I thought I’d mention how I’m looking forward to the upcoming PRIDE AND PREJUDICE movie! I hear it has a (tentative) release date of November 18.
Does anyone want to talk about it? (Yes, I know it’s ridiculously early to talk about it, but why not!) 🙂
What I’m excited about:
Judi Dench as Lady Catherine De Bourgh! (Okay, I’d be excited seeing Judi Dench as anyone or anything — I adore her! Did I ever mention I once saw her star in a RNT revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC?) And she’s perfect for Lady Catherine! (Though I’d also love to see her do Northanger Abbey’s Mrs. Allen some day too!)
Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. Bennett. Too, too perfect!!!!
Rosamund Pike as Jane. I think RP is breathtakingly beautiful and
conveys serenity so well — perfect for Jane.
Okay, those are three reasons I’m looking forward to it! Anyone else?
Cara
Cara King, MY LADY GAMESTER, Signet Regency 11/05
check out more movie info on my website! www.caraking.com
I went to imdb.com and checked it out–Mr. Darcy is a dish! I agree with you about Rosamund Pike; the only thing I didn’t like about the BBC version was that the actress who played Jane was so clearly not nearly as beautiful as whoever played Elizabeth (Jennifer Ehle?). Anyway, the Jane actress had this long horse-face, and I did not believe for one minute she was the beautiful one while Elizabeth was the smart one. I also like the new version of P&P because the Spouse knows he has to take me to the movies to see it. Did anyone see the Bollywood version? And will everyone immediately discount any and all of my opinions if I admit I still like the Olivier/Garson version? I saw it when I was 10 or so, a very formative film for me. And now I’ve just realized I’ve out-Caraed Cara, since my comment is probably longer than her original post.
Are you saying to “Cara” someone is to leave a ridiculously long comment on their post??? 🙂
I like the Olivier/Garson P&P too! Sure, there are problems with it, but I think Garson is good, and I love the way Olivier’s Darcy is so obviously a shy man who thinks Elizabeth is flirting with him — and so is honestly surprised when she later tells him she never liked him at all!!! 🙂
And I loved “Bride and Prejudice” too!
I thought it was amazing how they kept so many characters and concepts essentially the same, while of course having to change so much!
Cara (who will one day out-Cara herself)
I’m looking forward to this, too! From the trailers it looks a bit like Charlotte Bronte meets Jane Austen–a bit of a Wuthering Heights feel versus “Aunt Jane”, but I’m not a purist. I even have to confess kinda linking that Mansfield Park that came out a few years ago (don’t throw tomatoes at me, please!) But I only kinda liked it. It was interesting, though only a loose relationship to the book. I suppose they kept the name the same for marketing purposes.
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I’ve never seen that Mansfield Park movie, because I was so influenced by the write-up by the strange brilliant lit critic Ron Rosenbaum, who said something like “call it Mansfield Park The Movie, call it Mansfield Park Revisited, call it Mansfield Park This Time it’s Personal, but don’t call it Mansfield Park.” Rosenbaum adores JA, likes to say things like, “are you man enough for Jane Austen?” and is, I believe, writing a book on her which will be a must-read.
I did take a look at the trailer a few weeks ago and I approve–they all look rather grubby and the weather looks fairly awful. Keira Knightley is such a sweet little thing–I always want to take her home and feed her up, and I worried throughout King Arthur that she was cold (now *that* was a bad weather movie. Couldn’t they have given her a cardigan?).
I have yet to take a good, critical look at Darcy.
I rather liked Mansfield Park Reloaded, too–superb casting. But my favorite JA movie is Persuasion (apart from the silly ship scene at the end)–loved the Fellini-esque circus sequence for The Kiss (soooo romantic), and the lighting, music, general grubbiness, and not particularly good weather.
Janet
Ooh, Pam, I’ll definitely have to read that Rosenbaum book when it comes out — sounds fascinating! And maybe I’ll go websurfing and see if I can find the review you refer to — wonder if it’s still lurking about on the web…
Janet, must say I wasn’t really into the casting of the Mansfield Park movie. I thought Henry Crawford was not charismatic enough! Or Mary, for that matter.
