Lost in Austen

[Jamie123]

I thought this was a very interesting miniseries. It came out about 10 years ago I believe (I remember people talking about it at the time) but now the whole thing is on YouTube. It's about a girl called Amanda who REALLY likes Jane Austen novels. One day in her bathroom she meets Elizabeth Bennet (who has come through a mysterious door that leads to the attic of the Bennet house) and the two of them end up swapping places.

By the way, ONLY watch this if you have read Pride and Prejudice, or at least seen one of the adaptations; it will make no sense to you at all unless you know how the proper story goes.

Some observations: It's curious they chose an actor who looks a bit like Colin Firth to play Mr. Darcy. (I don't think anything else would have done; as far as the public are concerned Colin Firth *IS* Mr. Darcy, and will be for many years to come.) On the other hand, Mr. Collins played by Guy Henry (no, I'd never heard of him either) was nothing like David Bamber. Bamber's Collins was an oily creep, but you couldn't help liking him a bit. Guy Henry's Collins is just a creep who you can't like at all no matter how hard you try. (There's a wonderful scene where Amanda gets thrown out of the ball for kneeing him in the crotch!) Hugh Bonneville is absolutely brilliant as Mr. Bennet - as the only male in a household full of females I can totally empathize with him! Also we get a very different perspective of Mr. Wickham (Tom Riley), who turns out to be not quite as we always thought.

There's something missing though. The two "worlds" are separated not only by about 200 years, but by the fact that one is "real" and the other is "fictional". I think if I'd written the story, I'd have balanced things out by having Amanda's world also fictional from the perspective of Elizabeth's. Perhaps Elizabeth could have been reading a "science fiction" novel set in the 21st Century, which portrays our world, and in which Amanda is a character?

Edited April 1, 2021 by Jamie123