This adaption is a mess...especially casting

----shown on OvationTV Sunday and watched last night - 3/28/11. Did not realize the same year of the Paltrow film version, we had a Beckinsale version. Is it great minds are seized by the same thoughts that gives us 2 versions the same year? Oy vey!

Mark Strong as Mr. Knightly is not horrible to me. He was an adult dealing with a bunch of childish and pretentious country people.

As was Austen's usual setting for her stories, we are in rural England. Their small towns are full of gossip, and making sure of the classes, and who was who and what was what. Her books all full of razor sharp comments on the mores and morals of the folk.

Since I have no idea of how these people really talked except for writings from various sources, I have no preconceived notions of HOW the actors should do their roles. Each version I have seen, I either like it or not. So far, I have enjoyed the Paltrow and now this one - I call 'the Strong version.' To me he is more interesting than Emma or Jane or anyone else.

Maybe because when I was 24 I married a 38 year old man and we were still together when he died at age 84. By the time we married, I had dated for a long time, and came to realize I was going to have to raise a boy to be a man along with any babes I had. For me, it was an easy choice.

To each their own.

Jane
My Movie Blog, The Ancient Pelican here:http://purpleladyj.blogspot.com/

<<Also,since when was John Knightly a horrible, dull complainer? >>

Well, I guess you never read the book. He complained all the time and was quite inconsiderate about it. Most of his lines were taken directly from the book, actually.

Of course, if you are a fan of the Paltrow version, then clearly sticking close to the book (which you clearly have not read) is not a priority for you.

Mrs. Elton is not American. In the book, the narrator says Mrs. Elton is from Liverpool. In this version of the film, Frank Churchill says it. In the book, it is strongly suggested that Mrs. Elton is the daughter of a slave trader. Mrs. Elton should show you what Jane Austen thought of slavery.

Mrs. Elton is not American. In the book, the narrator says Mrs. Elton is from Bristol. In this version of the film, Frank Churchill says it. In the book, it is strongly suggested that Mrs. Elton is the daughter of a slave trader. Mrs. Elton should show you what Jane Austen thought of slavery.

From the book

Miss Hawkins was the youngest of the two daughters of a Bristol – merchant, of course, he must be called; but, as the whole of the profits of his mercantile life appeared so very moderate, it was not unfair to guess the dignity of his line of trade had been very moderate also.

This OP is going to hate the 2020 version.