And I must admit I do like the ship bit at the end of the Persuasion movie. I like pretty much everything in that film except Elizabeth acting so vulgar (screaming “she’s a Viscountess!!!” and that sort of thing.) 🙂
Cara
I checked out the trailer, and I have to say I can’t wait to see the movie! Darcy DOES look dishy, and that scene in the rain (his first, disastrous proposal, I think) looked wonderfully intense. I also got the September Vogue today (darn thing must weigh 9 pounds, but that’s beside the point). They had a couple of pictures and a short write-up about the costumes. The author of the article didn’t sound very impressed–he ended by stating that “The empire dresses might be ho-hum, but the locations are a major fashion statement.” It seems they moved the setting back a few years from the usual, to 1797, and some of the older characters, like Lady Catherine, still wear remnants of 18th century style. I liked the costumes in the pics that were there, a sort of dark pelisse thing on Lizzie and then a row of white muslin ball gowns at the Netherfield ball. They looked “real,” as if they might have been lived in.
And my favorite of the JA movies is also Persuasion! So sweet and sad, with those great, realistic-looking settings. Strangely, I went to see a movie just last weekend called Junebug which had the Henry and Mary Crawford actors as a husband and wife. Great movie, BTW, though not at all OT as Regency. 🙂
The Emma Thompson “Sense and Sensibility” film was set during the 1790’s too — I suppose with the idea that the first drafts of both mss were written in the late 1790’s, but as they were obviously vastly rewritten before publication, I don’t think of the actual novels we have as being set then!
Cara
Oh, and just to be totally OT, that same issue of Vogue also had pictures of the wedding of the Earl of Mornington, who will one day be Duke of Wellington. Very interesting (and I guess the Wellington thing DOES make it Regency topical!). Too bad we didn’t find him when he was single, he’s dishy 🙂
My favorite filmed JA was also Persuasion until rather recently, when I saw the oldish A&E Emma with Kate Beckinsale. Not an entirely pleasant Emma, with the Mr. Knightley actor having the thin-lipped rectitude of an Eighteenth century portrait. But a brilliant one, imo, at least if you share my own love-hate feelings about a book that isn’t satisfied until it lines up all its characters in proper hierarchical relations of gratitude and fealty (and in return, allows them all to squawk about each other’s imagined illnesses into perpetuity). I’ve always thought there was another story hiding beneath that one — an angry, more modern, ambivalent, and knowing story, to be told in the voice we never hear, that of Jane Fairfax.
What an interesting take on Emma,
Pam! Maybe I’ll have to take another look at the Beckinsale version — I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it, I must admit. 🙂 So it’s good to find someone who is!
I guess one of my problems with that Emma was — hmm, how best to put this. I think Austen did a lot of “telling” rather than “showing” — not the style nowadays — for instance, she told us a lot of Marianne’s good points, and showed us a lot of her bad points, which leads a lot of people to find her rather annoying (nowadays I think we discount what we’re told.)
And with Emma — well, everyone loved her. Everyone. Mrs Weston, Mr Knightley — people of sense and taste and intelligence. We are shown her being very attentive to her father, but other than that, we aren’t shown much that’s great about her…. We are told some things, and others I like to infer. I see Emma as being happy — pretty, charming, and happy, and that is very attractive.
To be honest, in all the film versions of “Emma,” the actress who is best at playing her the way I see her is Alicia Silverstone in “Clueless”! Her Emma (Cher) is in love with life and the people around her, and so it’s totally understandable why everyone is gaga over her even though she’s incredibly lazy and self-centered. 🙂
I think Gwyneth Paltrow does a good Emma too (though not quite as happy as my Cher!) But Beckinsale was just too hard, too unhappy for me. And then she’s forced to marry that short bald guy who’s going to be fat in a month. Ack! I think in men’s romances (like the movie “Hitch”) the schlubby guys get the supermodels, so in women’s romances, women should get guys like Jeremy Northam! (Yum!!!)
