Pride & Prejudice (1995) Things You Might Have Missed

Hi, welcome to another video. In fact, another Pride and Prejudice video. Well, the 1995 version anyway. On the back of my original video, where I highlighted the scene where Darcy has a little intimate moment with Lizzie, you know, the thumb rubbing scene, I thought it might be interesting to share some other observations that I found in the mini-series. These are mostly short, almost missable moments, where the actors might offer us, the viewer, a little insight into the characters they're portraying. And it might be that they've had direction, or it might be that in spending so much time learning their parts, or learning the lines, they themselves have gained an understanding into the character. And as such, it all starts becoming natural, and they don't need direction at all. Now, it's the actor's job to make the characters believable. And as a viewer, we should be observing something that is passing, and believe what we are seeing, at least in a drama, or a play, or a movie. So, what I've done is re-watched the series, and picked out some of those moments. They're either going to be glaring errors, or just some marvellous microsecond moments, offered by the actors, that you might not ordinarily catch, unless you watch the series over and over. I wonder if I should put in a disclaimer, you know, one scene, you can't unsee it. Anyway, let's get started. I think it's going to take me a little bit of editing. In episode one, we have the scene where Kitty and Lydia are squabbling over a bonnet. Now, Mary is in the reading a book, and Mrs Bennet is, as she often is, seen fretting about her nerves. Let's have a look at the scene. Okay, so the scene is showing a little backstory into the life of the Bennet household, but it's Mary I'd like to focus on in this scene. She's sitting at the table reading her book as the events unfold. Now, Lucy Briers, playing Mary, offers us a glimpse into her character. She's tolerant of her siblings, and yet always exasperated. When the scene unfolds, the viewer is kind of transfixed on Kitty and Lydia chasing each other around the table, but probably rarely watch what Mary is offering up. You could argue that she didn't need to be in the scene at all, and yet having her there and offering up her facial expressions really lends itself to help confirm the hierarchy of the Bennet sisters. Let's look at it again, and I'll zoom in on Mary, and that little shake of her head at the end. Perfection. Also in episode one, we see the scene where they're attending the party at Lucas Lodge, and Darcy is spending a lot of time standing around watching everyone. Now, in this scene, Charlotte observes that Darcy is looking at Lizzie a great deal. Mr. Darcy looks at you a great deal, Lizzie. I don't think. Why? Lucy Scott, playing Charlotte, gives us a fleeting moment with her eyes that seem to reveal that she has an understanding as to why Darcy looks at Lizzie. It's all in the eyes. Mr. Darcy looks at you a great deal, Lizzie. And her comment, Mr. Darcy looks at you a great deal, Lizzie, comes moments before I think she's figured it all out. It's all very fleeting, but in that instance, she spotted the reveal. It's as if she's seen Lizzie's future unravel itself, and she offers that to us, the viewer, with just a flit of the eyes. It's great acting. Mr. Darcy looks at you a great deal, Lizzie. In this next scene, Lizzie arrives on foot to visit Jane, who is ill in bed at Netherfield, and she encounters Darcy walking the grounds. Now, I shan't sport with your intelligence and talk about the direction Colin Firth was given regarding his, you know, how he was supposed to be reacting to seeing Lizzie. Andrew Davies gives an enlightening detail in the making of Pride and Prejudice, and I'll leave a link up here for you. But in this scene, there are two moments that I've spotted that are quite telling. Let's take a look at the scene. Miss Bennet. Mr. Darcy. I am come to inquire after my sister. On foot? As you see. Would you be so kind as to take me to her? Did you spot them? My first observation is Darcy's reaction. He's almost thinking, obstinate, headstrong girl, as he purses his lips. It's quite fleeting, but the reaction gives us a telling insight into how Darcy is aware that he's been put in his place. But due to decorum and civility, he can't react verbally. The second thing I observe is Lizzie's rolling of her eyes. Now this probably isn't something that's out of place, and also probably a staged direction, but it's a perfect reaction that is a response to every useless chat-up line given from a man to a woman to a woman. You know, like, heaven must be missing an angel. And how very exasperated a woman might respond to such a comment. Let's have a look again in slow motion. On foot? As you see. Would you be so kind as to take me to her? Just perfect. Okay, the next scene is an important one, and I don't know why production left it in. Have you heard the phrase, breaking the fourth wall? Or just the fourth wall? Now the fourth wall is an imaginary wall that