11 thoughts on “Death Comes to Pemberley (2013)

  1. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I was starting to feel like the only person who loved this enough to watch it over and over again.

    I love the Regency — it was a combination of Jane Austen’s and the Aubrey-Maturin novels and the world they were set in that influenced me to become a dress historian — and this was one of the first productions I’ve seen that got the material culture of the early 19th century as close to correct as possible, albeit with the mistakes you mention. There was also the breaking down and arguing in front of the servants which was wrong from an etiquette standpoint (I know waaaaaaaaay too much about this era), but then again I imagine you have location limitations when filming in an historic house.

    Not having your connoisseurship when it comes to clothing and the dates for specific fashions and details I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what had bothered me about the spencer Elizabeth wears (also why does she only wear one colour?) or Lady Catherine’s gown. Now I know! And I hadn’t even noticed that they didn’t turn the waist points up. Tsk tsk. Frock Flicks is like the best ever costume history class.

    I absolutely adored Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth both because I love her work and for the very reasons you mention, I felt that her looks and wit properly fit the character as Jane Austen described her, and I feel that Matthew Goode is the first person I’ve ever seen get Wickham right. I normally avoid Austen “sequels” but when I saw those two castings, and Trevor Eve as Sir Selwyn, I knew I would be watching this one (I even read the book, which the series vastly improved upon: something you don’t often get to say, the television show was better than the novel).

    After reading this post I feel a sudden urge to go binge watch the series again tonight.

    1. Yes! And note Jane is rewearing Kitty’s from the same shot (that spencer is in every single regency show, I swear).

      1. Yup, I know JUST what you mean about that spencer – everywhere!

    2. I spotted that, too, from the picture! It definitely fit Scott appropriately. But so plain for Elizabeth…

      1. My only real complaint with this series was how very plainly Elizabeth was dressed… she certainly didn’t dress as if she was married to a very wealthy man!

  2. I feel very similarly to Brenna about this. I read the book and hated it. I had to put in effort to seem pleased when my mother in law got me the dvd for Christmas. Turns out – I really like the tv/film adaptation! I love Anna Maxwell, I think she’s a spectacular actress. I like her in this more than I thought I would because I also feel she’s not quite pretty enough. I do interpret Lizzie as pretty verging on beautiful, just slightly less so than Jane. I actually think Jenna Coleman could also have made a very good Lizzie. But, all in all I really enjoyed this, and enjoy watching it over again, like Brenna. I totally agree with all your fashion gripes – and with Alice’s comment about Lizzie’s dress besides. Especially since, later on, Austen would write to her sister Cassandra about expensive gowns and fabrics she imagined would suit Mrs Bingley and Mrs Darcy. Apparently, she envisioned them living the high life with their affluent husbands.

    And then there’s that ever-present spencer that EVERYONE wears.

  3. I really liked this series as well. Didn’t like the book at all, I ususally find P. D. James boring and I don’t like modern sequels (picked it up when I had to travel and had forgooten to bring a book), but the series nailed it. I really, really liked Lizzie! And the otehr casting was good as well. It was just the villainfication of Fitzwilliams that bothered me.

    And I too find Regency boring.

  4. Coming late to the party, I know… Pride and Prejudice is for me the second best book in the English language, the best being Persuasion. Yes, I think Jane Austen is THAT GOOD.

    There was one thing about this that disappointed me, and that was that Lady Catherine didn’t get enough screen time. Penelope Keith absolutely nailed her – too often she’s played way too OTT. I never picked up on her costume though.

  5. I really enjoyed this production. It’s ironic that it is set closer to the actual timeline of “PRIDE AND PREJUDICE”. According to several scholars, it is believed that the novel is set near the end of the 1790s. I’ve also read that “DEATH TO PEMBERLY” is set around 1805 or 1806, several years after Elizabeth and Darcy’s death.

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