Death Comes to Pemberley (2013)

Powerful

How sad is this?

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I love P&P. This is one of the funniest book I've ever read, and I enjoy very much crime stories. So I was quite exciting when my cousin lent me the DVD, but unfortunately it left me utterly disappointed. The plot is sometimes incoherent, with big shortcuts, but I was so exciting for the miniserie that I could have easily forgiven that. Overall, it was quite a good plot, the whole part with the ill brother and the bastard baby was very welcome. No, I mostly blame both the cast and some scenes. Like I said, what I consider the most in Jane Austen is her unrivaled sense of humour. Humour which was clearly missing here : no wits, no soul, no irony, nothing but cliché drama characters. I could not recognize my dear Lizzie, so lively, so witty, so unique. I certainly think Anna Maxwell Martin was the perfect example of a complete miscat. I usually like this actress, I really do, but here she was boring, passive, her face did not reflect anything but affliction - is that TRULY Elizabeth Bennett???? It left me so frustrated, just like I was watching another cliché female character rather than the unique Lizzie Bennett. There was also no chemistry between her and Darcy. Again, I have nothing against Matthew Rhys, but he should not have been here. He was plain, and, just like Anna, always had the same face expressions. And the whole story with his great-grand-father, which could explain why he was so reluctant at his love for Lizzie in the first place, was a nonsense to me. I don't think he needed any justifications for his first behaviour, that really was unnecessary. Anyway, I think I could have done with it. I am mostly angry at Lizzie's cast.I also like very much Austen's movies' XIX atmosphere, how people talk and express their feelings in a very codified way, this other language of the body, which is much more puritan than ours. I love how they fear their first kiss etc, as it leads us to such a different time and that I love to travel in time. But none of it here : they often kiss, there is even a sex scene etc - THAT could never belong to any Austen's novels. I am not saying that it is shameful to show that or anything, simply that I simply did not feel any Austen's spirit in it. Effusions or tears were not necessary to bring emotion to the watcher, and especially not in this context! Same for the colors used to film: everything is dark, gloomy. Yes, I know, this is a murder story, but still. Hercule Poirot's show manages to be very colourful and playful with dark stories and that is why it remains so unique.I think that is all. It lost this unique Austen's taste by trying to be more "average" rather than staying in this ironic and colourful tone, and so it became "just another crime show with the same characters of every crime shows". To be fair, it was quite good, but blank and without soul, and certainly not Austen's.

I have long been an admirer of great writing, and the works of Jane Austen and PD James are among my favourites. But sadly, this series was not. Other commentators have described many of the objections to costume, plot and characters, and I can only agree. There seemed little of the 'sparkle' and panache that was evident in Austen's writing, and particularly apparent in Andrew Davies' memorable Screen Dramas. PD James is one of the best crime writers our country has ever known - and we can be proud of so many - but whilst crime is her forte, period drama in the fashion of Jane Austen is not. So, after reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, in which she created such vivid characters and credible dialogue, in-keeping with the period and the strata of society, we could be forgiven for expecting more of the same though, sadly, not from the late Jane Austen of course. Perhaps it was one of Austen's skills to give us so much, but leave us hungry for more....To do justice to PD James, Jane Austen is an extremely hard act to follow. And, while Ms. James has a proved track-record in her own genre, and did a splendid job on its' own merit, it seems likely that most viewers would be familiar with Jane Austen's work and, almost certainly, Andrew Davies' memorable and excellent TV dramatizations. If there be criticism of the TV version of 'Death Comes to Pemberley', then it must rest as much with the writer who, curiously, is not credited on IMDb? It is a rare skill, indeed, to take good writing on the page and translate it into the different medium of television. Many works of PD James have proved successful on television but, regrettably, this is not the best. She has taken Jane Austen's characters, and woven a skillful plot that stands well on its' own merits, but it's not Jane Austen. Unfortunately, using Austen's characters only makes us expectant of her style and her words, and sadly, they are not there. I'd happily watch it again, but maybe next time I'll do so expecting a good PD James, which it is, rather than a pastiche of Jane Austen.

Being a fan of PD James and Jane Austin I was looking forward to watching this show. It took a while to get past Elizabeth being totally out of character...at least from the stand point of Pride and Prejudice 1995 version. They dressed her down and made her look kind of dowdy and act miserable through most of the show. They didn't change the character of Darcy much--as my mother said, it looks like he has a toothache through most of the show. The colonel was also changed to be a rather secretive fellow, unlike his easy going character in P&P. The other characters seemed to mesh well with their original characters. If you have never seen Pride and Prejudice (1995 version) then you won't be disappointed. It is a good little English mystery.

This sequel to "Pride and Prejudice" is of the same caliber as the one that tried to follow up on "Gone With The Wind". How did Lizzy become so ugly and so old? When did she lose all her charm? And there was absolutely no chemistry whatsoever between her and dear Darcy. It seemed they could hardly look at each other. What happened to that wonderful special love they had in the original? If Darcy is so rich, why Lizzy and Georgiana only had 1 cheap dress each? Both girls wore the same frumpy dress every day for weeks on end. In fact, everyone in the show only had one outfit for the entire show. Even though aristocrats in that era strove to look sharp and spiffy, yet, the overcoats of all the men in this show were all crumpled. It made the whole show looked like a low budget production. Of course, it had to be a "murder mystery" instead of a romance because murder is the vogue right now. What's next? Murder in Emma and Knightly's home? Poor Jane Austen! She must be turning over in her grave!