Such Different Accounts of you: Representations of Darcy on Screen - Harriet Jordan

When Colin Firth's Mr Darcy emerged from a lake in 1995, membership of Jane Austen Societies across the world skyrocketed. Then, in 2005, Matthew Macfadyen's Darcy flexed his hand. But even before Laurence Olivier's Darcy picked up a bow and arrow in 1940, readers of Pride and Prejudice were entranced by Fitzwilliam Darcy, who wrote a letter in Austen’s novel published over a hundred years earlier.

This presentation will look at the five readily accessible screen adaptations of Pride and Prejudice (1940, 1967, 1980, 1995, and 2005), and occasionally at some of the looser adaptations and modernisations, to explore how each version draws on Austen's character but refashions him to suit the conventions and audience expectations of the time, giving us new Darcys for new generations.

00:00 Introduction
02:21 From page to stage
04:37 1940 Laurence Olivier
09:32 1967 Lewis Fiander
15:10 1980 David Rintoul
21:36 1995 Colin Firth
31:04 2005 Matthew Macfadyen
38:18 Conclusion

Presented at The Jane Austen Society of Australia, 17 February 2024.
https://jasa.com.au/