"Pride and Prejudice" (#83, 84, 85)

Pride and Prejudice
Starring Keira Knightley (and Matthew Macfadyen as the quintessential Mr. Darcy) among others like Jena Malone, Carey Mulligan, Talulah Riley, Rosamund Pike and Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn as the Bennetts

"Pride and Prejudice" escapes the trap of being a "chick flick" because it deals with stronger thematic elements than commercialized "chick flicks" and let's face it Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Bennett is one of the strongest female characters as she pits herself against the likes of Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth comes out biting and inhabiting the "prejudice" of the title because she tends to judge others quickly upon first meeting and does not hide her opinion, instead boasts it loud and clear. Mr. Darcy holds "pride" close to him, as well.

Dialogue within the first few moments of the film:
Darcy to Bingley: "Elizabeth is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me."
First off, get real! Elizabeth Bennett as played by Keira Knightley is perhaps the most attractive, scratch that, the most beautiful, ideal 20 year old that any man in that time period could possibly dream up. Her brunette hair and bangs. Her deep eyes. Her adorable dimples. The way she speaks as if the corners of her mouth intentionally curl inward, just slightly enough. She is perfection. I think, as a guy during that time period, what was not attractive about Elizabeth was the fact that she had opinions and was never afraid to share them, and as her father states: "Lizzie has something more of quickness than her sisters" and I would add than any other subservient girl in that time period (late 1800s) when the story is set to have taken place. That's just another thing I enjoy about her character. She has spunk!
This film belongs to Keira Knightley from her first appearance on the screen. She plays Elizabeth with a keenness, lightness, and yet so fierce that she makes the fictional story/character seem real. Clearly her mind and heart are working against each other at first and she has to find a way to make them work together as she quickly falls for Mr. Darcy.

Elizabeth: "I will loathe him for eternity."


Therefore, these two people and ultimately meant for each other (and you pretty much know going into it that they will overcome adversity and be together in the end- sorry if I ruin the suspense of romance here, but this is ultimately an idealist's/romantic's dream film...and as if you had not been made to read the literary classic in high school, I'm pretty sure it's required reading at some point, I know that's how I read it).  This is a story about manners, class, upbringing, morality, education, money, but most importantly, it is a story about self knowledge and marriage (since Mrs. Bennett is most concerned with marrying off her daughters to wealthy suitors: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" is the first line that Jane Austen chose to open the book with, by the way, and Mrs. Bennett clearly makes "the business of her life to get her daughters married." That is her chief concern.) And that is not Elizabeth's concern at all. You can tell that Elizabeth is smarter and wiser than to simply fall for money (even though Mr. Darcy has it), in fact she almost actively shuns money. She wants to follow her heart, but since her heart is telling her to love Mr. Darcy she is struggling. They are both essentially refusing to follow their hearts because it will lead them into each other's arms. And that's why we keep watching, with slight frustration, because we will not be happy until they kiss. I think all of this is what makes it more of a quintessential romance film and not simply a "chick flick."

I think I fell in love with Elizabeth Bennett because I tend to be an idealist and a complete and utter romantic,  in my own personal life. I've built a pedestal for love. And for women I encounter.

By far the best scene in the film occurs between Darcy and Elizabeth, of course, in the rain. They have an intense and angry argument. But the argument is important because it clears up misunderstandings both held about the other, and it shows us that the characters now see each other as the brave souls that they are, and that they are true to themselves, therefore can be true to each other. Honesty. Sure, anyone can love, but to love the goodness in each other, that's true emotion. And that's where the emotion of this film lies, within the goodness of both Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. That's why you want the happy ending for them. And that's why it doesn't seem forced by the original author, Jane Austen, or by the director here.

I love this film because it reaches inside to a part of me that I love about myself. I have acknowledged the romantic in me and I will never apologize for it. And I hold tight to my own pride (sinfully as it might be) and I'll be the first to say that I can be judgmental of people, too. Who isn't?
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"High Art" (1998)
Starring Radha Mitchell and Ally Sheedy (yup, that's right, from the ashes of her Brat Pack days in the 1980s) and we can see how "washed up and used" she is. She is anorexic-thin and just looks as if life has handed her some difficulty.

