Pride & Prejudice

Keira Knightley stars in Jane Austen’s timeless romance, reinvigorated for the modern age by the masters of British rom-com, Working Title.

Working Title, the British production company known for its mastery of the rom-com, returned to the ultimate source of light-hearted love fiction, Jane Austen, for this acclaimed adaptation. Newcomer Matthew Macfadyen makes an excellent Mr Darcy, while Knightley is in her element as Elizabeth Bennet; her performance earning the film one of four Oscar nominations.

Director Joe Wright (who won a Bafta for Best British Newcomer for this his debut film) imbues the production with an edge of realism honed from his background in gritty TV drama. There’s also a sense of youthful verve to this translation, which still retains Austen’s sense of irony and razor-sharp wit. Emma Thompson, fresh from her own Austen adaptation Sense and Sensibility in 1999, was an uncredited script advisor on the film.