I recommend . . .

I should start this post by stating how I loathe it when someone takes the goodness that is Jane Austen and messes with it, especially 'Pride & Prejudice.' I cannot bring myself to read any of the books that are either told from Darcy's point of view or about Darcy and Elizabeth's children or Elizabeth's sisters or whatever. That sort of thing drives me crazy. Some of the movie remakes {aka Bride & Prejudice & the Mormon version} are okay, but none of them are as good as the ones that stick to the original story.

But . . .

this is different.

I was just introduced to a mini-series broadcast in England last year that is ab-so-lutely marvelous. It's called "Lost in Austen" and it is lovely and funny and wonderful. My roommate saw it at a video rental place and rented it on a whim. She watched it, loved it and passed it along to me. And, well, I luuuved it.

Don't you love this wonderful collage I found online? I wish I knew who to give the credit to.

So, here's the basic story - Amanda is a modern-day Londoner who adores reading 'Pride & Prejudice' on a regular basis and so, knows the story very well. An odd thing happens {not going to tell you what it is but it calls for total suspension of disbelief} and she ends up switching places with Elizabeth Bennett. This is where, as they say, hilarity ensues. She shows up right after Bingley has moved into Netherfield, but since Elizabeth isn't there, certain things don't happen. Because Amanda knows the story inside out, she tries to force the story to turn out as she's always known it. This is part of why I loved the show so much. She doesn't want to mess things up for anyone and tries to use her ominscience to try to fix things. But she can't because there are so many variables out of her control. It's great.

There's no way I'm going to give away the ending, but I will say that I wouldn't be surprised to find out there are two very different sets of feelings about it. Personally, I found the ending to be perfect for the story that was told. I felt quite satisfied. If you've seen this or see it soon, please let me know what you thought.

The best part of the story was Amanda, or rather the actress who plays Amanda, Jemima Rooper. She has the difficult task of trying to fit into Regency England with a limited knowledge of how the society really worked along with making the audience not hate her for for what she's doing. And she pulls off the task brillantly. As a fellow single gal who loves Austen's novels, I was rooting for her the entire time. Her enthusiasm for the story and characters, combined with her horror at the change in the story, is so enjoyable to watch.

Elliot Cowan faced the difficulty of being Mr. Darcy. I mean, come on, Mr. Fitzwilliam read about and dreamed about the world over portrayed in near perfection by Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen Darcy. Tough shoes to fill. Even Amanda talks about the fact that Darcy is such a loved and recognized romantic hero. Now, while Mr. Cowan wasn't quite my cup of tea, I think there are certain aspects of Darcy's character that he absolutely nails. Plus, he's very good at the brooding, reserved Englishman thing. And there's one scene that he pulls off with such non-irony that I was amazed. And thrilled. And on the floor laughing. It's best seen in the movie, as part of the overall story, but if you can't wait, you can watch it here.

My favorite discovery was Tom Mison who plays Charles Bingley. Bingley has always been a character I like even though he tends to be too easily persuaded by Darcy. As anyone familiar with the story knows, Bingley is warm and likable throughout, despite his disappointing behavior towards Jane. In this story, a few of the changes affect Bingley, and we see a whole new side of him. Mr. Mison did an incredible job showcasing this side but still kept the character sympathetic. And he's also a bit easy on the eyes.

In the next week or two, my own copy should be arriving {that's right - it's so good I had to buy one for my very own - I rarely do that}, so if you want to see this surprisingly charming and funny show, let me know. I'm happy to watch this again and again and . . . well, you get the idea.