#b) the script doesn't understand and has no interest in Darcy's true character and goes for the shy puppy/awkward/tumblr take on him | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

itspileofgoodthings · 10 months

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Matthew MacFayden’s Darcy is a fascinating thing to unpack because I don’t believe it succeeds as a performance of Darcy or even as a performance in general (it kind of can't) but there are layers to it and it's not simple.

#the layers are: he’s a good actor. it’s a bad script.#okay simple enough but then it’s a bad script with several lines ripped directly FROM ONE OF THE GREATEST NOVELISTS OF ALL TIME #and so for a second he’s a good actor saying a great line and tbh it works in flashes #LOVE when he asks Caroline if he can defer her raptures til his next letter #Darcy dryness IN THE ROOM WITH US FOR A MOMENT #but then he’s also forced to stand up too quick and say ‘she’s upstairs’ in response to Lizzy asking about Jane #And it’s just. Giving Blurting? And I know he’s supposed to be flustered but it’s so not Darcy so it’s ooc and also jarring #and then there's his terrible haircut and the ill-fitting clothes and the strange blocking and direction #which add their own layers of bad #but then he ISN'T a bad actor and he's not not responding to Keira's beauty #there are moments where it's like.... yeah! that's a man who knows how to look at a woman!#he is not not connected to her. i know what people mean when they say they feel it #there's an energy! some glances! some warmth!#but then there's the thing where it's like. a) i don't think that he's the right choice for Darcy even in a better script #b) the script doesn't understand and has no interest in Darcy's true character and goes for the shy puppy/awkward/tumblr take on him #so both of those things are happening at once!!!!!!!!#and yeah it's just kind of so emblematic of the movie as a whole #not all the ingredients are bad but they are not well utilized at all #and also sometimes they are the wrong (good) ingredient #anyway do not mean to hurt any feelings or start any discourse i just am always trying to explain this to myself #and i don't think i've ever come so close tbh!!!!!#this was in my drafts from last night so i thought i would share it now #because I've always felt how much is wrong and how much is wrong as an Austen adaptation and yet there are glances #(that one gifset of them at Pemberley where they're talking about her playing and he's like 'no i said quite well')#(and she smiles and then he smiles and the light is golden and it's !!!!!)#but then there are moments that don't even work by that isolated measure!!!!#that just feel so weird and wrong!!!!! again. even by a sentimental measure #maybe even ESPECIALLY by a sentimental measure #so i'm always trying to unpack it more clearly (joe wright the clear villain being one takeaway) thank you for listening etc. more at 11.#2005 liveblog

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