Sunday, October 02, 2005

Okay, now you be proud and I'll be prejudiced. How's that?

Just discovered that there's a new movie version of Pride and Prejudice due for release (complete with trailer that goes "From the author of Emma and Sense and Sensibility, comes the story of a girl...." Aarrghhh!!!). Why does Hollywood have to do this? Why do they have to take the greatest of all England's novelists, her most delightful social critic, her wittiest and most precise prose stylist, her acutest observer of the human drama, and turn one of her most sparkling novels [1] into an abominable chick-flick starring Keira Knightley [2] and some washed out twerp with a british accent. Why? Aren't there any Danielle Steele novels left for them to slaughter for the edification of giggling teenagers? How about Paulo Coelho novels - there's a writer you couldn't possibly do injustice to. JUST LEAVE JANE AUSTEN ALONE!

And what could have possessed Judi Dench to participate in this travesty? Wasn't Shakespeare in Love bad enough?

Notes

[1] Overall, I've always been more partial to Emma. But still.
[2] Don't get me wrong - I like Keira Knightley - I think she's beautiful and charming and all. But to let her play Elizabeth Bennet, hell, to let any woman play Elizabeth Bennet, is sacrilege. I might, might mind you, have managed not to weep at the thought of Kate Winslet playing her. But Keira Knightley! Oh, heavens open and pour down your wrath!

4 comments:

Swar Thounaojam said...

I have the BBC TV's adaptation of EMMA. OMG,it is like a radio play in action!!! as flat as a thin man's chest ;p

Falstaff said...

Ya, I've seen that one. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

I loved Sense and Sensability. I know many do not appreciate Emma Thompson's screen play. I felt she did well considering it took her four years to put it together.

The worst "chick flick" was Vanity Fair. I am a Thackery fan and didn't appreciate Mira Nair's version. Reese Witherspoon as Becky Sharp made me wretch. I will never forgive Mira for ruining my favourite story!

Falstaff said...

claire: Yes, Sense and Sensibility wasn't bad - despite the incredible idiocy of casting Hugh Grant as Ferrars. I don't know if I care for the screen play of the film much, but I have considerable admiration for both Thompson and Winslet as actresses and I think they both did a great deal of justic to their roles. That's what saved the film, I think.

Haven't seen Vanity Fair - on general principle I don't watch Reese Witherspoon films.