I’m going to say it. I’m sorry but the BBC version is inferior to the movie.:( I love that they cover wayyyyy more of the book. But I feel the characters and the actors that play them just don’t touch what Jane was trying to show. I feel like the mini series was just playing dress up. I’m going to watch it again in the future. Please give me reasons to like it more than the movie. I need more context the next time I watch it.

Movie pros:

1. Excellent freaking soundtrack by Dario Marianelli

2. Portrays Lizzie Bennet as louder, messier, & more confident which is a more modern and unique take on the character.

3. Pretty damn impressive visuals and cinematography (particularly the Lizzie on top of the cliff scene…breathtaking shot)

4. Darcy and Bennet have soooo much tension and chemistry. Especially in the ballroom scenes or the proposal. Just way more believable as a relationship. Especially since compared to book Darcy, Macfadyen’s is pretty tame & more likable.

5. Relationship with Lizzie and her father is so lovely and portrayed really nicely in this movie.

Movie cons:

1. Rushes thru the entire story of Wickham & makes him a bland and nothing character by just talking about what he did “wrong” & not showing how he basically tried to groom Georgiana & other girls. (Yeah I guess they showed him & Lydia coming back to visit but…it just felt so cheap & rushed considering they barely show why Darcy hates Wickham so much).

2. Doesn’t do the greatest job of showing why Darcy has to change by making him so fumbly and awkward the entire movie. He’s just kind of standoffish…& antisocial? Really doesn’t come off as super pompous or full of himself like he was in the book or Colin Firth tbh. And yeah in the proposal scene he starts insulting Jane’s fam & whatever but it’s all talk. For most of the movie he has not shown that attitude towards them AT ALL. He doesn’t come off as rude or snobby more just shy. They just kinda tell us he broke up Jane & Bingley but fail to show the impact of it as well as the series did.

3. Doesn’t fully address many flaws if at all of Lizzie Bennet & makes her a perfect superhuman who is wronged by everyone else. Like the whole point of the book is that she and Darcy are both wrong and misguided just to different degrees. She also acts really unrealistically extroverted and unrestrained for a woman of her time even tho she’s a progressive, feminist character anyways. I love Keira Knightley but her as Lizzie was a bit too modernized imho.

4. Makes the Bennet family dynamic kind of watered down bc in the book the whole conflict about their family is that they’re seen as silly and embarrassing (especially Lizzie’s younger sisters). There’s barely any scenes about this & Darcy just kind of mentions it without us seeing more about Lizzie’s conflicted feelings with her fam. Really doesn’t do much justice to the whole social commentary of Austen’s book by barely showing how people perceive Lizzie’s family. Also Jane & Lizzie have little to no chemistry as sisters and have like 2 good scenes together.

5. Jane and Bingley’s relationship really isn’t done much justice. There’s maybe two big scenes with them and that’s it. Super boring in the movie when it’s meant to be such a huge plot point.

   Series pros:

6. Really good casting for Lizzie and Jane Bennet, their bond as sisters is really believable and book-accurate. I especially love the scene where Lizzie and Jane are in the garden together and each is equally trying to console the other.

7. The whole Bennet family dynamic is given enough attention and flaws to show why Lizzie has such conflicting feelings about them and how it affects other people’s perceptions of her. (Especially in terms of the mother & younger sisters 😂)

8. The Bennet Father has way more of a personality besides stoic & lightly supportive as he was in the film. He legit takes responsibility for his lack of caution and care with Lydia after she runs away and admits to Lizzie and the others that he was wrong.

9. The Bingley sisters are straight out of mean girls and are way bitchier to Lizzie and her family which WORKS so much better as social commentary and in turn, motivation for Darcy to improve.

10. Charlotte Lucas has way more of a personality that makes sense with Lizzie Bennet as her friend. They’re both very calm, cool, and intelligent which is more fitting. It also gives time for her to explain why she married Mr. Collins and that she’s satisfied with not marrying for love. In the movie she’s just kinda nice, disappears for most of the time, & then shows up again like “yea I just need his money you don’t GET it Lizzie!!”

11. The whole conflict with Wickham is really expertly carried out as he seems charming at first but is developed into a careless two-timer. I wanted to punch him which meant the actor did a great job.

12. Music is great and plays a noticeable role in the story several times.

13. Bingley and Jane’s relationship is given a lot of attention and clearly shows rather than TELLS the emotional damage this has on Jane.

14. Scenery switches up a lot and is very accurate to each location the characters go to in the book.

Series cons:

1. Lizzie and Darcy have zero chemistry and their relationship feels very wooden and minimal. I’m sorry I love those two in King’s Speech but Firth looked wayyy too stiff and unfeeling as Darcy. And I know that’s the point, but I just couldn’t buy those two were in love.

2. The episodes are really slow-paced and long which means more story is represented but also fairly hard to sit through even for former readers. A lot of the pacing is pretty dull at first especially.

3. Bingley and Darcy had no chemistry as friends and I couldn’t buy they were close at all. Way better bond in the movie.

Series pros-cons ratio: 9:3

Movie pros-cons ratio: 5:5

Feel free to mention others that I haven't in comments. If there's a retelling you want to suggest feel free to do that too.

