Universal Studios

Director: Joe Wright

Writer: Deborah Moggach

Kent Filming Locations: Groombridge Place

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley as Elisabeth Bennett, made a welcome return to the big screen in autumn 2005. Home to the Bennett family was Groombridge Place nr Tunbridge Wells.

Pride and Prejudice follows Elisabeth Bennett through the trials and tribulations of love in the 1800’s. A head strong and independent woman, Elisabeth’s focus on love and marriage is unlike her sisters’, who are eager to follow their mother’s (Brenda Blethyn) doctrine to marry a wealthy man and improve their status in society.

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice 1813.

Keira sitting under a tree at Groombridge © Groombridge Place

The film made a remarked departure from what it calls a ‘clean Regency world’ and shows Pride and Prejudice in a grittier and more realistic light, by not sentimentalising the novel and recognising the grim realities the Bennetts faced. Essentially, at least one of the girls needed to marry into wealth or they would have faced life on the streets after the potential demise of their father, played by Donald Sutherland, who failed to produce a male heir.

Elisabeth’s first encounter with Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen ) leaves her hating him and declaring that he is the ‘last person’ she could ever marry. Of course, once they overcome their ‘pride and prejudices’, they realise that they truly are meant to be together.

In 2003 Pride and Prejudice came second in the BBC poll for the UK’s favourite book. The romance novel still strikes a cord with modern readers and has been adapted for both television and the big screen many times. The BBC’s own 1995 version was the most successful drama in their history. The popularity of both the book and subsequent screen adaptations prompted Universal Studios to capture the novel on the big screen film for a second time. It proved a huge success worldwide, capturing four Academy Award nominations.

Jane Austen’s family originated from Kent, her brother Edward Knight owned Godmersham Park which lies between Ashford and Canterbury. Both Jane and her sister Cassandra were frequent visitors; this is perhaps why Kent appears throughout her novel Pride and Prejudice and it is therefore no surprise that Kent was chosen as the prime location for the new adaptation.

After a country-wide search for the perfect house Groombridge Place was chosen for the location of a lavish new film version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Jane Austen’s classic novel and England’s favourite love story.

A view of Groombridge Place across the moat © Groombridge Place

The owner looks upon Groombridge Place as "a treasure of English life. To see it in the spring or June with the roses in full bloom or in the heart of the summer at dusk with the light across the lake, to feel this could ever only be England."

[Pascale Blackburn]

Links

• For further information about Pride and Prejudice visit www.prideandprejudicemovie.net/splash.html
• For further information about Groombridge Place and Gardens visit www.groombridge.co.uk