'Pride & Prejudice' is faithful to the author's vision

The 1813 novel Pride & Prejudice has appeared on screen in many forms lately — set in contemporary London in Bridget Jones's Diary and told in the candy-colored musical style of India's Bollywood films in Bride & Prejudice — so maybe the only approach left for director Joe Wright was a period rendering faithful to author Jane Austen's vision.

That seems to be Wright's intent as well as the strength of this latest version of the British social satire, first brought to the screen in 1940 with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier as headstrong Elizabeth Bennet and the man she takes an instant dislike to, yet eventually weds, Darcy.

Focus Features 'Pride & Prejudice' B+ The verdict: A faithful rendering of Austen's classic romance novel, with a charming star turn by Knightley. Director: Joe Wright Starring: Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Donald Sutherland Run time: 127 minutes Release date: Nov. 11, 2005 Rating: PG for some mild thematic elements. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Pride & Prejudice'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Still, Wright and screenwriter-adapter Deborah Moggach had to select and compress, rendering Austen's complex tale of prevailing manners and laws of inheritance into the formula of a standard romantic comedy. You see, although Lizzy's four sisters are obsessed with finding eligible and affluent husbands — egged on by their near-hysterical mother (Brenda Blethyn) — Lizzy claims not to be interested in marriage, even if it would help save her family from financial ruin.

Lizzy (a swan-like Keira Knightley) declares that she is unimpressed by her first sighting of Darcy (newcomer Matthew Macfadyen) at a makeshift neighborhood ball. Overhearing some of his more disdainful comments, Lizzy writes him off as proud and arrogant. Of course, we recognize this as merely one of those obstacles that have to be put in the way of eventual lovers in stories such as this, for characters have been obtuse about the ways of romance long before there were movies.

Knightley has come a long way in the three years since Bend It Like Beckham, showing here that she has the star power to sustain a lengthy film career. She can be alternately regal and impish, a most appealing Lizzy, if a bit more attractive than the character Austen wrote.

Although Knightley carries the movie, Wright also gets a handful of scene-stealing supporting performances from the likes of Donald Sutherland as the Bennet girls' father, a man as laconic, down-to-earth and nurturing as Blethyn is blowsy and eager to foist them off on anyone with means.

Providing another of her dazzling cameos is Dame Judi Dench, as the imperious Lady Catherine, who looks down with disdain on the Bennets and just about everyone else. Also standing out is Tom Hollander as a pint-sized preacher with no social skills, who takes a shine to Lizzy, but hasn't a clue how to court her.

Beyond the sheer narrative thrust, director Wright — making his feature debut, after toiling for years in British television — establishes well the texture of everyday life in 19th-century Britain. No one, it seems, can take a step around the Bennet household without rousing chickens, ducks, geese and the occasional pig. With the help of cinematographer Roman Osin, the English countryside is captured in all its natural glory, with lush fields and a dramatic promontory for Lizzy to stare over longingly.

In short, this is a visually attractive, literal adaptation of Austen's best-known work, cast with an emphasis on youth. That may help attract a young audience who may be discovering Pride & Prejudice for the first time, and wondering why Austen's tale so closely echoes Bridget Jones.