Okay, now I’ve out-Cara’d myself! 🙂
(Which, according to our very own [and sophisticated] Megan, means leaving a comment longer than the original post!)
Cara
Cara King, http://www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER, Signet Regency, 11/05
Pam — on second reading, I have to respond to your Jane Fairfax comment! She would be the heroine of most tellings of the tale — she has the Cinderella plot, she knows the secrets, she’s in love with the dashing-but-will-he-break-your-heart guy!
Did you read Joan Aiken’s book “Jane Fairfax”? If so, did it work for you?
Cara
Thanks, Cara, for the tip about Joan Aiken. No, I’d never even heard of it — thank heaven I’m hearing about it now, before setting out to write it myself (yes, I do have some sentences scribbled). I’ll definitely be checking it out.
To me, it’s all the enforced gratitude in Emma that rankles. And yes, I loved Clueless too — for me the thing that makes Clueless so terrific is that Cher gets a real guy, not the father she should have had in the first place. Which is why I can’t care about what Mr. Knightley looks like. (is Emma the beginning of the baleful 35-year-old-hero, 18-year-old-heroine romance tradition?)
I never liked Emma, and I really didn’t like the movie. What’s worse, my husband’s only introduction to Austen was Emma, and his teacher asked ridiculous pointed questions like “And Mr. Knightley’s name makes him . . .?”. Save me from shallow readers. And, clearly, I am very grumpy today, so excuse me. Maybe it’s because only part of my outfit is black today.
[Pam wrote:] “is Emma the beginning of the baleful 35-year-old-hero, 18-year-old-heroine romance tradition?”
[And I answer:]
Hmm… Well, from a romance standpoint, I would think “Jane Eyre” had more influence on the very-young-heroine, much-older-guy thing. I mean, “Jane Eyre” is romantic, and “Emma”…not so much. 🙂
And I think there is a fantasy element in the older-guy thing. That a young girl, with no clout in the world, can control a very powerful man… Okay, it’s a power fantasy (or a father fantasy) but it’s still a fantasy! 🙂
And let’s face it: young men can be idiots! Though I never found it super romantic when Jo March fell for Professor Bhaer, I did think Laurie was too much a boy for her!
You know, perhaps one reason I like having Jeremy Northam be Mr Knightley is that he doesn’t look forty-five. 🙂 But your point about Emma’s real father not being much of a father has made me think! (Now I have to go think. Excuse me!)
Cara
Megan, you can invest five bucks in shoe polish, take it to your clothes, and voila! All your clothes will be black, and your mood will lighten accordingly.
BTW, which movie of Emma didn’t you like? Paltrow or Beckinsale? (Or the earlier BBC one with Doran Godwin?)
And I feel the same about clueless teachers! I did Macbeth in 10th grade. Wonderful things to talk about: did he have to do it? Would he have done it without the witches? Who’s more culpable, he or his lovely wife? But no, we talked about bird imagery, and cloak imagery. Not the best choice to inspire enthusiasm in 15-year-olds. (Though I took from that not that I didn’t like Shakespeare, but that I didn’t like lit class! Took me years to be able to contemplate being an English major!)
“Emma” has never been my favorite Austen…but maybe I should stop trying to out-Cara myself, and leave all that for another day.
Cara
BTW, Pam — Aiken wrote three Austen
sequels — JANE FAIRFAX (1990), MANSFIELD REVISITED (1984), AND ELIZA’S DAUGHTER (1994) — and a version of “The Watsons.” I read the first two sequels — and they didn’t really work for me. She changed things — changed characters and such — and that just bugs me.
Oh, I suppose I’m misstating — “Jane Fairfax” wasn’t really a sequel, but a companion novel (or whatever) — the same story from JF’s POV (but don’t worry — I’m sure whatever you’re planning is nothing like the Aiken version!)