I've read about differences such as the place of Mr. Darcy's proposals in the novel vs in the film. However, are there any actual plot differences between the two?

I don't understand why so many people seem to dislike, or outright hate, the 2005 adaptation, almost as if the 1995 series is the only "acceptable" modern one.

It's a 2 hours movie about a 61 chapters book. They either covered each chapter in 2 minutes, or they had to make cuts (and changes to make the cuts work). It wasn't the first time it happened in a book-to-movie adaptation, and it certainly hasn't been the last.

We all know that the 1995 version is obviously much more faithful to the book (there are still some cuts, tho), but it also lasts 5+ hours, not 2.

They are different things, we can't just say that the 1995 is the only good adaptation because it's more faithful, because we would not be taking into consideration that the 2005 one is much more comprehensible for the modern watcher (they changed some dialogs to include an explanation of why something was considered a problem, i.e. Charlotte telling that she got engaged to Collins). It needs less pre-knowledge about Regency England, so it works better as the first contact with P&P for someone who hasn't watched/read it before.

That said, we can't say that the 2005 is better either, because it's a plot heavily inspired by JA's P&P but not the same.

This is an argument that will never end, unless people start to realize that 1995 and 2005 adaptations are different, because the directors had different objectives. It's all comes down to making a faithful adaptation VS making P&P easily available.

To be honest, I actually prefer how 2005 depicted feelings and emotions, they just seem more natural to me, even though I dislike how they made some unnecessary changes, especially about how they dealt with Mary.

In the 1995 version I really like how they stayed more faithful to both the plot and the costumes of society, but I didn't like how they didn't use the sets and camera cuts to their fullest potential. At times is felt a bit like an audiobook with visuals, rather than a series.

Hopefully we can all see why 2005 is a safer bet to get more people to like P&P, and when they come around to reading the novel/watching 1995 they'll discover that some things were changed, and there's nothing with that. The way society works now I don't think we can expect people to only watch the 1995 series and start loving P&P, because they would miss all the nuances, unspoken details, etc, that make it so good.

And y'all. I get it now. I get why the series is so hyped up in this sub compared to the movie! It is so good!!!

Now don't get me wrong, I still love the movie. I think it's a visually stunning piece that tells the story through a modern romantic lens, and it does what it can in terms of characterization and scene-setting in such a limited amount of time. But good god, the series just blows it out of the water in certain areas.

For one, I love how the costumes and set design are comparatively much more accurate in the miniseries. I know that in the movie, they need to convey how monetarily down on their luck the Bennetts are using shorthand (their shoddy house, pig in the hallway, etc.) but the miniseries just does so well at showing that they are poor and that they are also landed gentry with a comfortable social position. Same with using shorthand to convey Lizzie's rebellious and independent side through details like no hat when out in Meryton (obviously a huge no-no in real life for the time), while the miniseries shows her self-advocacy and independent tendencies through subtler but just as meaningful details.

Also, I like Matthew Macfadyen's socially awkward Darcy, but I LOVE Colin Firth's arrogant Darcy. I hated him in the first couple of episodes which made the story so much more engaging and fun when his character arc was complete by the end. He makes for a much more compelling love interest, and I felt like we saw him reflect inwardly and take steps to change, rather than just some indiscriminate amount of time passing equalling him wanting to propose again.

If I had to use one word to describe the movie adaptation, it would be fun. But if I had to use one word to describe the miniseries adaptation, it would be real. I felt like I was in Jane Austen's world, and I was swooning, laughing, angered, and crying, right alongside the characters. It felt so alive while still maintaining that classy regency feel that we don't get in modern stories. There are about a million more intelligent things I could probably say about the miniseries, but I'll stop my ramblings and conclude by saying I'm glad I gave the series a chance after riding so hard for the movie.

...it was like a chaser, and three days later I'm still delirious.

Austen's dialogue was so absorbing that I felt as though I were seated between Elizabeth and Darcy during their witty exchanges, or strolling alongside them in the country, breathing in the same fresh air as them. And then the film: Kiera Knightley is just beautiful to watch, but add to this an equally beautiful soundtrack and cinematography, and I'm quite simply spellbound.

Now I'm starting to see why England boasts a rich literary tradition; a very different experience indeed. I think this might be my gateway into the later greats such as 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wuthering Heights'. I'm only sorry it took me this long to finally read this wonderful story.

I am finally watching the 1995 miniseries after many years of loving the 2005 film. One of the most glaring differences in the adaptations is the way the Bennet’s standard of living / financial situation is presented. In the film they live in near squalor - skirting the edge of genteel poverty. The girls dresses are plain, and old and worn looking and Mrs Bennet especially has the rough appearance of a laborer / servant. In the miniseries they live in a fine home with nice furnishings and while they are certainly “country gentry” compared to the sophisticated likes of Darcy / Bingley sisters - they do not appear shabby in any way.

Which is closer to the original text?

I don’t really care about accuracy to the book, objectively which one is more interesting to watch independent of its accuracy to the book?