separates the story from the real world, and this term comes from theatre, where the three surrounding walls enclosing the stage, so the back and the two sides, and also the invisible fourth wall that's left out for the sake of the viewer. The fourth wall is the screen we're watching, and we treat this wall like a one-way mirror, and the audience can see and comprehend the story, but the story cannot comprehend the existence of the audience. If you break the wall, you break the accord. This is called breaking the fourth wall, and it can also be described as a story becoming aware of itself. I've spotted this twice in the 95 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Here's the first instance. Jane and Elizabeth are leaving Netherfield. I'm sorry to say it, but notwithstanding your excellent Mr. Binkley, I've never been so happy to leave a place in my life. Did you see that? It was a blatant disregard for the rule of the fourths, or the fourth wall. The lovely Susannah Harker stares right at us at what seems a longer time than she should have. Did she do it on purpose? Why did production leave it in? Let's watch it again in slow motion, and I'll do a close-up. I've never been so happy to leave a place in my life. I'm probably nitpicking. Okay, next up, episode two. This is a quick scene involving Mr. Collins, Lydia, and Mary, while all the characters are sat around the dining table. What I want to focus on here is Mary, and I think, in my opinion, mind you, that the way the story is spinning, there's a little backstory going on relating to Mary, and her possible desire to show Mr. Collins that she could be the perfect choice for him as a wife. When Mr. Collins wants to have the first two dances with Lizzie, it's Mary who almost anticipates herself being asked. It's Mary who sends Jane into the garden to ask Mr. Collins to help with two lines from the diocese. And in this scene at the dining table, she seems enamoured with Mr. Collins's explanation on how he rehearses his compliments for the ladies, and she's smiling as he does it. But when Lydia lets out a groan, Mary turns her head, almost in disgust. The next scene is an exercise in blocking for the camera, as well as another culprit in breaking the fourth wall. If my fair cousin will consent to release me. Firstly, David Bambach, as Mr. Collins, leans forward to ask to be released by his fair cousin. This in itself is fine, but it would leave Lynne Farley, playing Mrs. Phillips, blocked behind his head, so leaning forward like, and then you wouldn't see her. This in itself is a funny scene, it looks quite comical, but the issue is of course that Lynne Farley has to make sure she's in line with the camera, and as such, she kind of moves with Mr. Collins, but stares straight at the camera. Yikes. If my fair cousin will consent to release me. The final observation for episode 2 revolves around the dance at Netherfield. Lizzie and Darcy are engaged in the dance, and she's trying to make conversation with him, or at least get him to have a conversation. I might remark on the number of couples. What I like is how Jennifer Ely shows us how Lizzie is exasperated. She knew she didn't want to dance with him anyway. I don't think it's a happy accident, because they kept the sound in, you know, of her blowing out the air when she puffed her cheeks. Also, in the background, we see Mary and Mr. Collins talking together, and it appears that Mary is smiling, and that's a rare thing. For episode 3, I've only caught two things. I know I should make a greater effort. Okay, the first one relates to background acting. Now, I've done my fair share of background acting, and when you're on set, you have to carry yourself as if your own part of the story has nothing to do with the main story being captured by the camera. But it still has to be believable and real, even if it's in the background. Did you spot it? Okay, this one is Lizzie and Wickham talking as they're walking through Meryton, but it's what's going on in the background that I want to highlight. Again, I don't think it's a happy accident regarding the placing of the actors. The camera keeps Lydia, Kitty, Denny and Sanderson in the little triangle between Lizzie and Wickham for almost the whole scene, and I suppose when a viewer is watching a scene, they're not particularly observing what's going on in the background. But once you've seen it, you can't unsee it. This is a magical piece of direction in my opinion. Not only is the camera following the conversation, but it's also giving us another glimpse into Lydia's flirting. And I think for me though, it's the way that Julia Suala grabs Denny's hat, which is probably not scripted. I think that was perhaps Julia doing some improvisation. Ah, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Lizzie has given her opinion quite decidedly, and Lady Catherine asks how old she is. Now in this scene, Mariah and Mr Collins are aghast and shocked, but it's Charlotte's happy expression that catches my eye. Charlotte's like, go Lizzie, go, go Lizzie, go. And the other two seem sure that some kind