This. Just, this:
David Parry / AP Photo
Oh Lordy, Mr. Darcy. How many of my friends and family members did I subject to BBC's 1995 version of Pride & Prejudice, featuring Colin Firth and the less well-known, but positively enchanting, Jennifer Ehle? I already loved everything I had ever read devoured by Jane Austen, but this interpretation brought the beloved novel to life just so perfectly that I was hooked. I sat everyone who had the slightest tolerance down to watch all 5 hours and 12 minutes of the miniseries. It was brilliant: funny, romantic, ridiculous and charming just like the novel. Jane Austen's wit is not to be undervalued; I defy anyone who has given her work a thorough chance not to fall in love with her writing. Her beautiful irony and that biting humor all laced with the romantic? What's not to love?
Well, it's been nearly 20 years but apparently I'm not the only one still enamored. A 12-foot sculpture of the scene from the mini-series in which Darcy emerges from a pond at Pemberley only to run into a very mortified Elizabeth Bennet who has been touring the estate has been installed in Hyde Park. This watery element was not imagined by Austen (as many have pointed out since the sculpture was installed at London's Serpentine lake), but I believe the writer would approve. I've always loved how this scene plays in my memory later, when Elizabeth and her sister Jane are discussing the former's sudden affection for Darcy. In the novel Elizabeth's observation that she might have first come to love Darcy after seeing Pemberley is a good joke, but when paired with the image of a dripping Firth in the film version I've always gotten more of a snicker out of it.
The best part? The sculpture will eventually be moved to Lyme Park, the great house that was used to represent Pemberley in the film. So, does anyone have an extra ticket to London for me?
Well, it's been nearly 20 years but apparently I'm not the only one still enamored. A 12-foot sculpture of the scene from the mini-series in which Darcy emerges from a pond at Pemberley only to run into a very mortified Elizabeth Bennet who has been touring the estate has been installed in Hyde Park. This watery element was not imagined by Austen (as many have pointed out since the sculpture was installed at London's Serpentine lake), but I believe the writer would approve. I've always loved how this scene plays in my memory later, when Elizabeth and her sister Jane are discussing the former's sudden affection for Darcy. In the novel Elizabeth's observation that she might have first come to love Darcy after seeing Pemberley is a good joke, but when paired with the image of a dripping Firth in the film version I've always gotten more of a snicker out of it.
The best part? The sculpture will eventually be moved to Lyme Park, the great house that was used to represent Pemberley in the film. So, does anyone have an extra ticket to London for me?
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