Cara
It was Paltrow’s version. The shoe polish thing? Not a bad idea at all. I feel better already! So . . . sophisticated.
What didn’t you like about the Paltrow “Emma”, Megan? (Heck, it has Obi Wan Kenobi in it, it’s got to be good!) 😉
Cara
She was just so darn earnest and I could not abide her accent. Plus, I really just don’t like the book Emma–don’t like Emma the character, don’t like the set-up, think Knightley is a chump–so I’m already prejudiced. Grump, grump, grump.
I liked the Kate Beckinsale Emma too, tho the Paltrow one had its moments–Mr. and Mrs. Elton were SO gloriously obnoxious (“Hardly any lace!”). And there were a few shots in it that were absolutely breathtaking–one of Emma seated on one of those bench things with curly arms (I don’t know from furniture) in front of a window in natural sunlight. I saw that and thought “That looks absolutely right.” A similar moment was in P&P (the A&E one) where Elizabeth and her relatives posed outside Darcy’s house. I think I loved those moments because they looked like paintings.
Now my theory about Emma. I think it’s about depression. The main characters dutifully deny themselves anything that might give them pleasure and bend over backwards to deny how wretched and narrow their lives are. Emma at one point gives one of her little lectures about how she doesn’t need to marry and will spend the rest of her life devoting herself to cultural pursuits and visiting the poor etc etc–it’s like a life sentence of gentility without parole, absolutely barren. Mr. K is celibate (see below) so he doesn’t upset his brother. Emma’s father is a manipulative old passive-aggressive who’s trapped by his own imagined ailments. Jane has plenty to be depressed about having hooked up with a jerk like Frank Churchill.
Oh, by the way, it’s my favorite JA novel.
I *loved* “Clueless.” I thought it captured the spirit of the book so well.
Pam, have you ever considered that Mr. Knightley might be Harriet Smith’s father?????? A very youthful indiscretion.
Janet
Ooh Janet, I want to be you when I grow up! No, I’m not clever or evil enough to have thought of that one.
But in “So You Think You Know Jane Austen?: A Literary Quizbook,”
authors John Sutherland and Deirdre Le Faye suggest that Mr. Knightley probably has kept a dependable mistress a few towns over, for the last few years, perhaps an innkeeper — which sounded so much like my Lord Linseley in Almost a Gentleman that I was quite chagrined, and thought of taking to my bed with a passive-aggressive imagined illness. (You’re quite right about the depression I think — Highbury is home of the walking wounded, sort of like the crowd that hung out on the barstools in Cheers).
Oh, heavens! Knightley is an Austen creation, and not a creation of her youth, either (well, what they would call youth then — nowadays my mother insists that anyone under the age of 70 is young) — okay, sorry, where was I?
Oh, yes! Surely Knightley, as a fictional Austen hero, can totally control his sexual urges??? 😉 (Let’s not forget she totally workshipped her naval brothers. I presume she had a certain amount of innocence.)
And Janet, you have such an evil mind! 🙂 Knightley as Harriet’s father, arguing that she not be allowed to marry anyone above her? How excruciating!
As to the Gwyneth Paltrow “Emma” — my
favorite part (not counting the yummy Jeremy N) was Sophie Thompson’s fantastic scene on Box Hill. Her Miss Bates, as she slowly takes in Emma’s insult? A brilliant piece of acting.
Cara
Yes, Janet is definitely evil. 🙂 I like it.
When I first read Emma I didn’t care for the book much. Well, Jane Austen herself said she’d created “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”?
But I’ve come to appreciate the story more. The Jane Fairfax angle is fascinating; I always found her intriguing but I wonder if Frank Churchill could really make her happy?
Since Cara has been running on and on about Jeremy Northam, I feel free to say that one of the things I liked best about the Paltrow Emma was Gwyneth Paltrow’s neck. So swan-like. I seem to remember at the time commenting on it at length to a female friend of mine, who after I was finished said, “You know, I’ve never met a neck-man before.”
Todd-who-thinks-Kate-Beckinsale-is-pretty-hot-too