Pride, Prejudice, Pizza and Pemberly!
The first time I watched the A&E Miniseries Pride and Prejudice on DVD (I’d seen the original mini-series airing on cable), I invited my mom over for pizza, mom-daughter bonding and some quality time with Colin Firth’s Darcy.
My mom didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I had: “But what about the scene with the parrot? They’ve cut parts out! This isn’t as good as the time I first saw it. And doesn’t he teach her to shoot a bow and arrow?”
Eventually I convinced her she was remembering the plots to Emma and Sense and Sensibility. “Oh.”
It reminded me of the time I took her to see the Daniel Auteuil film, Girl on the Bridge. In the car on the way home, I told her how much I’d liked the stylistic choice of shooting the film in black and white, and she said: “It was in black and white?”
Getting back to P&P, I finished re-reading it for the Xteenth time last week, and I marveled afresh at how smoothly they translated pages of interior monologue into sprightly action in the mini-series. Also, just let me say that Jennifer Ehle’s Elizabeth Bennet was the prettiest woman on the planet. The way she laughed while she talked, the way you could hear the smile in her voice at all times, was the most charming thing in the world, next to those adorable little jackets she wore (I want to say they’re called “pelisses”), and her bouncy curls.
I’m a sucker for Jane Austen anyway, but I was practically mesmerized by every little lace neckerchief– and Lizzy’s beautiful pink and white complexion and tiny rosy mouth. And Firth’s Mr. Darcy, as you may know, is a sexy motherfucker. (If you’ve seen The King’s Speech, you know that there’s a very brief scene where Firth and Ehle share the screen; you’ll be all Oooooooooooh, Darcy and Elizabeth! for one moment more.)
I recently made Matt watch P&P in its entirety on a lazy, rainy Saturday. It is, as you may know, a six part mini-series, and that’s a lot of commitment to expect from a straight man. So basically, we drank every time anyone said “Mr. Darcy”, or “Pemberly”, whenever anyone was mean to Kitty or Mary, whenever there was a dance, whenever anyone talks about bonnets, whenever Mr. Bennet makes fun of his wife, whenever the Bingley sisters make fun of the Bennets, whenever Mr. Darcy is wet and/or naked…
It was good times, and we got a little tipsy, I don’t mind saying. But I figured he just watched it to be a good husband and whatnot, but then the next day we talked about how Mary will totally get over of her emo/goth period when she’s not constantly compared to the favored daughters and that she’d grow up to be okay, kind of like Peggy from Mad Men.
One last thing: I’m 99% sure that the house they shot as Pemberly in this version of Pride and Prejudice (Lyme Hall in Cheshire) was the house that the gang from Regency House Party got stay in for the summer.
They did a handsome job with this version, and I’m pretty sure it’s the only one you’ll ever need. If you don’t already have a copy, it’s excellent to have on hand for sick-days and sad afternoons. With a nice cup of tea.
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I heart Colin Firth very much. Six hours of watching him sounds lovely.
I think it runs under six hours, but it’s lively and lovely.
I got in a big fight with my mom about Pride and Prejudice last night. She’s re-reading it, but she’s forgotten most of it, so she thought Jane married Mr. Darcy.
It got pretty hardcore, I don’t mind telling you.
Soon enough she will be in possession of both this miniseries and the vastly inferior Keira Knightley film adaptation, and then we’ll see.
OH WE’LL SEE.
Kiera knightly’s version is DEAD to me!
As much as I adore this version of P&P–and I do, passionately–I also somewhat resent it for banishing my original imaginary versions of Darcy and Elizabeth. Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle are gorgeous and perfect, but they’re not mine. I’m desperately trying to claw back the characters I saw in my mind’s eye the first twenty times I read the book.
I guess I never had strong images of them in my mind’s eye – she never describes anyone except to say how tall someone is or whether they’re handsome or not.