Darcy and Elizabeth

Ellen Belton points out that in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice , “Elizabeth and Darcy (Colin Firth) are hardly ever frames together until well into the second half of the film, and when they are shown in the same shot, the effect is to emphasize the obstacles between them. In the private interview at Hunsford that precedes the first proposal scene, Elizabeth and Darcy rarely look directly at one another. In the one shot in which both their faces are seen, Elizabeth is seated on the left, Darcy on the right, each framed against a different window and each looking toward the camera. A fall cabinet/writing desk between the windows in the background dominates the center of the shot. In the proposal scene itself, Elizabeth and Darcy’s faces are never seen in the same frame until Elizabeth rises to hasten Darcy’s departure.” Yet, from the beginning the film anticipates their eventual union by a progression from “sidelong glances to direct contemplation to mutual admiration.”