After struggling through most of the book, I thought watching the film would make me love it more. It did! While the book gets bogged down in the rich, verbose language of the 19th century, and I felt my attention wavering often, the conversations in the film move quickly and satisfyingly. The casting choices were brilliant, especially for Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett. I fell wholeheartedly for the scenery, costumes and accents, and Mr Darcy's eyes were suitably sad and beautiful! When reading the novel I realised this story is more of a comedy than a drama with all the sarcasm and stirring between the characters. However, the cleverness of the conversations comes across so much more successfully in the film,.
For a story that reads like a pompous Days of Our Lives, the film encapsulates the era, the characters and their interactions perfectly, and I was utterly convinced that Mr Darcy and Elizabeth should be together. When Mr Darcy walks across the field to Elizabeth near the end of the film and they lean their heads against each other, oh what bliss!
Of course, I cannot deny that the novel is a masterpiece. The richness of the vocabulary is exquisite and the comment on class and marriage is a window to the societal values of the time. But it is so much easier to comprehend the interplay of characters when you can see their eyes and mannerisms and hear their tone of voice. While I have my head in a book just as often as I watch films (thank you Foxtel!), I must say that the visual media is generally more satisfying to me, and with this film in particular, much more satisfying.
