Screenwriters Deborah Moggach and an uncredited Emma Thompson manage to distill Jane Austen’s grand novel about the struggle to overcome both pride and prejudice into a taut and exceptional screenplay for this beautifully photographed and emotionally challenging film. Keira Knightley stars as Elizabeth Bennet, the most intelligent and sophisticated of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s five daughters. Having raised their daughters in a modest but not uncomfortable country home, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (but particularly Mrs. Bennet) are hopeful Elizabeth and her sisters can marry well. After Elizabeth rejects a proposal from a wealthy man she does not love (much to her mother’s dismay), she finds herself torn between the tender-hearted Mr. Wickham (Rupert Friend) and the frigid, brutally blunt Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfayden), a man by whom she is simultaneously fascinated and repulsed. The production boasts a stellar supporting cast, with Brenda Blethyn as Elizabeth’s comically overbearing mother, Donald Sutherland as Elizabeth’s warm, steady, and frequently henpecked father, and Judi Dench as the regal, severe, and intimidating Lady Catherine de Bourg. Knightley earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and the film also received nominations for Best Art Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Score.