I don't think it's an accident that she plays a photographer past her prime and looking for a bit of redemption through Radha Mitchell's character (who coincidentally is a newly crowned assistant editor at a photography/artistic magazine, and she just so happens to live downstairs from her, as well). Everything's in place for a relationship of exploiting each other, because Syd (Mitchell) wants to get ahead at the magazine and Lucy Berliner (Sheedy) wants to come out of the shadows she cast upon herself (but she wants to do it her way, with photos she takes, not ones that have already been taken, from her past). She wants and ends up photographing Syd on a weekend trip that they take together and yes, they become lovers (which quickly passes like a necessary phase for Syd to go through, since she is a yuppie New Yorker trying to be more of a hipster like her downstairs neighbor who has frequent artist parties where cocaine is snorted and heroin is passed around...she partakes in the coke).

The film and director at presenting the little details, for example the relationship between Lucy and her "longtime" lover/partner Greta (played by Patricia Clarkson), and the dialogue and how these characters talk and respond to each other is very real. Syd has a career ambition and the film knows she has to play office politics, but Syd is a kind, caring sort of person, so she doesn't really want to play the game, but she will if it means getting what she wants. She falls in love with Lucy and wants her to be recognized as the great photograph that she still is. She craves success. But she also craves Lucy's love. Syd feels inadequate in comparison to Lucy. Lucy has apparently lived quite an interesting life, so why would she settle for loving Syd? This question and feeling of insecurity becomes no truer in the scene where they sleep together. The scene has everything that a first-time virginal encounter would/should have: worry, insecurity, awkwardness, reassurance, and lots of talking. It is a greatly observant sex scene. And as I've recently learned about my own writing and from other writer's it is important, when writing about sex to focus on all of the senses involved in the entire act. How the room looks, how the characters move, how they smell, words they say, sounds they might make, the feeling of each touch, etc. Anyone can write a graphic sex scene. Few can get to the true emotions involved in the act of sex.

There is a complexity to each of the girls and you are routing for them to discover themselves. Syd doesn't want the intimate photos of her shared with the magazine, but ultimately decides to share them with the editor after she declines the Lucy Berliner photos that Syd hands in at the deadline.

I liked the film enough for it to hold my interest, but I would have liked to see more exploration into Syd's character and ambitions, her motives, because clearly her motives change for career to love.
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"The Ten"
Starring Paul Rudd (sort of)

What a thorough waste of time this was. Paul Rudd plays a character that introduces short stories as related to the Ten Commandments. Each story is poorly written and constructed. The acting is terrible and seems phoned-in by pretty much everyone.

It's a shame because this is a film from the same crew that brought us "Wet Hot American Summer" (a great film with an equally great ensemble cast). Perhaps that's what this film was missing. It's like the actors knew the writing was terrible so they gave it no effort. The ten stories are just awful.

If you want to see a film fall flat on its face from the very beginning, watch this train-wreck. I mean, the first story involves Adam Brody as a skydiver who jumps from the plane and ends up stuck in the ground, where his devoted girlfriend, Winona Ryder stays by his side (until she meets another man, at the same site). It is a ridiculous attempt to teach us about "vanity." And it's not a funny kind of ridiculous, either. You are not that lucky.

Famke Janssen plays Paul Rudd's wife (ex-wife) during the in-between scenes and Jessica Alba plays his girlfriend in the same scenes that interrupt the film, but eventually all the characters meet up for the finale which is supposed to tell us that the entire film was done "for love." Really? Because I thought it was to teach us that films can be disasters, if you really try hard enough, no matter who is involved in the project.

Paul Rudd is usually the comedic surprise, with a perfect timing for his jokes and a subtle use of his charming humor that he steals the films he is involved in. Not this time. Sorry, Paul. "I Love You, Man," but major film fail!

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