The Ultimate Jane Austen Marathon
March 15, 2008
What do you do after watching 12 straight hours of Jane Austen movies? You blog about it of course! The couch now has a permanent indentation of my butt and the DVD player is totally exhausted but I did it. Woo-hoo! I watched Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma, Sense & Sensibility, and Pride & Prejudice (i.e. all of Jane Austen’s major novels) back to back from 10am to 10pm with only a handful of quick breaks to run to the bathroom and heat up stuff in the microwave.The first 3 are adaptations that I’d never seen before (borrowed from the public library), and the latter 3 are favorites from my personal DVD collection.
I started the marathon off with Northanger Abbey (2007) and it was a good choice, if I do say so for myself. I’d never read the novel as it’s one of the less popular ones so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew that it was a satire on Gothic romances and so isn’t like her other novels; I really thought I wouldn’t like it at all. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. I was completely charmed by the characters and liked the quasi-Gothic feel of the story. Its quite a departure from Austen’s other novels. I thought that the actors were well cast: they were all the correct age (unlike many early Austen adaptations) and, most importantly, I didn’t feel like any of them were contrived in the Regency period. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to buy myself a copy to add to my DVD collection.
Up until today, Mansfield Park had been my least favorite Austen movie; that "honor" has now been bestowed upon Persuasion. In all fairness, I’d also never read the novel, nor have I seen the 1995 version so I don’t know if I just dislike the characters and plot in general of if this is just a horrid adaptation. I sincerely hope that this is just a terrible adaptation because I do love Jane Austen’s works and I would be totally disappointed in her if she actually did write such bland, pathetic characters. Anne Elliot is such a shame compared to Lizzie Bennett, Emma Woodhouse, and Marianne Dashwood. All those women are strong, independent, and very modern for their time; Anne is a weak little spine-less squid. The plot has potential but the characters were just so one dimensional and absolutely unappealing. I honestly didn’t see anything in Capt. Wentworth worth falling in love with; he had absolutely no character at all. Thankfully I’m not the only one that feels this way: the reviews on Amazon are far from good and it only got 3 out of 5 stars. The 1995 version, on the other hand, got 4 and a half stars so I’m thinking of checking that one out. Hopefully it will redeem Persuasion even just a little bit.
As I mentioned earlier, Mansfield Park was my least favorite of the 4 Austen movie adaptations I’d seen. In spite of the fact that the 1999 version has the best looking hero (played by Jonny Lee Miller), I found it a bit dragging and thought that the heroine, Fanny Price, lacked gumption. I really, really wanted to like this version and hoped that Billie Piper would add a little "Rose Tyler" spice to boring ol’ reliable Fanny. Well, as it happens when you put too much hope and expectation on something, it totally disappointed. For starters, while the 1999 version has the best looking Austen Hero, this 2007 version has, by far, the most unattractive leading man ever! Seriously. How are we (the audience) supposed to cheer the heroine on and live vicariously through her if the guy she ends up with is downright homely? You’re supposed to want her to end up with Edmund, not sigh and say to yourself "well, he’s better than that other guy".
Secondly, it seems that, out of all the main characters, Fanny is the least developed which is odd considering Mansfield Park is supposed to be all about her. Mary Crawford is way more multi-faceted as a character which sort of makes you connect to her more than to Fanny. This version also only got 3 out of 5 stars on Amazon and I’d say that’s quite generous. Frankly, I’d give it no more than 2 stars simply for casting an unappealing Edmund.
On the bright side, this version made the 1999 version seem a whole lot better and I appreciate it more so it wasn’t a total waste of time.
Because the last 2 movies I saw were so bland and disappointing, I decided that the next movie should be light and funny and Emma is exactly that!
I love this movie. I’m not particularly a Gwyneth Paltrow fan, if anything, I’m quite a bit attached to Kate Beckinsale simply because she played Hero in one of my other all-time favorite movies, Much Ado About Nothing, but I have to admit that I enjoy Gwyneth’s portrayal of Emma so much more. I know that I’ve seen the Kate Beckinsale version but I can’t remember much of it and therein lies the problem. Its not so much an inferior adaptation as it is, well, less memorable, in fact, any serious "Janeite" will tell you that the Kate Beckinsale one is more loyal to the novel than the Gwyneth one. I think my problem with the Kate B. version is that its a lot more serious: the colors are more muted, the actors are more straight-forward and no-nonsense, and the sets/ locations tended to be a bit darker and grittier (which is probably more realistic). In contrast, this version has a lighter, airy feel to it: the colors were lighter, the sets were brighter, the pictures crisper, and the characters were definitely more light-hearted and funny. In other words, one is a straight-up drama while the other is comfortably classified as a romantic-comedy. Sure that probably makes it the more inaccurate of the two adaptations but that definitely makes it a lot more enjoyable to watch.The Kate B. version, though closer to the novel, is, unfortunately, quite forgettable while the Gwyneth P. version is something you’ll want to watch over and over again - I definitely do, hence my very scratched, over-played copy. My DVD collection would not be complete without this version of Emma in it.
