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Sep 20, 20184536o rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
In the arts, every work is subject to interpretation. Jane Austen's famous Regency-era novel is set c. 1794, in the earlier Georgian Period, which was dominated by Enlightenment thought, with its emphasis on the pure and the rational. The crisp 1995 BBC production faithfully reflected this sensibility. Here, P&P feels well after Austen's actual 1813 publication -- deeply into the Romantic Era, when the arts had become awash in emotion. You notice this immediately, as, for instance, the Bennet home is placed in a grimy farmyard, and the sweeping exterior vistas are wild rather than clipped or picturesque. Keira Knightly's rendering of Elizabeth is consequently much more emotionally charged than was Jennifer Ehle's perfectly controlled interpretation of our heroine of a decade earlier. It pointless to champion one over the other: Janeites will naturally prefer the authentic, earlier production, while others may respond to the ahistorical added vibrancy of this one.