Despite Changes, New Pride and Prejudice Remains Faithful
By Alexa DeGennaro
November 12, 2005
Takeaways 
This P&P is the first feature film version of the story since Laurence Olivier's 1940 version. Mr. Darcy star Matthew MacFadyen has never seen Colin Firth's performance as Mr. Darcy. The film was number 1 in the UK for over a month. Throw away your notions of wet shirts and men jumping into lakes, ladies. The new
Pride and Prejudice is having none of it, and it is, hands down, the best adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, to date. Although this version includes dozens of changes to the story, it remains faithful enough for die-hard fans, especially of the Colin Firth incarnation, to be won over by the end of the sweeping, romantic film.
Director Joe Wright takes the themes and characters in Austen's novel and expands upon them in an ode to nature, idealism and emotion. Wright's direction is refreshingly artful - he takes Austen's story out of the parlor and into nature, making the rural English countryside a character unto itself.
