I just saw Keira Knightley in her Oscar’s finest in the newspaper kanina, and she looked stunning. She didn’t get the Best Actress trophy, though, and I don’t think Pride and Prejudice won any awards that night, but I’m not surprised. I mean, look at the other movies (and their cast) nominated this year. They tackled significant issues (homosexuality and women’s rights, to name a few) and were original. P&P is just a film adaptation, and it’s not even the first one. Film adaptations rarely do well in the Oscars, if they ever get nominated at all (with the exception, of course, of Lord of the Rings, partly because it was done differently, and had the talented and dedicated Peter Jackson for its director).

Anyway, I haven’t seen P&P yet, although I’ve read the book and was charmed by Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s love story. I hope I could catch the movie when I get back to Manila, partly because I suddenly had this thing about Keira being a brunette. I first saw her in Love Actually and liked her despite her blonde hair. And I liked their story, that weird love triangle. I initially thought that camera-toting guy was in love with his newly-married best friend, and didn’t get along with Keira’s character because he was jealous. I was like, OMG, please don't let this be a gay love story. But it turned out that the guy was actually in love with her. And that placard scene during the Christmas Eve just melted my heart.

Back to P&P. The reviews of the film are good, although I came across one that said Keira might have been too pretty for the character of Elizabeth who won Mr. Darcy over through her intelligence and not her beauty. Keira colored her hair dark brown for the film, probably to downplay her looks, but she was still more beautiful than the blonde Rosamund Pike who played Elizabeth’s eldest sister Jane, the supposedly celebrated beauty in Hertfordshire.

The review also said there was too much restrained emotions in the film that you would think you were in Bronte country rather than Austenland. I’ve seen trailers of the film and I see what the writer meant. There was a scene showing this field with a lone tree against the backdrop of a late afternoon sky, and the background music was so sad and almost mournful; I thought I was watching Wuthering Heights. They said it was more dark and gothic than lively and romantic. Oh well. Maybe I shouldn't watch it at all. Hmm...