Pride and Prejudice 1995 BBC Miniseries

By Brandi M. Seals

I have always loved Pride and Prejudice. I read the book by Jane Austen when I was 12 or so. In my mind I pictured Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. They seemed to be the perfect pair. It was years before I ever saw a movie version of this classic story. There are several versions out there. Some are much better than others. At the top of the list is the 1995 Pride and Prejudice BBC Miniseries. It is the first version I ever saw and it remains my favorite.

This version stars Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth. Two better actors could not be found for the roles. Their performances are breathtaking and dramatic. They are very similar to the characters I had pictured years before.

The story of Pride and Prejudice is one of love, misunderstanding, and friendship. The Bennetts are a family of 5 girls. Their eccentric mother's goal is to have them all married off to wealthy men (as they are part of the lower class) and their father would rather hide in the study than deal with his wife.

The girls: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia are all very different. Jane is the oldest. She is beautiful and shy. Elizabeth is strong willed and very intelligent. Mary seems very shy and unsure of herself. The youngest two are flirtatious and naive.

Elizabeth is the star of the show. The story is of her and Mr. Darcy. The pair meets at a local ball and Elizabeth thinks Mr. Darcy is arrogant and rude. She hates him immediately.

Elizabeth's older sister Jane falls in love with Mr. Darcy's best friend Mr. Bingley, which means Elizabeth and Darcy spend some time together with the other two. Jane thinks that Mr. Bingley might ask her to marry him but he soon leaves town and grows very distant. Elizabeth thinks that Darcy has gotten to Mr. Bingley. There is a large class difference between the two families and to Mr. Bingley, marrying a Bennett could be embarrassing. Meanwhile, youngest sister Lydia throws herself at anyone in a uniform and is generally embarrassing to her family.

Elizabeth catches the attention of her cousin, Mr. Collins and shocks everyone when she rejects his advances. He seems to be an annoying sort of fellow that would drive her made. She seems taken with Mr. Wickham, but realizes he is not the man of her dreams. He is unscrupulous and often in the pursuit of money. He ends up married to Lydia after Mr. Darcy bribes him because he has soiled Lydia's good name by running off with her.

A lot happens through out the course of the story. In the end, Elizabeth realizes that Mr. Darcy is not all that bad. In fact, she loves him. While he is not one to brag about what he has done, he has helped the Bennett family out a lot. He convinced Mr. Bingley that he should marry the woman he loves (Jane), he helped Lydia out and he has been an all around good guy. Elizabeth just did not see him for who he was because she was prejudiced against him and he was too proud to really chase after her or toot his own horn.

Every version of this movie is slightly different, but if you are looking for one that seems the most fitting with the book, this version is for you. I first saw it while I was a sophomore in college and I could not stop watching it. I think I drove my roommates nuts. Since this version was originally a miniseries, it is quite a bit longer than most versions. It runs 6 hours and can take up quite a chunk of one's day, but it really is worth it.

This version gets 5 stars from me all the way. The actors selected are perfect in their roles. Colin Firth gives an excellent performance and I think he was born to play the role of awkward yet lovable Mr. Darcy. I am not familiar with any of the other actors in the movie, but they all did an excellent job. I think Jane Austen would be very pleased at this adaptation of her book.