Lost in Austen

I admit, when I read about this new spin on Austen I did realize it's a shameful exploitation of the huge Jane Austen following, encouraged surely by the last few years steady stream of re-makes of all of Austen's books (all of which I have on DVD) : but I don't care. I take every last crumb they throw our way, and ITV have done wonderful jobs with the last few adaptations, so I bought this from Amazon after just glancing at the description.

The premise is this: a modern day-girl from London, a Pride & Prejudice fanatic, finds herself replacing Elizabeth Bennett in said book.

I know. It sounds so. Obviously fake, and truly awful. And the first two episodes it does feel like a farse, but then. Something happens. It's like everything you as a P&P fan has ever obsessed about in the BBC version has been put to right. Some personalities have been vindicated, or rather everyone is less of a caricature of themselves, if that makes sense? I even have to say; this Darcy rivals Colin Firth. Some people said that about the Keira version, and puhleeze. He was well on his way but missed something fundamental and the result was cringe-worthy. Even in the classic version Darcy was always handsome, he started seeing Elizabeth in a new light rather early, but here... The Darcy/Amanda* (*new character and Liz-stand in extraordinaire, complete with bangs and her hair out the whole series through) thing doesn't seem probable and even though the suggestion is obvious, you have no idea where it's coming from. Suddenly it just hits you and it's fierce and they're so in love and you can't believe you didn't see this coming. And for everyone who's despaired about the 'thrown about in the carriage' final scene peck (no, it's not a kiss, it's a peck on the lips!!) between Elizabeth and Darcy - this, ladies and gentlemen, is a snog. Yes, the camera does one of those wide zooming arcs they like so much in period dramas at the end to signifiy that 'this is the end with dignified, 19th century people kissing who due to societal conventions kiss like you would your grand-aunt Bethel', or something.
Thank you Dan Zeff!! for a beautiful and very heart-clenching final scene.

However. There is a but. It is however on a personal level, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the show. I don't believe in horoscopes (no really, this argument will make sense soon) and I've always dismissed everything said about my sign, Pisces, as being completely unrelated to me. However. I have always, always disliked behind-the-scenes extras. Never cared for them. The exception being LOTR but that was so Fantasy even my brain couldn't deny that this is not for real. But generally, I avoid them. Because!! I like to keep to the illusion. I don't want the illusion broken. Thus, I am a dreamer (with which every description of the Pisces always start), I don't deny that anymore. In that sense, even though I really wanted to see this and I loved it, there was something very repugnant about it. Because it goes even further, I guess, it says 'of course this isn't real, of course you can't go into your favourite story oh no wait, yes you can! It's really true! Despite being a cynic and having a fine but crappy dull office job in London you can be transported to 19th century England and have the man of your dreams within your grasp. And then the movie ends, and immediately afterwards you feel great (happy ending, all that).

But then I found myself falling into a fairly deep depression. It got really dark. I won't even theorize here, and I won't even say I won't watch again, because I will (hello, the Darcy wet-shirt scene was better than Colin's, I'm very sorry, but there it is). But. Something happened, and it had to do with the line between illusion and reality. It was just too much of something.

So. I'm a sap, basically. But if you're not as sad as me and you've watched P&P more than once, you should really really see this. It's amazing!!