Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Some months ago I tried to read the novel of the same name written by Jane Austen. I found it rather dull and boring and never made it to the middle of the book. I don`t like this kind of sentimental literature very much. By the way I have already almost perfectly forgotten what was happening in "Pride and Prejudice", another film version of an Austen novel. This film though has a few bonuses in comparison with that other one. Most of them lie in the casting department. The film is directed by Ang Lee, who has also brought "Crouching tiger" and "Brokeback mountain". In "Sex and Senility" he doesn`t choose to be daring, on the other hand there`s as little sex in this film as you can imagine. Still what this film has is a set of noteable actors including Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Imelda Staunton and others. Some of them became famous due to this film (mostly Kate Winslet), while others were already established in the world of films, take Imelda Staunton for instance. The story is as boring as it gets - a widow with three daughters has to leave the house of her deceased husband as everything has gone away to his son from the first wife. One of the daughters is still a child, while the others need to get married to rich fellows quickly. Elinor, the older one is the sense of the family, yet she developes a love story with Hugh Grant (known by the name of Edward Ferrers), yet he has to leave for London, so she remains broken hearted. Meanwhile Marianne (Winslet) falls in love with a southern type gentleman named Willoughby about whom the viewer would have no doubt that he`s going to be the villain of the book. He doesn`t marry Marianne, of course, for he needs money and she doesn`t have it, yet he doesn`t get her pregnant, so I can say that he just doesn`t use his chances. In the end both sisters get married, Elinor - to Hugh Grant, while Marianne marries colonel Branden, played by Alan Rickman (isn`t he a bit old for Winslet - he was 50 and she was 20 at the time the film came out, don`t you find it a bit too much?), who happens to be the good guy. You know the certain type of character whom everyone uses for the doormat but who marries the prettiest girl in town (or in the village in this case) in the end, when she`s impregnated, broken hearted and has no one but him to save her from total disgrace. And in the end she eventually starts to love him, for she`s such a pure character that she would never marry for money. Isn`t it pathetic? I think it is. Apart from the ugly 19th century costumes and brilliant acting there`s nothing outstanding in this film. First you watch it, then you forget it.