The silliest girls in England

摘要

IT IS A truth universally acknowledged, at least among the hip, that British costume dramas are as naff as pastiches of Jane Austen's opening lines. As twee as they are numerous, they truss reactionary class politics in sentimental plots to flog to suggestible foreigners. But at least one landmark of the genre should be spared the scorn. The BBC'S "Pride and Prejudice" remains as delirious a delight as when it was first broadcast in 1995. Or more so. True, the production feels dated, and not only as the high-waisted Regency gowns are meant to. It now seems quaint that Colin Firth, playing Mr Darcy, became an instant heart-throb by emerging from a pond in a clingy shirt. Darcy's approach to courtship is outmoded in a less endearing way. The art of the glance is beyond him: in a habit that these days would border on harassment, for much of the series he stalks and glowers at Elizabeth Bennet Qennifer Ehle), torn between desire (for her sass and cheekbones) and snobbery (some of her relatives are in trade). "Can you tell me why Mr Darcy keeps staring at me?" she eventually asks a bystander.