My Favorite Pride & Prejudice Screen Adaptations
As an author of Jane Austen variations and fan fiction, here are my five favorite screen adaptations of Pride & Prejudice.
I fell in love with Pride & Prejudice and Jane Austen as a teenager. I was at a sleepover with friends, and one of them brough along the 1995 BBC miniseries adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. We ended up watching the entire thing all night long, and I was hooked.
Over the years, I’ve seen many different screen versions of Pride & Prejudice. Some are true retellings of Jane Austen’s work, while others are odd adaptations. Here are some of my favorites!
Pride & Prejudice (1995)
Starring Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle
As I mentioned above, this is my favorite version of Pride & Prejudice. It’s a little over 5 hours long, and it’s beautiful. There are some parts that aren’t true to the book (like the famous lake scene), but overall it gives an extremely accurate depiction of the emotions Jane Austen describes.
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Starring Keira Knightley & Matthew Macfadyenam Heskin
I saw the 2005 Kiera Knightly version of Pride & Prejudice my sophomore year of college when it first came out. I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed the first time I watched it. It seemed to move extremely quickly and left out several characters (where were the Hursts?!). However, I did appreciate some of the portrayals this version gave, such as Mr. Bennet hugging Mary the night of the Netherfield ball. Once I stopped comparing it to the Jennifer Ehle version, I enjoyed it more.
Pride & Prejudice (2003)
Starring Kam Heskin, Orlando Seale, & Kelly Stables
This 2003 version of Pride & Prejudice is absolutely hilarious. Some of my appreciation for it may be because it takes place in Provo, Utah, and I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You don’t need to be a “Mormon” to appreciate this movie, however. The modern-day version of Lydia and Kitty, for example, are hilarious. And how Elizabeth ends up meeting Darcy (he’s an editor, and she’s written a romance novel that he tears apart) and then awkwardly running into him after he asks her out (she breaks into his house on accident) have me in tears of laughter every time.
Bride & Prejudice (2005)
Starring Keira Knightley & Matthew Macfadyenam Heskin
This Bollywood version of Pride & Prejudice is absolutely hysterical. The song “No Life Without Wife” alone make it worth the watch. A family of unmarried Indian daughters and a mother trying to arrange their matches is perfect. Throw in the culture differences (Darcy is from the United States), and there are plenty of opportunities for misunderstandings and prejudice!
There are so many more other screen adaptations of Pride & Prejudice! I haven’t seen most of them, but not all. I found a few more I didn’t know existed and have them on my watchlist!
As I was writing this, my husband asked, “Are there any versions you don’t like?” I laughed and immediately said, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.“