| RATING: | 80% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
Human sexuality and (its perverse corollary) rape are more in evidence here than one would ever imagine possible in a Jane Austen adaptation and breathes a welcome breath of fresh air through the whole period drama style. This is allied to an unusually eidetic appreciation of the racist source of the UK’s Industrial Revolution inspired wealth. But the modish references to slavery are not fully developed and are still shown as something that happens far away; leaving its beneficiaries not unduly troubled.
All of these features make this an exceptional movie of its kind; while still detailing the usual social class conflicts between the arranged marriages necessary to perpetuate the class system. Along with the idea of marrying for love, so beloved of nineteenth century lady novelists who are far too intelligent to adapt to the gender roles assigned them at birth. Cleverly, the heroine here is also the author as she directly narrates the plot through her own short stories that are, themselves, then published.
Austen's satirical wit and sense of irony are both ever present regarding those leisured types who have little to do all day but snipe and bicker and presume airs & graces over others. Theirs is the essentially lonely materialism of a world where fear of poverty is actually greater than desire for wealth, such that it becomes fear of the poor themselves - as if the latter had a communicable disease.
No comments:
Post a Comment