DVD release dates: 28 February 2006 (US), 6 February 2006 (UK)

The Film

Set in early 19th century England, Pride & Prejudice tells the story of the middle-class family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett (Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn) and their five daughters. When the prosperous bachelor Charles Bingley (Simon Woods) and his cultivated friend Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) set up their summer residence in a nearby estate, Mrs. Bennett sees the chance to marry off her eldest daughters Jane (Rosamund Pike) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and secure the family’s wellbeing. Bingley is attracted to Jane at once, but when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy first meet, it becomes clear that a lot of pride and prejudice must be overcome if their hearts are to meet. And there is more than one other man vying for Elizabeth’s affection in the background.

Director Joe Wright’s adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel is a tour de force of misunderstandings, mishaps, tears and laughs. He was faced with the daunting task of creating a coherent movie with a sensible running time out of a book filled to the brim with details and anecdotes and he succeeds in most parts: the two hour film is fast paced and seldomly drags, while still leaving room and time for the more important dialogue-driven scenes to flourish. The main focus rests on Lizzie and Mr. Darcy, and some of the supporting cast’s screentime had to be sacrificied in favor of the main story. Nevertheless, Wright and his crew treat the source material with much care and delicacy. The film is beautifully shot against the backdrop of some truly extraordinary estates and landscapes, together with the intricate costumes believably recreating 18th century rural England. The lush visuals are also joyfully underlined by Dario Marianelli’s lovely piano-based score.

At the heart of the film are the strong and delightful acting performances of the entire cast. Brenda Blethyn and Donald Sutherland are the cause for most of the film’s humourous moments in their roles as the strong-willed, caring and agonizing parents, Rosamund Pike assuredly portrays the beautiful but shy eldest daughter who finds it difficult to be up front about her emotions, and Jena Malone’s british accent is as impeccable as her performance as Lydia Bennet, the vive and naive younger sister. But the strongest plaudits belong to Keira Knightley, who delivers a surprisingly disarming performance in her first serious role. Her interpretation of the headstrong, selfconfident but flawed Lizzie is delightful to behold.

The DVD

The film is presented in 2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The picture transfer looks good, the contrast does the lush visuals justice. Special features on the UK release include the ‘Alternate Us Ending’, which is a clichéd and pointless extra scene between Lizzie and Mr. Darcy added in after the original final scene. There are two interesting but short clips detailing some of the film’s historical aspects (’The Life And Times Of Jane Austen’, ‘The Politics Of Dating’) and a picture gallery of 19th century costumes and places. A further series of brief videos takes a look at the Stately Homes that served as the magnificent estates during the shoot while ‘The Bennetts’ and ‘On Set Diaries’ provide behind the scenes interviews with the cast and crew talking about the Bennett family, filming and on-set bonding. The ‘Pride And Prejudice Family Tree’ meanwhile serves as a helpful interactive orientation over the story’s entanglements between the individual characters.

The highlight among the bonus features though is director Joe Wright’s audio commentary. I must at this point confess that I’ve never been much of a commentary listener, even though I usually crave every bit of insight I can get on a film that I like. When I purchase a DVD, I’ll watch the film first, then the bonus material, and by then I’ll have reached a point where I cannot possibly bring myself to follow the commentary track(s), as it would mean watching the entire film again. In the case of Pride & Prejudice, because I knew I was going to review the disc for the site, I figured I’d give the commentary a short listening-in, five or ten minutes to get a feel for it. I ended up rewatching the first hour of the film, glued to the screen over Wright’s insightful and fun commentary. Wright explains little details without getting boring, compares experiences on the set with his previous work on television, gives his critical opinion on how certain parts of the movie were filmed, and when he thinks this or that could have been done better, he says so and explains. Wright is very humble and also so knowing about Austen’s work and it really shows - a very entertaining commentary, and I only switched off because I had to due to time restraints.

Pride & Prejudice is a beautiful film that was shot by a newcomer director on a relatively low budget but goes a long way, thanks to the love and care put into the project by the crew and the satisfying acting performances by the cast. The DVD features some standard bonus material in the form of short behind the scenes clips, but the commentary track with director Joe Wright is an unexpected joy to listen to.

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