Not long before I left my sister and I went on a bit of a Jane Austen bender… You know how it goes. You start watching one, and before you know it, a month has passed and you’ve consumed every adaptation of Pride and Prejudice made in the last quarter century. Here’s the running commentary we kept up while bingeing on regency dramas, starting with Janie’s very first novel.
Sense and Sensibility (2008)
Christine: How saucy is this going to be? I must know who Dominic Cooper is seducing!
Christine: Between Mr. Collins and Mr. Elton, I’m beginning to suspect dear old Jane had something against men of the parish, so what is she trying to set up here with Mr. Edward Ferris? I can only imagine it will be grave disappointment.
Robyn: Do you think her local parishioner had a crush on her and kept bothering her? We should Google that.
Christine: I feel like Dan Stevens and Dominic Cooper are destined to play rival love interests now after seeing Summer in February (2013) with Emily Browning. I want more of them together on screen.
Christine: “Can you forgive me?” That’s not it. “Can you love me?” Try harder. “Can you marry me?” Yes! That’s my boi!
Christine: I dig a double wedding, and watching Dan Stevens chase chickens is adorable.
Christine: Robyn kept falling asleep but we love a duel. Overall, a bit dull compared to other works by Austen, but it was her first book so she was still finding her voice.
Robyn: Yeah, I fell asleep for the duel, which was the only action-y part. While the story was a bit dull, it was well-acted by all.
Robyn: My main takeaway was a new way to watch Beauty and the Beast, where the Beast (Dan Stevens) and the Enchantress (Hattie Morahan) were in love.
Christine: I keep thinking Colonel Brandon is Nathan Fillion.
Robyn: He does NOT look like Nathan Fillion.
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Christine: Kate Winslet swoons a little too much for my liking even if that is Marianne’s general nature.
Christine: Circa 1990s Hugh Grant? I am so here for it. But I feel like he would’ve made a better Willoughby and Greg Wise would’ve made a better Edward Ferris. Hugh Grant is supposed to be a rake in my mind. What do you think, Robyn? Hello? Robyn? Are you still awake?
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Christine: My literal favourite. What a comfort movie.
Christine: Even though I haven’t seen the BBC version yet, Matthew Macfadyen IS Mr. Darcy and I will die on that hill. Sorry Colin Firth.
Christine: The way he flexes his hand has me screaming.
Christine: Rupert Friend looks very much like Will Turner in his little ponytail.
Christine: For the supposedly plain sister, Lizzie is up two proposals so far to Jane’s nil.
Christine: He looks at her lips while they’re fighting. It’s so subtle but I am screaming.
Robyn: Best part of the movie!
Christine: The aesthetic is everything, even the mud and the pigs.
Robyn: Half of what Mr. Collins says is a recurring quote in my life.
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Christine: Okay, now that I’ve seen it, I’ll admit Colin Firth is a very well-cast Mr. Darcy. However, don’t hate me too much, Matthew Macfadyen forever.
Christine: I’m starting to see the appeal of this adaptation because it really gets into the nitty gritty of the story. With six episodes, it has ample time to show you the true nature of these characters, and now I can see why the Bennett family is such an embarrassment, why Darcy thought Jane was aloof and disinterested in Bingley, and Caroline seems like far less of a haughty bitch.
Robyn: Agreed. No notes.
Death Comes to Pemberley (2013)
Robyn: We watched this out of order. Somehow we managed to mix up the discs and started with episode two, so we found that the characters weren’t well-introduced and the murder was not well-set up. We then watched episode three and were shocked that there was still another episode since everything had already been tied up so nicely. This led us to watching the first episode with an appreciation for how well it was actually set up.
Christine: Yeah, our bad.
Robyn: I liked the concept of this one a lot, it is fun the see the characters we know in a different light. But I was literally so sad to see Elizabeth and Darcy sad.
Christine: I appreciate Matthew Goode and Jenna Coleman in any historical drama, but I think because they’ve both made such a name for themselves in that regard I can’ think of them as anyone but themselves, let alone as Wickham and Lydia. My only gripe was the casting, otherwise it was a well-crafted “what-if” in the Jane Austen expanded universe.
Robyn: Overall, between falling asleep in half of these and watching this one out of order, take my review with a grain of excellent boiled potato.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2015)
Christine: Mr. Collins is expertly cast in every adaptation. Matt Smith absolutely killed it.
Robyn: Exactly. All of them are a totally different brand of ridiculous and they all end up being the funniest part of every adaptation.
Christine: This is utterly ridiculous but I’m having a ball of a time.
Robyn: I fell asleep during the final zombie battle, so I just watched regular Pride and Prejudice. With that in mind, this was still a great adaptation, very well-cast and beautiful visual direction (I loved the opening credits).
Emma (2020)
Christine: Bill Nighy and Josh O’Connor absolutely kill it.
Christine: I can’t stop thinking about the deleted scene with the servants, particularly the delicious line, “freshen the sponge, Bartholomew”.
Robyn: This is my favourite Jane Austen anything! The first time I watched it, I got to the carriage scene and was delighted to realize it was Clueless!
Christine: Emma thinking she was going to set up Harriet with Mr. Elton was as far-sighted as me thinking I was going to set up my neighbours who lived on either side of me.
Robyn: Patiently waiting for Autumn de Wilde’s next movie… with Florence + the Machine on the soundtrack!
Persuasion (2022)
Christine: The fourth wall breaking did me in. I stopped watching twenty minutes in to start writing this post.
Robyn: It was alright. Not the best Jane Austen, but I usually like the happier ones anyway.
Christine: Brief interlude. It’s still playing in the background as I write this, and from what I gather Dakota Johnson is still pining for the man she rejected years ago because he was beneath her station, except now he’s successful and wealthy. I had far more fun watching Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” (2026). Maybe if Cosmo Jarvis’ Wentworth had sideburns and a gold tooth like Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff… just saying!