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For a book that recently celebrated its 207th birthday, it has amazing staying power as a novel and as source material for the screen.  IMDB has 200 entries (albeit only 46 are exact) for the title “Pride and Prejudice” including movies, mini-series, and titles of TV episodes, ranging from 1938 to 2019.  We did watch and rewatch a few of these to share more with you, but we did not even consider attempting to conquer the whole list.  

The 2005 movie adaptation has a special place in my heart because one of my roommates had a copy and it was well loved in our home by residents and frequent visitors alike.  The soundtrack is amazing and the casting is fabulous (mostly – Kiera Knightley is fine, but she isn’t an amazing Lizzie), but the nostalgia is my favorite part (especially because my roommate and his wife sold that house just last fall).  It does jump quickly to the public ball, and doesn’t exactly follow the book with all scenes, but Donald Sutherland IS AMAZING as Mr. Bennett. That deadpan delivery and oozing sarcasm is EVERYTHING. I know it doesn’t align with the book, but I still love the first proposal scene out in the rain, just not as much as the second proposal because be still my heart when Darcy walks across the field at sunrise!  (I may or may not have watched this again because of the Howard’s End adaptation, more on that when we get to Howard’s End.  I don’t know what Ashley’s excuse is for rewatching it again.)

Who needs an excuse to re-watch an excellent film with amazing acting, costumery, setting, and soundtrack? No one. I loved all 2 hours 9 mins of reliving the first Pride and Prejudice film I saw all the way through. Yeah, you read right. This was the FIRST piece of media that I consumed that informed me of the plot and characters of Austen’s beloved classic. I’m not ashamed of that. But, during this rewatch, I was truly blown away by the supporting actors, besides Donald Sutherland who I agree is the bestest Mr. Bennett, Simon Woods really brings to life the shyness of Charles Bingley, and Jena Malone embodies Lydia’s independence and recklessness like none other.

The 1995 adaptation is wonderful, and technically better than 2005 because it follows the book more closely, except for one fan-favorite scene.  Which scene you ask? Really? The scene where Darcy takes a dip then walks around in his wet clothes for a bit. I do really enjoy this version as well, and am 100% here for Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, so if you haven’t seen it (or haven’t seen it recently), give it a go.  
I watched Mr. Firth’s Darcy for the first time in preparation for writing this post and having the typical experience of Pride and Prejudice for a woman of my age. My college roommate is probably aghast that the first time I watched the miniseries all the way through was at age 34, since she watched it several times in my presence since 1995, but especially during college. It is entertaining, but I don’t think I can sit through the entire 5 hours and 27 minutes again. That amount of time with Mrs. Bennett solidified the opinion that she is, in all honesty, the actual worst. Worst mother, worst wife, and most selfish human being, and it’s really no surprise that Lydia turned out JUST. LIKE. HER. Don’t know how Jane and Lizzie managed to be so normal. Darcy hit that assessment on the head.

There’s also a 1940 adaptation.  I haven’t seen it, but want to share two things about it.  Aldous Huxley was one of the screen writers and Laurence Olivier plays Mr. Darcy.  It’s officially on my To Be Watched list based on that information alone.  

We did look at other options on Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Netflix to see what else was out there.  We checked out the 2003 modern retelling and got about half way through before stopping.  It might be fun for some, but it’s not for us. College students in Utah in the early 00s just didn’t do it for us (and we were college students in the early 00s even).  Honestly, it felt like it wanted to be a slightly more grown up Clueless (except that’s Emma, we know, but the feel of it) and just couldn’t hit the bar.  If you’ve seen it, let us know your thoughts (especially on the second half) in the comments below!

Whether this is your first time to read / watch it, or your 15th (or more) please join us in reading (and / or watching) Pride and Prejudice and check back for more discussion of Pride and Prejudice to be discussed before the month is over.  Until then, we’ll be quite at our leisure perhaps reading or watching some of those aforementioned retellings.  

What is your favorite Pride and Prejudice film, and what makes it rise to that level? Anyone want to guess which of us had which film version as a recurring visitor during our college years? Share with us below!

~ Ashley and Nikki