Bride & Prejudice/Down With Love » DVDs Worth Watching

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August 9, 2006

I just got back from visiting Madison, Wisconsin, which among other things, has much better user book and record stores than Richmond does. That means I got to browse for used DVDs, and I picked up two I wanted because of their astounding visuals.

Bride & Prejudice
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Bride & Prejudice is a Bollywood-style version of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice by the same woman who directed Bend It Like Beckham (also sitting on the “to rewatch” stack).

Aishwarya Rai is one of the most beautiful women in the world and a good actress on top of it. Here, she’s a young Indian who meets a visiting wealthy American during a wedding celebration. They’re attracted to each other, but there are plenty of cultural assumptions and misapprehensions to overcome first. Plus, musical numbers that are overwhelming, gorgeous swirls of color and motion.

Shame that Martin Henderson, the male lead, doesn’t have more of a presence. He’s just a boy-shaped lump here, filling the requisite space.

Down With Love
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Down With Love should have been much better than it was, with that cast — Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, my favorite Sarah Paulson, and David Hyde Pierce doing an amazing job as the strangely effeminate best friend of the macho lead.

It’s a loving homage to the Doris Day/Rock Hudson films and similar marshmallow romance comedies of past decades, with lavish attention paid to set and costume design. Zellweger is a writer with a book proposing that women don’t need men or love. In the 1962 of the film, that’s quite a shocking idea that quickly makes her the toast of the town… which leads McGregor to pretend to be someone he’s not in order to get a magazine story on her. There’s reversals on top of pretense, but it never froths quite as fluffily as it should.

Still, quite fun just to watch, especially if you’re familiar with Pillow Talk or Lover Come Back.

8 Responses

Hal Shipman writes:

August 9, 2006 at 6:47 PM

As much as I love my Bollywood and also Bend It Like Beckham, I couldn’t sit through Bride and Prejudice. It seemed to lack that essential spark of life the genre usually has. I’m a huge fan of Naveen Andrews and even his presence couldn’t keep my interest. I’ve sat through some truly horrible Bollywood (so it wasn’t simply a matter of the patience you sometimes have to have to get to the good stuff) but I couldn’t make it past 90 minutes with B&P.

As a contrast with another film by a PIO (Person of Indian Origin – they’re huge on the acronyms), I would point out Monsoon Wedding, which much more successfully dances at the edge of Bollywood with the high drama and one song and dance scene (in the context of a wedding reception – not a true Bollywood number which is more like an American musical number – an actual break into song and dance which would never happen in real life).

I don’t know how much true Bollywood you’ve seen, but I would also recommend Lagaan, Dil Chate Hai, The Legend of Bagaht Singh (2002 version with Ajay Devgan) and, my all time favorite, Dil Se. Aishwarya also starred in the acclaimed Devdas, which enjoyed a huge amount of crossover appeal, but didn’t appeal to me that much. With Devdas, you also need to be careful on which version you get (2002) as it’s a classic story which has been filmed many times (imdb.com lists six versions over the years). Specifically, there was a Bengali version also released in 2002 which might cause confusion.

Hal Shipman writes:

August 9, 2006 at 6:49 PM

Oh, and I agree about Down With Love. Not without its problems, but it was just plain fun.

Johanna writes:

August 9, 2006 at 7:11 PM

I haven’t seen any other Bollywood, which might be why this worked so well for me — it’s a wonderful introduction, I think, because of the familiar story. And I love the goofy humor of the “No Life Without Wife” number.

Lyle writes:

August 9, 2006 at 7:30 PM

For me, Bride & Prejudice came up with a nice midpoint as someone who likes the brief glimpses of the Bollywood aesthetic I’ve seen but doubts I could actually make it through a film.

John writes:

August 9, 2006 at 9:18 PM

I was thinking of recommending Bride & Prejudice to you, Johanna, but you beat me to it. You have to keep in mind that it’s not true Bollywood, but a light-hearted tribute. Everyone raves about Monsoon Wedding, so it must be good. My Wife and I just watched it, and thought it was just ‘okay’.

Like Hal, I whole-heartedly recommend Lagaan! Our entire family has enjoyed watching it, and listening to the fabulous soundtrack. It’s a very long movie, but manages to keep you in your seet with a cast of interesting characters, and situations. 5 stars, for sure.

As for older Romantic Comedies, I loved Pillow Talk, but have to recommend Bell, Book & Candle, if you can find it.

Cheers, JOHN :0)

Dan Coyle writes:

August 9, 2006 at 11:14 PM

I felt that Sarah Paulson walked away with Down With Love, giving 200% more than the rest of the actors in every scene. It was a lovely, vibrant performance.

Nat Gertler writes:

August 10, 2006 at 12:03 PM

Sarah Paulson — now there’s a name that is suddenly popping up. I just posted my review of her new show, the Aaron Sorkin hour-long Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip… I suspect people will be paying attention to her and everyone else on the show, although she goes into it as one of the lesser-known folks.

For me, Renee was the weak spot in Down With Love — not for any lack of talent, but just not quite the right person, not quite the right look (those little eyes of hers!) But it was still a lot of fun. And I’m glad they got Tony Randall for it, even if he couldn’t play the Tony Randall role (which Hyde-Pierce handled adeptly.)

kira writes:

August 17, 2008 at 3:54 AM

I love Bollywood songs! Pride&Prejudice was great! Aiswarya was kind of funny when she sang with her sisters! its worth watching if your bored, or don’t know what to watch!!!!!!!!