Thoughts on Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:37 am by janeaustenfilm

Mary-Carolyn’s thoughts on Pride and Prejudice, the 1995 version. My mom and I have been watching big chunks of the film at nights, and it’s been enjoyable watching it with her, except when she makes comments like “How did Mr. Darcy get out of his engagement to Ann DeBourg?” Anyway, here are some of the things I noticed; most of these things are from the first part of the movie, where my mom wasn’t asking me so many questions.

The film opens with sewing, embroidery and dresses, emphasizing that this is a women’s movie. The first scene with Lizzie and Jane isn’t from the book, but it sets up their temperaments and well as their strong relationships to each other. I noticed Lydia’s height dominance over Kitty in several scenes, but particularly in the scene where they first discuss Mr. Bingley’s arrival, Kitty is sitting down and Lydia is standing, emphasizing Lydia’s greater importance. Mary has a lot of great reactions to Mr. Collins. First, when he arrives, she’s preening herself and patting her hair. In any scene with Collins, Mary is usually “hovering” behind him. Later, when he asks Lizzy to dance, Mary looks like she thinks he will ask her, and is disappointed when he turns to Lizzy. Upon Mr. Collins’ arrival, Lizzy is seated next to him at dinner, and is singled out by her father when the conversation turns to a discussion of Mr. Collins’ home, foreshadowing, or at least setting up, Mr. Collins’ hope that Lizzy will marry him. In the same scene, Lizzy’s laughter and her father and Mr. Collins’ discussion of compliments shows her personality and her relationship with her father, and to an extent, sets up Mr. Bennet’s parenting style as one that doesn’t impose restraints on his daughters. That the girls are quite free to do as they please is emphasized throughout the film by frequently placing the girls out of doors. When Lizzy and Wickham talk about how he was poorly used by Mr. Darcy, Wickham always seems to be looking sideways, up or down, or past Lizzy’s shoulder rather than looking directly at her. But the two are sitting diagonally, so it’s hard to tell where in Wickham’s line of sight Lizzy would be. Also in this scene, Wickham introduces the topic unprompted, like in the novel, but I don’ think that is the case in the 2005 film (correct me if I’m wrong, I can’t seem to remember). In any case, the 2005 version certainly diminishes Wickham’s “crimes.’ When Lydia approaches the two at the close of this conversation, Wickham says he hasn’t had a dance in three months. I wonder if this is an attempt to justify his behavior as he doesn’t have the “proper social channels” to find a suitable wife. In various scenes in the film, Lizzy and Jane both wear cross necklaces (like Fanny Price), but none of the other girls do. This is a way, other than framing their more forward in the scene, to set them apart from their sisters. At the Netherfield Ball, Darcy is framed between Lizzy and Jane as they discuss his relationship with Wickham. There’s also some nice phallic imagery when Lydia runs around with Denny’s sword, and I’d be willing to bet there’s some more in the film, especially centered on Lydia. Mrs. Bennet’s insistence on Lizzy staying to hear Mr. Collins emphasizes her controlling, manipulating nature. Interestingly, we see similar characteristics in Lizzy’s scheming to get Jane to London. Mrs. Bennet’s obvious awe of Lady Catherine sets up what the book says is the reason for her improved kindness to Mr. Darcy – her sheer awe of him. I also really like the choice of casting for Lady Catherine. While I love Dame Judy Dench in the 2005 version, I think she’s a bit too intimidating for Lady Catherine as Mr. Collins actually has a reason to be frightened of her and always eager to please her. His reverence of her ought to be funny, and it is portraying Lady Catherine as a small, thin, slightly sickly looking woman that makes the amazing amount of control she has the fear she inspires funny. I also noticed that a fade is used to move from Darcy at the Netherfield Ball to an overview of the ball, and then pans over to Lizzy and Charlotte discussing Darcy. Other than the times the fade is used at the end of a segment, this is one of the very few times a fade is used, and I can’t figure out why it is used. Any thoughts?

Oh, on a fun note, I found out that the woman who plays Miss. Bingley, Anna Chancellor, is eight times the niece of Jane Austen; she is the direct descendant of Austen’s eldest brother Edward. She has another relative called Fanny Rice (haha!).

