Pride And Prejudice Film Comparison

Adapting a beloved story and making it work as a film is a daunting task. To capture a novel through the lens of a camera takes careful decision making, whether to tailor it to fit on screen or not to stray at all. The film Pride and Prejudice is an adaptation, directed by Joe Wright and produced by Working Title Films, based on Jane Austen’s novel of the same name. It premiered in 2005, winning a BAFTA award for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer, or Producer in Their First Feature Film. In this praised adaptation, Wright stays faithful to the narrative; however, he takes advantage in deviating from the text by creating a more dynamic version, changing the dynamics between characters, portraying the setting as more provincial, …show more content…
The most apparent importance is the underlying romantic mood of the scene, changing the dynamics between characters. In the novel, both are a flurry of contained emotions. Austen displays Mr. Darcy’s expressions as “his complexion [becoming] pale with anger” and “[changing] color,” his lips pursed as he stood in silence or as his features reflected the “disturbance of his mind” (146). All these emotions are short and strained, kept at a distance. Elizabeth does the same, “[feeling] herself [grow] more angry every moment, yet she [tries] to the utmost to speak with composure” (148). With this in mind, the encounter is altered in the film, having the characters close to one another as the confrontation begins. In the heat of the argument, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth come face-to-face, but their emotions take a more subtle direction. The male lead watches in quiet speculation as the one he is infatuated with spills her accusations and anguish. Elizabeth’s voice is loud as she stares into Mr. Darcy, while his expression remains calm. She doesn’t hold back as she does in the novel. The dynamic is changed, using more visual cues of the actor showing little emotion and the actress having more of a commanding presence. With this, Wright directs the performance to read differently without straying too far from Austen’s work, creating a refreshing and effective scene that captures. Altogether, Wright does an upstanding job creating a screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, with an award to prove it. His directing choices of changing the dynamics between characters, portraying the setting as more provincial, and animating dialogue with drama and romance only add to Jane Austen’s narrative. He stays faithful to the novel while still taking advantage in deviating from the text, creating