This September, director Joe Wright (Atonement) and screenwriter Deborah Moggach’s feature adaptation of Jane Austin’s Pride & Prejudice turns 20 years old. And yes, everyone who has repeat-watched it at least once a year since then will no doubt be aghast that so much time has passed since Kiera Knightley’s Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew MacFadyen’s Mr. Darcy bewitched us, body and soul.
Only the second studio film adaptation of Austen’s Pride & Prejudice (the first was in 1940), Wright had a hit on his hands right from its limited opening weekend. It then went on to transcend the modest art house theater circuit and widened into mainstream success, earning $38 million domestically.
In the subsequent two decades of home video, cable and now streaming viewing, Wright’s Pride & Prejudice has been adopted by legions as a go-to comfort watch for those who love Austen, costume dramas, enemies-to-lovers dynamics and/or swoon-worthy moments of yearning, of which there are many. Now, Focus Features is capitalizing on the ever-evolving fandom for the film by putting it back in theaters for a week starting April 18. They’ve also created 20th anniversary merch and are even going so far as to host an in-person anniversary ball (period attire encouraged) at the famed The Langham Huntington, Pasadena in May.
What is it about this Austen adaptation that endures with audiences two decades later? For context, it’s important to note that there have always been plenty of detractors of Wright’s film. At release, Premiere Magazine’s reviewer called it a “tonal mishmash,” while L.A. Weekly knocked Knightley for being an unsatisfying Lizzie. Book purists never accepted many of the cuts made by Moggach to Austen’s prose, which serve to whittle the story down to a brisk, 127-minute watch.
And then there’s the fervent advocates of the BBC’s 1995 miniseries of Pride and Prejudice starring Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth and Colin Firth as Darcy. If there’s a proverbial line in the sand regarding the definitive edition, the miniseries faithful have loudly asserted that nothing tops it for authenticity to the text, production design, and its cast–especially Firth, who is accepted by plenty of Austen aficionados (see the Bridget Jones films, and a cameo in Gerwig’s Barbie) as the Darcy for the ages.
As a fan of both, the miniseries-loving contingent absolutely wins the argument when it comes to fidelity to Austen’s narrative. Composed of six episodes and clocking in at 327 minutes from start to finish, nothing from the book is lost to the edit. Yes, Firth is a legend and Ehle is an almost angelic version of Lizzie. But the unerring love for Wright’s film with Gen Xers and millennials has proven there is a place for both versions in the hearts of P&P lovers.
In Wright’s favor is that his film was released in the wake of several theatrical Austen adaptations that were very traditional in their execution, like Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Emma (1996). After working in television, Pride & Prejudice was Wright’s feature directorial debut, and he came at the book and its characters with the intention of creating an earthy, focused yet accessible adaptation. Working with cinematographer Roman Osin, they created a visual delineation between Darcy’s opulent yet stuffy world in contrast to the pastoral existence of the Bennet farm. Where the 1940s film and the miniseries portrayed both walks of life with a formality-first approach, Wright framed the Bennet’s home and their pack of daughters — sans Lizzie and Jane (Rosamund Pike) — as mostly chaotic, just shy of feral with their manners inside and outside of the household. That divide accentuates the class abyss that initially spurs Darcy to rudely ignore the Bennet family, and uniquely sets up the conflict that will keep Lizzie and Darcy at odds for the majority of the film.
Wright also cast his leads for maximum chemistry, of which there is substantial magnetism between Bennet and Darcy. Knightley and MacFadyen smolder to dizzying heights throughout, so much so that devotees of the film have turned their best moments into a unique shorthand. Just mention “the rainy proposal,” “Darcy’s hand flex” or “the sunrise walk” to a fan, and no translation will be necessary. And the community continues to evolve as fans have migrated to TikTok, where there’s a P&P tag featuring an endless scroll of the film’s romantic highlights and ongoing discourse. Not bad for a film that’s one year shy of buying a pint legally.
Outside of the starring lovers, Wright’s Pride & Prejudice ensemble features a who’s who of some of the best actors still working today. Pike’s demure turn as Jane is the perfect balance to Knightley’s passionate Lizzie. Jena Malone dishes out her best wild child as Lydia, and Carey Mulligan made her film debut as Kitty. Although the whole of the Bennet daughters may not get as much face time in the film as their characters do in the book, they make the most of the scenes they get.
The same goes for Tom Hollander, who makes a comedic meal out of Mr. Collin’s obsequiousness and narcissism–he would spar with Knightley again one year later as an antagonist in the first sequel to Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Brenda Blethyn, meanwhile, is the most harried and rumpled Mrs. Bennet ever put on film, while Donald Sutherland is the steadfast yin to her breathless yang. In fact, Sutherland’s understated portrayal of Mr. Bennet as an unabashed “girl dad” is one of the sweetest and most emotionally affecting performances in the film. There’s a warmth he brings to the character that is so distinctly his own that it remains one of the best of his impressive career, and a benchmark for future Mr. Bennet’s.
As Pride & Prejudice hits this milestone with an audience as engaged and ardent as ever, you have to give the film its flowers. In a world where attention spans are fleeting and taste is more fickle than ever, it’s no small feat that Wright’s film and Knightley and MacFadyen’s portrayals remain so present in the zeitgeist. One can only wonder if Austen would approve.
Pride & Prejudice will have a limited theatrical anniversary run from April 18-24, 2025.
Tara Bennett is a Los Angeles-based writer covering film, television and pop culture for publications such as SFX Magazine, NBC Insider, IGN and more. She’s also written official books on Sons of Anarchy, Outlander, Fringe, The Story of Marvel Studios, Avatar: The Way of Water and the latest, The Art of Ryan Meinerding. You can follow her on Twitter @TaraDBennett, Bluesky @tarabennett.bsky.social, or Instagram @TaraDBen
