Keira on the Couch, Twice

After a full day buried in Japanese cinema, I had zero interest in going out. Berlin was doing its thing and I let it. Keira Knightley on the couch instead—two Joe Wright adaptations back to back, no regrets whatsoever.

First: Atonement. England, the Second World War, and a thirteen-year-old girl named Briony who tells a lie at exactly the wrong moment and spends the rest of her life unable to undo it. Wright shoots the whole thing with this controlled, devastating precision—the Dunkirk tracking shot alone makes a case for it being one of the better British films of the decade. The ending undoes me every time, and I already know it’s coming. That’s the test of a good film, I think. Knowing doesn’t protect you.

Then Pride & Prejudice came on right after, which felt like the universe had arranged the double bill personally. Keira plays Elizabeth Bennet—stubborn, perceptive, entirely uninterested in marrying strategically—and Matthew Macfadyen plays Mr. Darcy, who manages to be both insufferable and magnetic in ways that are genuinely hard to separate. I’ve always had a soft spot for that particular type: proud in ways they haven’t fully examined yet, handsome in ways they’re too self-serious to exploit. Not that I’d know anything about that, haha.

Two films, one actress, one director, one very good evening. And now I’m taking my adorable Keira from the couch to bed, where she belongs. You are completely justified in being jealous. Wish me luck—with whatever.