Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Matthew Macfadyen: Mr. Darcy

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mr. Darcy : You must know... surely, you must know it was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I'd scarcely allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love--I love--I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.

• Mr. Darcy : Miss Elizabeth. I have struggled in vain and I can bear it no longer. These past months have been a torment. I came to Rosings with the single object of seeing you... I had to see you. I have fought against my better judgment, my family's expectations, the inferiority of your birth by rank and circumstance. All these things I am willing to put aside and ask you to end my agony.

  Elizabeth Bennet : I don't understand.

  Mr. Darcy : I love you.

• [last lines] 

  [US version] 

  Mr. Darcy : How are you this evening, my dear?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Very well... although I wish you would not call me "my dear."

  Mr. Darcy : [chuckles]  Why?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Because it's what my father always calls my mother when he's cross about something.

  Mr. Darcy : What endearments am I allowed?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Well let me think..."Lizzy" for every day, "My Pearl" for Sundays, and..."Goddess Divine"... but only on *very* special occasions.

  Mr. Darcy : And... what should I call you when I am cross? Mrs. Darcy...?

  Elizabeth Bennet : No! No. You may only call me "Mrs. Darcy"... when you are completely, and perfectly, and incandescently happy.

  Mr. Darcy : [he snickers]  Then how are you this evening... Mrs. Darcy?

  [kisses her on the forehead] 

  Mr. Darcy : Mrs. Darcy...

  [kisses her on the right cheek] 

  Mr. Darcy : Mrs. Darcy...

  [kisses her on the nose] 

  Mr. Darcy : Mrs. Darcy...

  [kisses her on the left cheek] 

  Mr. Darcy : Mrs. Darcy...

  [finally kisses her on the mouth] 

• Mr. Darcy : I love you. Most ardently. Please do me the honor of accepting my hand.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Sir, I appreciate the struggle you have been through, and I am very sorry to have caused you pain. Believe me, it was unconsciously done.

  Mr. Darcy : Is this your reply?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Yes, sir.

  Mr. Darcy : Are you... are you laughing at me?

  Elizabeth Bennet : No.

  Mr. Darcy : Are you *rejecting* me?

  Elizabeth Bennet : I'm sure that the feelings which, as you've told me have hindered your regard, will help you in overcoming it.

  Mr. Darcy : Might I ask why, with so little endeavor at civility, I am thus repulsed?

  Elizabeth Bennet : And I might as well enquire why, with so evident a design of insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your better judgment.

• Elizabeth Bennet : And that put paid to it. I wonder who first discovered the power of poetry in driving away love?

  Mr. Darcy : I thought that poetry was the food of love.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Of a fine stout love, it may. But if it is only a vague inclination I'm convinced one poor sonnet will kill it stone dead

  Mr. Darcy : So what do you recommend to encourage affection?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Dancing. Even if one's partner is barely tolerable.

• Elizabeth Bennet : I'm very fond of walking.

  Mr. Darcy : Yes... yes I know.

• Mr. Darcy : I... do not have the talent of conversing easily with people I have never met before.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Perhaps you should take your aunt's advice and practice?

• Mr. Darcy : So this is your opinion of me. Thank you for explaining so fully. Perhaps these offences might have been overlooked had not your pride been hurt by my honesty...

  Elizabeth Bennet : *My* pride?

  Mr. Darcy : ...in admitting scruples about our relationship. Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your circumstances?

  Elizabeth Bennet : And those are the words of a gentleman. From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry.

  [they look at each other for a long time as though about to kiss] 

  Mr. Darcy : Forgive me, madam, for taking up so much of your time.

• Elizabeth Bennet : [as she writes to Jane, Darcy suddenly enters]  Mr.Darcy.

  [Darcy bows, Elizabeth stands and curtseys] 

  Elizabeth Bennet : Please, do be seated.

  [no reponse] 

  Elizabeth Bennet : [silence]  Mr and Mrs Collins have gone to the village.

  Mr. Darcy : [nods and looks around the room]  This is a charming house. I believe my aunt did a great deal to it when Mr.Collins first arrived.

  Elizabeth Bennet : I believe so. She could not have bestowed her kindness on a more grateful subject.

  [more silence, neither one of them know what to say] 

  Elizabeth Bennet : Shall I call for some tea?

  Mr. Darcy : No, thank you.

  [a few brief more moments of silence] 

  Mr. Darcy : Good day, Miss Elizabeth, it's been a pleasure.

  [rushes out, passing by Charlotte] 

  Charlotte Lucas : [to Elizabeth]  What have you done to poor Mr.Darcy?

  Elizabeth Bennet : ...I have no idea.

• Mr. Darcy : May I have the next dance, Miss Elizabeth?

  Elizabeth Bennet : [taken aback]  You may.

• Elizabeth Bennet : What a beautiful pianoforte.

  Georgiana Darcy : My brother gave it to me. He shouldn't have.

  Mr. Darcy : Yes, I should've.

  Georgiana Darcy : Oh, very well then.

  Mr. Darcy : Easily persuaded, is she not?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Your unfortunate brother once had to put up with my playing for a whole evening.

  Georgiana Darcy : But he says you play so well.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Then he has perjured himself most profoundly.

  Mr. Darcy : No I said, "played quite well."

  Elizabeth Bennet : Oh, "quite well" is not "very well." I'm satisfied.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Are you too proud Mr. Darcy? And would you consider pride a fault or a virtue?

