P&P is not under any threat at all. It's hallowed pages remain untainted and preserved.
Just look at Death Comes to Pemberley as a rather pleasant diversion which just happens to use the characters of Austen's creation. Viewed as such, it's really very enjoyable, and certainly the best television over Christmas.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
Couldn't agree more.
All Anna Maxwell Martin lead performances are to be treasured and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
What made Lizzie attractive to Darcy was her spirited intelligence, her independence of mind and her ability to place other people's interest above her own and the requirements of fashionable society. Anna appreciated and delivered all of this. She gave us a Lizzie with the inner lights on which certainly had me thinking more about Jane Austen's original than some straight adaptations have. It would have been a mistake to go further than they did. The mystery had to carry the burden of dramatic interest as it is simply not realistically possible to recreate Austen's drawing rooms and dining tables any more than it is possible to write new Shakespeare soliloquys. But there was enough of all the essential ingredients.
If the chief response to off-piste period programmes like Lost in Austen and DCtP is to be carping about the physical appearance of the leads, the costumes and whether Lizzie was sufficiently ladylike delivering a document that would save a man's life, there won't be any more of them.
Which would be a real shame. Because as supergran says, this was head and shoulders above any other Christmas fare this year.
Here here to both of you.
shareExactly. People get very precious about Austen, and rightly so, but this is not Austen. It is a P D James murder mystery, it is not a sequel to P&P. I don't think P D James ever intended it to be, either. Any attempt to mess with revered classics (remember Susan Hill's Mrs De Winter, the 'follow up to Du Maurier's Rebecca) tends to stir up mixed feelings amongst the original's devotees.
shareThank you for this dose of sanity :)
I think AMM did her usual fantastic work.
I totally take your point, supergran, but I still disagree with you. The one basic thing that a hommage or a spoof or a riff or a sequel or a parody of anything at all simply must do, is resemble the thing that it is hommage-ing, spoofing, etc. If DCtP can't convince us that the characters are, or at least might be, the characters of P&P seven years on, of course it doesn't threaten P&P - but it is failing to do what it says on the tin.
shareI thoroughly enjoyed the murder mystery and it did convince me that the characters were the same people in P&P seven years on. I'd have preferred a more vivacious and feisty Elizabeth, but I thought the story was interesting in highlighting the disapproval she and Darcy would possibly have endured once P&P had ended. All in all, I had a good time watching it and I agree with the OP that it made for some of the best TV over the hols.
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Hi Supergran! I totally agree with you. I loved it. It was definitely the best thing on TV this Christmas. I thought it had great casting throughout as well.
shareHi Laura! Fancy meeting you here! Hope you're well.
I think this is one of those dramas that you just have to abandon yourself to! Don't try to analyse it - just enjoy it!
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
This adaptation was way better than James' book. She's one of my favorite mystery writers, but here I don't think she had a clear vision whether she was writing fanfic or a mystery. Almost all of the flaws that people are shooting at are in the book. Except for casting a very young Mrs. Reynolds and giving most of Jane's stuff to Georgiana, THIS is the book.
I must say the Matthew Rhys could become my favorite Darcy. Haughty, handsome -- still as flawed as ever -- with the right touch of family man, who says "I was wrong" a lot faster than he did before. But what the heck was James getting at with poor Colonel Fitz. What a personality transplant!
I'm well supergran. Hope you are too. You are right it was the sort of drama best not to analyse too much and just enjoy. I loved the setting of Chatworth as well. I was only visiting there a few weeks ago.
I must say the Matthew Rhys could become my favorite Darcy. Haughty, handsome -- still as flawed as ever -- with the right touch of family man, who says "I was wrong" a lot faster than he did before.
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Look, this isn't Austen. It's a P.D. James whodunnit. I understand the book isn't that great, but I found this adaptation to be a very enjoyable piece of entertainment. Nothing more, nothing less. When I said that it shouldn't be analysed, I meant that it doesn't merit deep study. It's fairly lightweight, but none the worse for that. Not every drama has to be worthy and meaningful.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
I went to Chatsworth a few years ago. It's sumptuous, isn't it, although a bit over the top!
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
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I do agree with most of the criticisms but I admit I enjoyed this immensely! When Darcy and Elizabeth reconciled and he apologized to her and Georgiana I just melted. Yes, Lizzie was miscast (one wonders what in the world they were thinking--I am sure any number of more suitable actress would have loved to be cast as one of iconic heroines of English literature) but I liked her and couldn't take my eyes off her.
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