Pride & Prejudice Adaptations

Well, it’s no secret that there are a lot of Pride and Prejudice films out there. Here I will talk about 4 of them. There are two very obvious ones that everyone knows about: the BBC series with Colin Firth and the 2005 film version with Keira Knightley. I like both of them.

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

This is the first version I watched and that is why I slightly prefer this adaptation. I watched this movie after seeing the trailer as an advertisement on my Nanny McPhee DVD. I was already familiar with the title because it is mentioned in quite a lot of other movies, especially in Bridget Jones’s Diary. So the next day I rented the movie and I completely fell in love with it. Joe Wright is an incredible director (his movie adaptation of Atonement is also definitely worth your time!). The setting, the light, the costumes, etc. everything about this movie is impressive, it almost feels like a work of art. And if you need more convincing, this movie was nominated for 4 Oscars. If I need to compare this to the BBC series, the 2005 version is the superior movie. But adaptation wise, the BBC is better, no question about it.

Link to the trailer. I in particular love this trailer because the music at 1:33 is simply amazing!

Pride and Prejudice (BBC)

This version is famous for the wet shirt scene but contrary to popular opinion, I could have lived without it. This version is a bit dated but still one of my favourite adaptations. I love that (besides the lake scene) this adaptation is true to the book. In the 2005 film, the settings and the texts are completely different. I have to give lots of points to the BBC versions for preserving most of the book (setting and dialogue wise). That is what I love about this version. I don’t think I need to elaborate further on these famous versions.

Bride and Prejudice

This is a Bollywood musical version that is very entertaining. It is set in India and the prejudice is cultural. I thought this was a very nice and creative twist to the story and as I love musicals that part was amazing as well. This version is worth checking out but as you might already suspect, the setting and dialogue are quite different from the book. However, the main plot lines are definitely the same (but obviously more modern).

I recommend this movie but you should watch one (or two) of the above first because this is a romantic comedy and musical (quite a different genre in comparison to the book).

To get you in the mood, here is a link to a clip situated after Mr. Collins proposes to Lizzie. It always cracks me up. Enjoy!

Pride and Prejudice (2003)

This is a modern adaptation and had a lot of potential but this was just very bad. Besides the basics there wasn't much that reminded me of the original story. The acting is also very bad. I can’t really say anything good about it. It was just painful to watch. I definitely do not recommend this one, you should really stay away from this awful movie.