A TV series running over 5 hours based on one novel that was of only average length may indicate that some padding has occurred, but here it almost certainly didn’t. This dramatization of Pride and Prejudice seems to follow the book very precisely, capturing some of the details that really cry out to be included since they round out the characters who are on stage.
Mr. Bennet as played by Benjamin Whitrow has been especially well cast, and as he is the master of a household of six women, he is a particularly important character in the story. How his five daughters will marry is the question of the family, who are probably facing financial catastrophe. Because of the leisurely pace of this dramatization, we can see what Mr. Bennet means when he complains that his three younger daughters are the silliest of women. We see and hear instances of their silliness.
The two more sensible daughters, Jane and Eliza, are the focus of the story, however. Though Jennifer Ehle turns in a splendid performance as Elizabeth, she seemed to me to lack sparkle sometimes. And Susannah Harker as Jane just seemed wrong now and then–a bit too brooding.
But these could be the carping criticisms of someone who had seen a very fine version of Pride and Prejudice (with Darcy played by David Rintoul) televised in the early 1980s and remained persuaded that it could not be outdone.
This 1995 version should be prized for the way it incorporates much of Jane Austen’s wit without bludgeoning us with it. In fact, some of the wry comments go by so fast that they are easy to miss.
This Pride and Prejudice has many hilarious moments, and, as with the book, a person comes away with the sense that the author saw through the falseness of the world she lived in and had a marvelous time laughing at it.