Sunday almost afternoon

[ksmith]

Blasted Daylight Saving Time.

Awful writing weekend, in that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING has been writ so far. OK, managed a paragraph last night, but gee, that was five minutes' work. It's not like things haven't been accomplished--very happy how the basement is shaping up, and tossing clutter is always good, and taxes arrived from CPA and are ready to be sent in--but I need to do something starting now if I want to avoid kicking myself in eight hours. Will tuck in roasting a chicken and making stock at some point, as one must eat at some point.

Watched the Keira Knightley--Whoever Played Darcy version of P&P last night. My word, that movie was strange. One online review called it 'the Cliff Notes version,' and I would have to agree. I thought Knightley was lovely, and the sets were apparently more realistic than those in the TV versions--this is the first version that got me thinking about how things must have smelled, and how noisy and out of control the Bennett household must have been. But they compressed the story line to the point that I thought the screen might explode. I can see where they would have had to do that unless they wanted a four-hour movie, but maybe there are just some stories that don't need to be translated to the big screen. The Wickham plot is given very short shrift, and given that it forms much of the basis for Eliza's change of heart toward Darcy, I don't believe it served the story well at all. The younger sisters seemed all jumbled up--I wasn't sure which was Lydia until she arrived home with Wickham.

Caroline Bingley--why did she strike me as a 60s showgirl version of an early 19th century lady? Was her hair and costume more realistic than those in the TV versions? She struck me as overly sleek, but it could simply be that they cast a prettier actress in the role and seemed to have given this Caroline more influence over her brother.

Donald Sutherland's father seemed more ineffectual than selfishly detached. It was mentioned in reviews that he still showed some affection for Mrs Bennett, and that seemed the case. I had always understood that he had lost any tender feeling toward her, and that his fear that Lizzie would enter into the same type of match constituted much of his concern over her marrying Darcy.

Overall, I'm glad I saw it, if only to see what all the fuss was about, but I wouldn't care to watch it again.

Comments

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

I agree--it was definitely a "watch-once" experience.

Then again, our Donald Sutherland experience of the weekend was "An American Haunting," so maybe we'd have been better off reviewing P&P.

I'm very excited about the new Sense and Sensibility that's going to air on MASTERPIECE next month.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The thing I noticed about the 90s versions of Austen's stories was the way events were tweaked/spun/rewritten to drive points home with a hammer or provide the type of ending that the film makers felt the audience wanted. Is it the film version of S&S where Mr Willoughby is shown watching Marianne's wedding from afar? I never read the book, but it hit me as the sort of gotcha ending that was more the screenwriter's idea than Austen's. It flapped in the breeze. It didn't ring true to me.

I hope they don't mess with the story in this version.

[a-c-fiorucci.livejournal.com]

(wandering in from Naomikritzer's f-list)

I just listened to an audiobook version of S&S last month, and what happens there is when Marianne is very sick (at the MP & his wife (Mrs. Jenkins' daughter Charlotte)'s house, and Elinor is waiting for her mother to get there while fearing for Marianne's life, Willoughby shows up and "explains" himself. He tells Elinor that he set out to make Marianne love him because he was bored (IIRC), and didn't realize that he really loved her until his aunt found out about the other pregnant girl and he had to run off and ask the other woman to marry him for her money.

I actually think the movie made him a little more of a likeable character. And I was pleased at how close the movie was to the book overall, given some of the changes that had to be made in translating from paper to film.

It's funny what the screenwriters/filmmakers feel they need to cut out/tone down to make the modern Austen movie. As if it would be a bad thing to realize that they were people then, too, and could behave just as badly as we do today!

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Hi!

What I think they try to do is adjust motivations to make them more understandable or acceptable to modern audiences, and sometimes they make a hash of it.

[jemck.livejournal.com]

The recent BBC S&S is a very good adaptation - focusing on the love vs money angles in interesting fashion. Well worth watching when you get the chance.

[a-c-fiorucci.livejournal.com]

That's good to know--I saw a few minutes of the PBS? Persuasion and haven't dared to go back. I'll look it up. Thanks!

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

Yes, the film version with/scripted by Emma Thompson.

Have you been watching the 'complete' Jane Austen? I thought they did not badly with Northanger Abbey, and even the speed version of Mansfield Park improved on second viewing.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Was Mansfield Park the one with Billie Piper? Her appearance threw me out of the story. It wasn't her fault, but imo she lacked the period look. And I kept waiting for The Doctor to show up...which would have made for an interesting episode.

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

Yes, that one. It could definitely have used a Doctor appearance; she did seem an odd fit in the role.

[jemck.livejournal.com]

Not only did I find Billie Piper totally wrong for Fanny Price but I felt they messed about with the story line to a point where it lost all coherence by entirely cutting out the Portsmouth episode.

I agree the Northanger Abbey done in that batch of adaptations was none so bad overall. The BBC also did one some years back, with Robert Hardy in it, inter alia, which played up the gothic-silliness of Catherine's imaginings to hilarious effect. Worth seeing if you get the chance.

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

Yes, cutting out Portsmouth definitely changed the entire character of the story, and not for the best. I also found the waltzing at the end very jarring.

I'll look for the Robert Hardy version of NA!

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Not having watched that particular show, I may be off base, but it seems as though writers/directors try to make these stories more appealing to modern audiences by playing up the romance and playing down some or all of the social intrigues and stratification that make the relationships difficult in the first place. So then they need to find other reasons for the romance to fail, and they can't, so they allude to the social system in passing. But the grounding wasn't there to begin with, so the whole thing falls apart.

And the stories are complicated--different cities and towns, different houses at different social levels, which means much different decor. So maybe they try to simplify and save money by cutting back on locations. But you still wind up with the same result. A botched, incoherent tale.

[jemck.livejournal.com]

Pal Gill and I watching the Piper/MPark with a glass of wine apiece concluded quite a lot of the oddnesses were down to penny-pinching and/or inadequate budget. Like having folk dancing on the grass!

[jemck.livejournal.com]

Straying slightly off-topic, do keep a weather eye out for the BBC's Elizabeth Gaskell adaptation - Cranford. Simply excellent.

Cannot as yet vouch for 'Larkrise to Candleford' - episodes are currently being stockpiled on the PVR harddrive for some leisure time.