Update: I watched the movie and absolutely LOVED it- its so cozy and cute and warm I absolutely loved it, this is a new comfort movie for me

I don't know if it's the correct subreddit to ask that question but which adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is the best to watch (story wise)? I have to read multiple books for university and the only one I haven't read yet is Pride and Prejudice. The thing is, --and I'm very sorry Jane Austen fans-- I don't like the way Jane Austen writes her novels. So I was hoping to watch a movie instead. I heard there is a movie from 2005 and a short series from 1995. So which one is the closest to the novel?

Curious which version of Pride & Prejudice everyone prefers, and why?

Go!

Edit: for me it's the 2005 version, probably because I saw it first and just fell in love with the visuals, atmosphere, music, and Mr Darcy. I have seen the 1995 version once and got super into it towards the second half of it, but the 2005 will forever be magical to me. I've watched nothing else as much as I've watched that film!

I want to appreciate the 1995 adaption, which seems to be regarded as the bets one — tell me what you love about it!

I’ve just finished Episode 2 of the 1995 adaption (watching for the first time). My favorite so far is the 2005 version.

I love Pride and Prejudice, so why is it so hard to like this series? This episode had the Lizzy/Darcy dance at Bingley’s ball at Netherfield, which was passionate and exciting in the 2005 movie. But in the 1995 series, they were just stomping around stiffly and flatly stating lines.

I feel like there is a lot less emotion and physical comedy in the 1995, which makes it hard to connect.

That said, the 1995 contains far more lines from the book, which is satisfying. Jane really challenges Lizzy’s prejudice more, and Lizzy’s character seems a bit more well-formed with the additional scenes (she’s less perfect, more relatable like the book). But the rigidity from the actors ruins it for me. Lizzy works up some passion in her anger and resentment toward Darcy about Wickham, but that’s about it.

What am I missing? I’m going to stick with it to the end, but would love to get some perspective to help me enjoy this more.

I have always loved both the 1995 and 2005 adaptations of Pride and Prejudice. I just finished re-watching them both, and decided to pick up the book from the library to read for the first time, and 50 pages in I'm feeling... underwhelmed. I've always heard it's a great novel, one of the classics, etc. I figured the novel would be even more rich and interesting than the adaptations, but so far it feels rather boring. I don't think I enjoy the writing style, it is mostly dialogue, like reading a play. I was expecting a more immersive experience with detailed imagery and a look at the inner thoughts of each of the characters. Can anyone else relate? Am I just tainted by my love of the films?

Hi, sorry if my English is not perfect, it’s not my first language. I just need to say this because I see many people loving the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice and honestly I don’t get it. I have watched it many times but it just feels like a "lazy" version.

I rewatch the 1995 BBC version at least once a year, and it’s just perfect. The clothes, the way they talk, the slow story, everything feels elegant and real. Colin Firth as Darcy is amazing, and that lake scene?? Iconic. I feel like the actors understood the characters. Yeah cinematography it's not modern but I love it!

But the 2005 version… why does everybody look so unkept?? The hair is messy all the time like they just got out of bed, the dresses look dirty, and even the house feels like a farm. I don’t like how they made everything look “romantic” but it lost all the class. And that final scene with Darcy walking in the fog with no jacket?? What is that??

Anyway, I needed to say it. BBC version forever but I'm bias because I watched it first when it came out in the 90s. But when the movie was announced I was so hyped only to get a big disappointment. Anyone else feel like this?

My mom and I have been on a kick of watching pride and prejudice based movies like Bride and Prejudice, An American in Austen, Austenland, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions for other pride and prejudice interpretations or themed movies?

I finished the book today and enjoyed it very much. Great read. I had planned on checking out the movie after I finished the book and did so.

Let's start with what I liked about the movie. The sets were beautiful. The soundtrack was fantastic. I found the acting very well done. I liked Mary better in the movie than the book. Mary was the only character I preferred in movie format though.

The entire cast was hobbled. Mary is a shell of her book self. Characters like Mr. Gardiner and Colonel Fitzwilliam are irrelevant. Wickham is barely there. It felt like the movie was a collection of the large events from the book and cut out everything inbetween. This lead to the experience feeling shallow. In the movie the conflict with Lydia feels like a small and unimportant blip. In the book it's a huge event that is extremely hard on the family. It also often felt like things wouldn't make sense if I didn't have the book to fill in the gaps. Also, Elizabeth's internal commentary not being there is a huge loss. Without the context of the book I feel it would be hard to understand her feelings and how they changed.

It feels like a lot of my issues with the movie are due to the limitations of the medium. Pride and Prejudice is much more suited to a miniseries. 6 to 8 hour long episodes would be perfect. A movie just doesn't have enough time to do the characters and story justice. That being said if the movie had about another hour of runtime I feel like it could have been an adequate adaptation. That's likely enough time to flesh out those major events enough to have impact. A 3 hour runtime would be a slog though so who knows. Overall the movie did a decent job. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone and won't ever rewatch it, but I got enjoyment out of it and don't regret watching it. I think I'd give it a 5/10. What did you guys think?

BBC Pride and Prejudice 1995

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Pride and Prejudice 2005

I've been craving more period dramas/romance lately but can't find anything:((