Oh Jane, dear dear Jane...

I'm in a state of grace right now (and I hope this expression means the same in English as it does in Portuguese). I have just seen the latest version of Pride and Prejudice and now you'll have the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a side of me that you may not have known, but perhaps just suspected - I am a true Janeite. There, I've said it. A quite fervent one, as a matter of fact! This will come as no surprise for my dear blogging buddy Alice, who wrote a lovely post about Jane Austen last January, in which I included a comment "outing" myself.

I read Pride and Prejudice in my 19th century English literature survey course in college, but it was not until I came to the U.S. a few years later that I had the chance (and the time, for that matter) to read all her other books. My favorite is Persuasion (both the book and the screen adaptation even though the last film is very close favorite now). I have enjoyed the movies and miniseries immensely, and browsed through this book which I very much wanted to buy and just included in my Amazon wish list :) There are other, such as this and that one which I did not know about (and which are a year or two older than the first).

Some words about the other "recent" screen adaptations, if you will...
I enjoyed Sense and Sensibility (Kate Winslet's hair does look ridiculous in that cover, though!) and Emma, and Jane Austen's Emma as well the earlier Emma inspired Clueless. In terms of faithfulness, though, the BBC's Pride and Prejudice could not (and perhaps can't) be rivaled (even if it adds the wet shirt Darcy, but maybe because of that ;). Unfortunately (now, not then), my husband bought it for me as soon as it came out on DVD back in 1999 (he paid 50 dollars for it!) It was a lovely birthday present, but now my copy doesn't have any special features like the one that was released in 2001. I enjoyed Mansfield Park even though my friend hated it because it is her favorite novel and she felt it was changed beyond repair (I hope you're reading this, Nelia, I'd love to know what you think of the latest movie!). Of course I've already said it, but Persuasion is my favorite movie adaptation, though it took forever to be released in video/DVD (and when it first did it had a hideous "fake" cover, I guess they just thought the real actors were just too plain looking and pictured this gorgeous couple in what looked like a romance novel cover - argh! I wish I could find it online, you wouldn't believe it!). I watched it on TV, taped it and kept watching it over and over again. I own the DVD for Mansfield Park and just got the Persuasion DVD last Christmas (thanks, honey!). I gave away my VHS tapes of S&S and Emma hoping to buy the DVDs, but haven't gotten them yet.

Now... back to the most recent movie. I adore it! And I am the most critical viewer of book adaptations you can possibly find, one of those who gets absolutely mad if they change or add anything. I just couldn't resist it, though... I mean, how can you "argue" with the film-maker over small changes when he has the proposal scene on a rain filled day under a beatiful collonade? Or the mirror-beholding while receiving the letter, or the foggy morning of the last scene. I guess they had me at the cinematography (we call, or used to call it photography in Portuguese for some reason). One of my favorite scenes in the mini-series, the Catherine de Bourg-Elizabeth confrontation does come across a bit off with a night setting, but "Dame" Judy Dench does not disappoint (why should she?). Well... enough said. Go see it right now, and don't forget to let me know what you think!

P.S. I almost forgot one of the most relevant things! My husband has seen all the movies with me and he also likes Persuasion best, but I was never successful in convincing him to watch the BBC P&P mini-series, so now I can finally "introduce him" to P&P, Jane Austen's most popular book!! And last but no least, now I know what I want for my birthday :)