.

Cast rundown:

   Keira Knightley............................Elizabeth Bennet

   Matthew Macfadyen.....................Mr. Darcy

   Rosamund Pike...........................Jane Bennet

   Jena Malone................................Lydia Bennet

   Carey Mulligan............................Kitty Bennet

   Donald Sutherland.......................Mr. Bennet

   Brenda Blethyn...........................Mrs. Bennet

   Claudie Blakely............................Charlotte Lucas

   Simon Woods..............................Mr. Bingley

   Rupert Friend..............................Mr. Wickham

   Tom Hollander.............................Mr. Collins

   Judi Dench..................................Lady Catherine de Bourgh

   Penelope Wilton...........................Mrs. Gardiner

   Pip Torrens..................................Butler

   Kara Holden.................................Caroline Bingley 

And that's it for Pride & Prejudice.  If you are looking for more Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, you can try the 1995 mini-series of the same name, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.  Many think that Colin Firth provides us with the quintessential portrayal of Mr. Darcy.  Also, in 2013 an excellent follow-up mini-series entitled "Death Comes To Pemberley" was released, and shows us what happens to our favorite characters beyond "happily ever after".

It's all about location, location, location, and this film gives us some beautiful ones.  Groombridge Place stood in for the Bennet family home, Longbourn.  Beautiful and iconic Chatsworth House served as Pemberley, and it is thought that Chatsworth was Jane Austen's inspiration for its fictitious counterpart.  Basildon Park stood in for Netherfield, and Burghley House became the imposing Rosings Park, home to Lady Catherine.

As always, if you wish to leave a comment, please remember our posting rules.