of confrontation is about to occur. Finally then for episode three, you might remember when I was at Belton House, in my previous video, I was not sure what room Darcy was staring out of, you know, from the window. But the window, possibly this one, and any one of these windows here, we see him kind of looking out. Now Jessica Politsky pointed this out in a comment that she left. For the scene which Darcy is looking out of the window, 29 minutes, 22 seconds, it appears to be one of the towers jutting out from the main part of the building. The one on the right side of the building, when you're standing in front of it, shot at somewhat of a 45 degree angle toward the middle of the building, as there is a corner visible at the left edge of the frame, and a window even further to the left that appears to sit quite back a lot. So here's where it actually was. Mr. Wickham is the son of a very respectable man, who had the management of our family estates, and my own father was fond of him, and held him in high esteem. In episode four, Lydia is off to Brighton. She's about to get into the carriage, and she stumbles. Well, I must go. Goodbye, Jane. Goodbye, Lizzie. If I see any eligible boats for you, I'll send you word express. Don't laugh if I should fall and break my head. I wish you would. Now, I'm not sure if this would have been planned. It would have certainly taken some direction, that's for sure, you know, not to hurt Julia. Or if it was one of the bloopers that we often see, but in this case, Julia Soala recovers so well that they may have kept it in. Well, I must go. Goodbye, Jane. Goodbye, Lizzie. If I see any eligible boats for you, I'll send you word express. When you watch the reaction of the background actor, as the footman, quickly reaching to Julia, and perhaps trying to save her from falling, and then the reaction of the other actors, it looks to me like genuine concern from them for Julia. If I see any eligible boats for you, I'll send you word express. Don't laugh if I should fall and break my head. Perhaps the camera angle from the view behind Mrs. Bennett was the original footage, and then the director turned the camera around and re-shot the scene, but captured their reactions, which were then acted. I'm not sure, but it seems seamless. But you never know. Unless we get to chat to one of them, I'm not sure if we would ever know. Perhaps Julia would like to get in touch. Okay, finally, from episodes five and six. First, we get a glimpse into Darcy's softer side. I really think he's in love with Elizabeth, and I'm sure this would have been direction given to Colin. Thought I would just show that, so that we could see how the storyline was unfolding. Right, in this next scene, Darcy puts down Caroline Bingley. But you have to look closely. Firstly, in slow-mo, we see the cold determination from Darcy that kind of suggests, gotcha, get out of that if you can. The next part of the scene sees Darcy walking down the long corridor with his dogs. Now, this is a clever scene because it not only shows us the master of the house checking all is in order before retiring, but we get three facial, very subtle facial expressions from Colin Firth that suggest to me anyway that he realises he's actually beaten Caroline Bingley, and that he may finally have had the last laugh, or at least the upper hand. Let's see a motion, and I'll point the moments out. There's a quick smile, blink and you'll miss it. There's the tongue looking in the corner of the lips savouring the victory. There's the quick puffing out of air signifying relief, and then again, ever so fleeting, the final smile signifying victory. Mr Darcy isn't stern, proud or prejudiced at all. He might be complex, but he certainly shows his emotions, although perhaps quite unwillingly. Okay, that's it for some of the observations I've made from the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Are there any more? Have you spotted any? Drop me a comment, let me know. What I'll do is leave you with one last scene. It's not an observation, well it is, but... I do like him. I love him. Indeed, he has no improper pride. He's perfectly amiable. If you only knew his generous nature. I didn't always love him, but I love him now so very dearly. I cannot for the life of me think why Andrew Davies and Sue Birtwhistle left out what I consider to be a crucial element of the storyline, and that is Lizzie telling her father of Mr Darcy's involvement in paying Wickham's debts, and bringing about the wedding of Lydia and Wickham, thus saving the Bennets from shame and ridicule. They put it in the 2005 version. Perhaps Andrew and Sue felt it was covered enough in the conversation between Lizzie and Darcy in the country lane, when he makes his second kind of a proposal. It kind of makes the 95 version lacking in that one important moment, but I shall forgive them, because I know the story, and I shall pretend that Lizzie told her father when the cameras had stopped rolling. Okay, that's it. Thanks for watching and listening to my ramblings. Take care. See you in another video. Bye for now.