Ah. Sense and Sensibility, the one that started it all. This is the movie that catapulted Jane Austen movies into the mainstream, triggered the production of other big-budget, big-name, mainstream Austen adaptations (like the afore mentioned 1996 Emma), and introduced me to the wonderful world of Jane Austen. It is because of this movie that I am the Austen fan that I am now.
This movie is just chock-full of BIG names, all of whom, thankfully, are wonderful actors and just perfect for their roles. The casting is definitely where the magic of this movie is. See, whenever people hear the name "Alan Rickman" nowadays, they automatically think of Professor Snape so they think I’m possitively bonkers when I say that he’s way hot! But he is. I’m telling you, people, Alan Rickman is most definitely leading man quality. He’s absolutely perfect as Col. Brandon! Okay. I guess its best to admit that I haven’t seen the other adaptations yet (its not my fault that the 2007 adaptation won’t be out on DVD until this coming April) and so don’t have much comparisson but trust me when I say that his interpretation of Col. Brandon is just spot on. He was aloof, vulnerable, haughty, passionate, controlled, tender - all at the same time! He is as multi-faceted as the characters in Persuasion are one-dimensional. Plus, he can make an oldish guy sexy - something I originally thought only Harrison Ford could do, and that’s quite a feat. Have you seen Alan Rickman in the music video of In Demand? Wooo, hot! I digress. Back to the movie.
Another great member of the cast is Hugh Laurie as Mr. Palmer. His role is extremely small but so funny! Imagine Dr. House in a Regency setting - that’s exactly Mr. Palmer. Sure, it may be type-casting him but this minor character adds just the right amount of humor to the latter half of the movie. Imelda Staunton (Prof. Umbridge in Harry Potter) plays Mrs. Palmer and she and Hugh Laurie complement each other so well.
Then of course there’s Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, and Hugh Grant: though I really need not mention them, do I?
Okay, It must be said that this version of Pride and Prejudice is my absolute favorite movie to date. Really. And just like my other favorites, it’s all down to great casting. I’m not a big Keira Knightly fan, in fact, the way she wrinkles her nose and squishes her face up is really quite annoying. BUT, in spite of that,I have to hand it to her; her Lizzie Bennett is just spot on. Matthew McFadden is just the perfect Mr. Darcy; he’s too good. I was completely in love with him three quarters through the movie and practically swooned at the end. In contrast, I completely hated the 1996 version starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, both of whom were absolutely horrible! Matthew McFadden’s Mr. Darcy is aloof, arrogant, and condescending but is also so mysterious and has a slight hint of uncertainty under his arrogance that you can’t help but be undeniably attracted to him. Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy is also aloof and arrogant but in an obnoxious and utterly unappealing way that you can’t possibly understand why anyone would fall in love with him. But as bad as Colin Firth is as Mr. Darcy, Jennifer Ehle is even worse as Lizzie. Oh my goodness. She’s constantly making faces and seems to be even more haughty than Mr. Darcy. Her weird facial expressions totally bugged the daylights out of me; she was so obnoxious that I barely lasted an hour. I just had to stop the DVD; I was giving myself a headache from rolling my eyes at her so much. There really was no reason for me to continue watching it, I mean, usually, even if the heroine is annoying, the hero is attractive enough that you’ll continue watching it for him, or vice versa: if the hero is annoying (or unappealing as in the case of Mansfield Park), you’ll still finish the movie because the heroine is compelling. In this case, both the hero and heroine were obnoxious so watching the remaining 4 hours seemed like an absolute waste of time. 
Needless to say, the 2005 version is a gazillion times better. The chemistry between Keira and Matthew is sizzling, they both interpret their characters perfectly, and the adaptation from the book to the script was done really well.
I can’t say how much I love, love, LOVE this movie. I have 2 DVD copies (full-screen and wide-screen), I have it saved onto my laptop (for watching during lay-overs), and on my iPod video as well (for watching whenever and wherever). I must’ve seen it a good 2 dozen times and I could most definitely watch it loads more.
If you’ve never seen a Jane Austen movie or if - for some bizarre reason - you can only see one, the 2005 Pride and Prejudice is the one for you to see. Believe me, you’ll be hooked! Its just loverly 