  Mr. Darcy : That I couldn't say.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Because we're doing our best to find a fault in you.

  Mr. Darcy : Maybe it's that I find it hard to forgive the follies and vices of others, or their offenses against me. My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Oh, dear, I cannot tease you about that. What a shame, for I dearly love to laugh.

  Caroline Bingley : A family trait, I think.

• Caroline Bingley : Miss Elizabeth, let us take a turn about the room.

  [Caroline takes Lizzy's arm in hers, and they walk gracefully in a circle around the room] 

  Caroline Bingley : It's refreshing, is it not after sitting so long in one attitude?

  Elizabeth Bennet : And it is a small kind of accomplishment, I suppose.

  Caroline Bingley : Will you not join us, Mr. Darcy?

  Mr. Darcy : You can only have two motives, Caroline and I would interfere with either.

  Caroline Bingley : What can he mean?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Our surest way of disappointing him will be to ask him nothing about it.

  Caroline Bingley : But Do tell us, Mr. Darcy.

  Mr. Darcy : Either you are in each other's confidence and have secret affairs to discuss, or you are conscious that your figures appear to the greatest advantage by walking. If the first, I should get in your way. If the second, I can admire you much better from here.

• Mr. Darcy : Do you talk, as a rule, while dancing?

  Elizabeth Bennet : No... No, I prefer to be unsociable and taciturn... Makes it all so much more enjoyable, don't you think?

• Mr. Bingley : [overheard by Charlotte and Elizabeth]  But her sister Elizabeth is very agreeable.

  Mr. Darcy : Thoroughly tolerable, I dare say, but not handsome enough to tempt *me*. You'd better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles. You're wasting your time with me.

  [the two men depart] 

  Charlotte Lucas : Count your blessings, Lizzy. If he liked you, you'd have to talk to him.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Precisely. As it is I wouldn't dance with him for all of Darbyshire, let alone the miserable half.

• Mr. Bingley : [Practicing proposing, with Mr. Darcy as Jane]  Miss Bennett.

  Mr. Darcy : [Bows]  Mr. Bingley.

• [Mr. Darcy walks next to the piano] 

  Elizabeth Bennet : You mean to frighten me, Mr. Darcy, by coming in all your state to hear me, but I won't be alarmed even if your sister does play so well.

  Mr. Darcy : I am well enough acquainted with you, Miss Elizabeth, to know that I can not alarm you, even should I wish it.

• Caroline Bingley : [Elizabeth enters the room, Darcy stands. Caroline is appalled]  Good Lord, Miss Elizabeth. Did you walk here?

  Elizabeth Bennet : I did.

  [long pause] 

  Elizabeth Bennet : I'm so sorry. How is my sister?

  Mr. Darcy : She's upstairs.

  Elizabeth Bennet : [another pause; she smiles and curtseys]  Thank you.

  [she leaves the room] 

  Caroline Bingley : My goodness, did you see her hem? Six inches deep in mud. She looked positively mediaeval.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Do you dance, Mr. Darcy?

  Mr. Darcy : Not if I can help it.

• Mr. Darcy : Are you so severe on your own sex?

  Elizabeth Bennet : I never saw such a woman. She would certainly be a fearsome thing to behold.

• Mr. Bingley : I've never seen so many pretty girls in my life!

  Mr. Darcy : You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room.

  Mr. Bingley : She is the most beautiful creature I have ever beheld. But her sister Elizabeth is very agreeable.

  Mr. Darcy : Thoroughly tolerable, I daresay, but not handsome enough to tempt me. You'd better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles. You're wasting your time with me.

• Elizabeth Bennet : If I was uncivil, then that is some excuse. But I have other reasons, you know I have.

  Mr. Darcy : What reasons?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Do you think anything might tempt me to accept the hand of the man who has ruined, perhaps for ever, the happiness of a most beloved sister? Do you deny that you separated a young couple who loved each other, exposing your friend to censure of the world for caprice and my sister to derision for disappointed hopes, involving them both in misery of the acutest kind?

  Mr. Darcy : I do not deny it.

  Elizabeth Bennet : How could you do it?

• Mr. Darcy : Tell me, do you and your sisters very often walk to Meryton?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Yes, we often walk to Meryton. It's a great opportunity to meet new people. In fact, when you met us, we'd just had the pleasure of forming a new acquaintance.

  Mr. Darcy : Mr Wickham's blessed with such happy manners, as may ensure his making friends. Whether he is capable of retaining them, is less certain.

  Elizabeth Bennet : He's been so unfortunate as to lose your friendship. I dare say that is an irreversible event.

  Mr. Darcy : It is. Why do you ask such a question?

  Elizabeth Bennet : To make out your character.

  Mr. Darcy : What have you discovered?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Very little. I hear such different accounts of you as puzzle me exceedingly.

  Mr. Darcy : I hope to afford you more clarity in the future.

• Elizabeth Bennet : I thought you were in London.

  Mr. Darcy : No... No. I'm not.

• Mr. Darcy : Mr. Gardiner, are you fond of fishing?

  Mr. Gardiner : Oh, very much.

  Mr. Darcy : Can I persuade you to accompany me down to the lake this afternoon? It's very well-stocked, and its inhabitants have been left in peace for far too long.

  Mr. Gardiner : I would be delighted.

• Mr. Darcy : And are you having a pleasant trip?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Yes... very pleasant.