There are more similarities between
Pride and Prejudice and BJD than at first meet the eye. In the movie in particular, there are many
delicate touches that no BBC or Austen fan can miss, and being both I shall take
selfish pleasure in listing them:
- During her first meeting with Darcy, Bridget (Elizabeth) overhears him talk disparagingly of her. This is the real basis of her subsequent dislike.
- Both heroines have exceedingly silly mothers and sarcastic, intelligent fathers with whom they have a close and equal relationship.
- Elizabeth is constantly being put in embarassing situations by her inferior or crass relatives - Bridget is repeatedly mortified through her own efforts.
- A story involving Darcy is being told to the heroine in a misleading light by the person most closely concerned in it - Wickham's "inheritance" in P&P, Daniel's "fiancee" in BJD. The truth of the matter eventually revelas itself to be the exact opposite of that version.
- An ambitious and jealous woman of apparently greater merit sets herlsef up as rival to Bridget/Elizabeth - the wealthy and malicious Miss Bingley in one book, the successful and brittle Natasha in the other.
- The first time the hero tells the heroine of his budding affection, he preceeds the confidence with a catalogue of her shortcomings. Bridget takes credit for reacting to this lexicon of flaws much less wrathfully than Eliza Bennet. Then again, she gets some of her own back later.
- Both heroines see themselves as less than desirable marriage prospects - Elizabeth because of her lack of dowry, Bridget because of age and lack of self confidence. Despite this fact they both refuse a proposal from an undesirable quarter (Elizabeth from Mr. Collins, and Bridget from the contrite Daniel in the latter part of the film).
- In both cases the hero renders the heroine an important service; Mr. Darcy arranges Wickham's marriage to Lydia, Mark Darcy arranges an exclusive interview with his clients for Bridget.
- Mark Darcy hails from a nice big stately home in the country, as does his precursor Mr., and is obviously posh to Bridget's (and Elizabeth's) middle class.
- Although not a plot similarity, it is nevertheless striking that, with such different dialogue and direction to serve as backdrop, Colin Firth manages to deliver an almost exact simulacrum of his preformance as Mr. Darcy. This is a brave and unusual decision for an actor of his standing who cannot afford to be type cast so early in his exposure to the American market. It pays off perfectly in the superb comic value the stuffy Mark adds to the otherwise haywire caleidescope of characters.
I severely disliked the book, thinking it neurotic, unaffectionate and generally ill-natured. But the movie is so good I have officially placed it in my list of Great Jane Austen Spoofs, together with Clueless and the more orthodox Emma.