Pride and Prejudice (2005)
Pride and Prejudice is a film based on Jane Austen’s 1813 novel of the same name, directed by Joe Wright, who has other known films such as Atonement and Anna Karenina. In all of these, the actress Keira Knightley plays the protagonist, she is considered his muse.
Filmed in 2005, this movie’s genre is romantic drama film. It features five sisters from an English family of landed gentry as they deal with issues of marriage, morality and misconceptions. Keira Knightley stars in the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet (or Lizzie), while Matthew Macfadyen plays her romantic interest Mr. Darcy. Other important characters are Elizabeth’s sister, Jane and her love interest, who is also Mr. Darcy’s best friend, Mr.Bingley.
The plot
The title of the story aligns (as Jane Austen almost always does) with the feelings or personality traits of the main characters. The two lovers dislike each other very much when they first meet, he hurts her pride and she prejudices his character for it. The story continues with all the side conflicts of the side characters, only, all of these problems affect the protagonist in some way. Not long passes by and he ends up falling in love, confesses his feelings to her which are not reprocicated by her because she finds him guilty of the side conflicts. Darcy spends the rest of the mocie fixing and explaining his mistakes after he realizes that she might just be right. Both end up putting their pride aside and realize they are very much alike, resulting in them ending up together with all the side conflicts resolved.
The architecture
The architecture in this film is extremely important, it plays a big role in the differentiation of classes, the family roles and the relationship between characters.
Groombridge house
The first house shown is the Bennet’s home, where the whole family lives. This is the Groombridge house, a moated manor house in the village of Groombridge near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. In the film it is very often shown as a humble dwelling, making one believe that the Bennets are middle class. It is important to have in mind that this perception is because they live in the country to which most people nowadays would consider a lower class, but this is incorrect.
Although Mr.Bennet earned less money (2000£ a year) than Mr.Bingley (5.000£) and Mr.Darcy (10.000£), he was part of the landed gentry.
“The Landed Gentry is a traditional British social class consisting of “gentlemen” in the original sense. In other words, those who owned land in the form of country estates to such an extent that they were not required to work except in an administrative capacity of their own lands. The landed gentry were among the untitled members of the upper class, not the middle class.” (A).
Although, it is true that Mr.Bennet married beneath him, to a woman of the middle class,(something that is referenced throughout the film by the richer characters) his daughters were considered to have the title passed down and therefore, upper class like their father.
However Bingley was not a landowner, his wealth came from “trade”, he and his sisters were not members of the upper class. It is true that Mr.Darcy was a member of the landed gentry, and therefore upper class.
So going back to the house, the rustic aspect does not reference their class but more the difference between likings, for example, Lizzie is very fond of walking (shown during the entire movie), Darcy is a lot more used to using carriages or a horse.
Something that is also important to point out is the division of the house. The father’s office is the serious part, where serious things are discussed , that’s why the furniture is dark. This room also differentiates Lizzie and her father from the rest of the family, how alike and intelligent they are.
The rest of the house is mostly bright with lots of yellows, whites and sunlight, its where the women are most of the time.
Basildon Park
The next building is Basildon Park, a country house situated 3 km south of Goring-on-Thames and Streatley in Berkshire. Also known as Mr.Bingley’s house in the countryside where the second ball was hosted. In the film we don’t see much of the outside of the building since the ball is indoors. This is the place where the famous continuous long shot of the film is done. A reference to the different classes is made by Caroline Bingley (Mr.Bingley’s sister) while dancing with Darcy during this shot- “Can’t help feeling that at any point this evening someone is going to produce a piglet and make us chase it”. The place is full of colors, especially, gold,white and red, everyone is moving giving the spectator a sense of chaos.
The Burghley house
The following piece of architecture is the Burghley house, residence to Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the film. A grand sixteenth-century English country house near Stamford, Lincolnshire. It is a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, built and still lived in by the Cecil family.
The lightning in these scenes is much darker, giving us a sense of seriousness and also a frightening feeling that is tilted towards grand respect.
Stourhead gardens
Next up is the Stourhead gardens. Stourhead is a 1,072-hectare estate at the source of the River Stour in the southwest of the English county of Wiltshire, extending into Somerset. The estate is about 4 km northwest of the town of Mere and includes a Grade I listed 18th-century Neo-Palladian mansion, the village of Stourton, one of the most famous gardens in the English landscape garden style, farmland, and woodland.
The architectural figures of this garden that are seen in the movie are the Temple of Apollo and the Palladian Bridge, the place where the scene in which Darcy proposes to Lizzie for the first time was filmed. The lightning is dark but this time much more blue-toned. The structures give this scene a dramatic effect.
Chatsworth house
Finally, Mr.Darcy’s home or Chatsworth house. Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, 5.6 km north-east of Bakewell and 14 km west of Chesterfield, England. The house holds major collections of paintings, furniture, Old Master drawings, neoclassical sculptures and books. Chosen several times as Britain’s favourite country house. In the movie, when Lizzie and her avunculi arrive at the house, we can see a foreground of first Lizzie who laughs in disbelief to what she just rejected and the other two (who don’t know about this) that just stare, speechless, at the building. It is also shown in the movie the known sculpture room.
When it comes to the drawing room where Lizzie and Georgiana meet for the first time, this one is filmed at a different location, Wilton house, an English country house at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire, which has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years. The room looks very luxurious which is what’s trying to be shown in this part of the film.
Joe Wright might have also chosen this room because of the two predominant colors that align with the character’s personality; Mr.Darcy (dark colors, mostly black) and Georgiana (light colors, mostly yellow).
Webgraphy
(A) https://rpowell.livejournal.com/52202.html
I used Wikipedia for all the basic information about each building.