Pride and Prejudice
This afternoon we sat down to watch the BBC/A&E version of Pride and Prejudice not realising the time commitment we were making. That is one long show! (It was at least six hours?)
And it was good. It stayed pretty close to the book’s plot as far as I can recall–it has been a few years since I read the book.
Having heard so much about this version of the movie, I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. Good? Bad? Definitely some heart throbbing. I mean Bridget Jones kept rewinding to the ‘jump in the pond scene’ and evidently that scene sent women across Britain to the emergency room due to heart palpitations. So maybe my expectations were slightly high. But still realistic? Maybe.
And no, my heart didn’t skip beats or anything, but I did sort of get excited when they led up to the pond scene. Anticipation! And then I was disappointed. I thought he took off his shirt. Surely there weren’t TWO pond scenes? What’s the thrill in seeing a man in a wet dress shirt? Sure it’s white, but it wasn’t like it was clinging to his butt or anything. The bath scene was more ‘ooh-la-la’ than the pond. But maybe it is because the bath was like a bonus that nobody had warned me about. Well, except for that clip on YouTube. (But that didn’t really count.)
I asked my husband at the end of movie (he who wouldn’t let me stop it to go have supper) what he thought of the pond scene–was I missing something?–and he replied to the effect that us women were a strange bunch and that he didn’t understand. So what does that say for me seeing as I don’t fully understand what all the fuss was about? Maybe it was all the build up and anticipation that killed it for me.
I did enjoy how Helen Fielding (in her books and in the movies) stole little scenes and drew parallels between Bridget Jones’ Diary and Pride and Prejudice. Even the end wedding scene in P&J was ripped off for BJ2. I like that. Very cool and the whole Colin Firth/Mr. Darcy circle was ‘most excellent’. It reminds me of Sleepless in Seattle drawing things from An Affair to Remember.
All in all, a good way to spend a few hours. I’m sure I’ll do it again.
