Lost in Austen

In this post-modern 2008 TV-miniseries update of Jane Austen's beloved Pride and Prejudice, 21st-century Londoner and Austen fan Amanda Price (Jemima Rooper) enjoys pretending that she's Elizabeth Bennet. As Amanda tells her mother, she loves “the manners and the language and the courtesy” of Austen's 19th-century world. But fantasy becomes reality when Miss Bennet (Gemma Arterton) herself suddenly appears in Amanda's apartment one night, denies her fictional origins, and shows Amanda the hidden bathroom portal through which she entered. After Amanda walks through, the pair switch places: yes, it's Freaky Friday meets The Chronicles of Narnia by way of Sliding Doors. Introducing herself as “Elizabeth's friend,” Amanda settles in with Bennet's parents (Hugh Bonneville and Alex Kingston), daughter Lydia (Perdita Weeks), and the rest of the clan, with the explanation that Lizzie is working on a novel in Amanda's Hammersmith flat. Amanda knows the P&P storyline, but things go somewhat off-course when Amanda falls for Darcy (Elliot Cowan), Bingley (Tom Mison) falls for her, and Mr. Collins (Guy Henry) falls for Jane (Morven Christie), so Amanda must scramble to pair characters up with their correct partners. DVD extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette. Offering an entertaining twist on a perennial classic, Lost in Austen is recommended. (K. Fennessy)