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03.01.07

Filming Romance

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:09 am by janeaustenfilm

“Filming Romance: Persuasion”
Tara Ghoshal Wallace
From Jane Austen on Screen
A Summary by Mary-Carolyn

The last of [Austen’s] novels is especially tough to handle because it deals with a romance that ends before the story begins and has it resumption just before the story ends. This is novelistic, not film, material. Nick Dear’s screenplay understands the dilemma but can’t solve it” –Stanley Kauffmann

In her article, Wallace looks at the strategies a filmmaker uses to “transpose Austen’s narrative about two romances (one between hero and heroine, the other between nation and navy) on to the screen; and what kind of audience is implied by the choices made by the filmmaker” (127). She begins her discussion looking at Austen’s narrative voice, saying how difficult it is to translate it onto the screen, as it is not straightforwardly omniscient. Wallace looks specifically at Roger Michell’s adaptation of Persuasion when she looks at the way these narrative subtleties are translated to film in the form of “more easily decoded visual cues” (128). Michell has received criticism on “dumbing down” Austen’s subtleties, but Wallace claims “it is not to the discredit of the either the film or the medium itself that its depictions of issues like class relations are more easily decoded and discerned than they are in Austen’s text” (129). In fact, Wallace points out that, while Michell has interpreted Austen’s text, the view must still interpret and read the film. In fact, she claims the film is, in its own way, complex, citing several instances of “visual intertextuality [which]…deepen its depiction of class and family relations” (129). One such is example are the different modes of transportation Anne and her father and oldest sister use. Sir. Walter and Elizabeth employ a carriage, while Anne is conveyed in a farm-cart. Another example is the use of food: what people eat and how the eat it delineate their character and social status.

Wallace moves on to an examination of the character of Anne, and the way actress Amanda Root portrays her. One of the difficulties Wallace sees in adapting Persuasion is of depicting Anne’s inner turmoil, which “much be represented through the bodies of the actors, through facial expression and physical gestures” (130). What Michell has done, Wallace says, is show this by taking away Anne’s control of her body. Rather than having her react when she is alone, Michell shows Anne running across the room when she learns of Wentworth’s return. However, she appreciates Michell’s choices in showing the viewer Anne’s gentle swoon and need to support herself with a chair on her first encounter with Wentworth. But Wallace still thinks Michell and Root fail in their interpretation of Anne, as nowhere in the film is there any evidence of “Anne beginning ‘to reason with herself and try to be feelingless’” (131). She also criticizes the depiction of Elizabeth as someone who only bullies and belittles Anne. Yet Wallace defends Michell and Dear, saying what they may be trying to highlight here is Anne’s lack of a supportive group of women. Wallace points out “Anne is silenced, over and over, by the selfishness of her sisters and the dominant ego of Lady Russell” (134). Wallace goes so far to posit that the film might depict a “trap and an escape” in which Anne finds freedom from the constraints placed on her by the society of her father and sisters “not only be finding personal romance, but by joining his world of ‘that profession which is, if possible, more distinguished in its domestic virtues than in its national importance’” (135).

Wallace then examines the role of the navy in Michell’s adaptation of Persuasion. She praises Michell’s choice to have the film open and close with images of boats, emphasizing the “centrality of the Royal Navy” (136). She also points to the sailor’s tendency to always wear their uniforms, referring especially to the scene in Lyme where Harville and Benwick both change into their uniform before walking along the beach, in effect claiming “a public identity conferred by that uniform” (137). But, she criticizes this adaptation for deglamorizing the soldiers to a much larger degree than Austen does, showing more than a gentle rift between the friends Austen shows. She thinks particularly of the Uppercross party’s first visit to the Harville’s, which dissolves into hilarity for no apparent reason. Wallace says, “it is as if, confronted with the poverty of a retired naval officer, aware of the differences in status and wealth, the country gentry can respond only with nervous hilarity” (138). Wallace then points to the film’s opening which both units and points out the disparities between the country gentry and the naval officers. The film opens with a montage, alternating between images of naval laborers and country laborers and images of Admiral Croft and Sir Walter. The first message this montage sends is that “labor is labor…the underclass, whether on board ship or on estate, are overworked, possibly mistreated, and probably discontented” (139). The other, Admiral Croft’s declaration that they are going home and Sir Walter’s comment he will not have a naval officer in his home, highlights “the irony…[of] national ingratitude” (139). Despite the shortcomings of Michell’s Persuasion, Wallace concludes her article saying “it achieve both a gratifying degree of fidelity and its very own authenticity as text” (141).

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