Six Inches Diep in de Klei – The Dutch Pride and Prejudice
Caroline R
(Previously appeared on austenblog.com)
Question: In which adaptation of Pride and Prejudice did Mr Darcy fancy Colonel Fitzwilliam? Why, the Dutch P&P of course! Where else?
It remains a little known fact that in 1961 the NCRV produced a six-part tv series called De Vier Dochters Bennet, based on Cedric Wallis’s screenplay used for the 1952 and 1958 BBC productions. Four daughters, indeed, as poor Kitty has been cut, with Mary taking over some of her essential plot functions (such as coughing). Famous singer and actor Ramses Shaffy plays the male lead, and coincidentally? his partner Joop Admiraal was cast as Colonel Fitzwilliam. I will therefore blame him for the dreadful lack of chemistry between Ramses Shaffy and Lies Franken, an otherwise very creditable Elizabeth Bennet.
By the way, anyone expecting a Darcy in clogs, the Bennets in a windmill and Wickham smoking pot will be sorely disappointed, because the series is supposedly set in ‘Ye Olde England,’ as the characters less-than-subtly proclaim from time to time. (But wouldn’t that be fun? Dear NCRV…) At least the set builder managed to hang a real poffertjespan on the wall of the Lambton Inn in a rare fit of patriotism.
The framework was nicely done, each episode starting with one of the Bennet girls’ diaries. There was no letter: instead Darcy explained himself to Lizzy right after the proposal, and it made a very interesting scene. Another extra bit I appreciated was the bartering scene between Darcy and Wickham. The actor did an excellent job portraying a calculating bastard! Overall the script was decent and pretty faithful to the book, with some quaint inventions like a running gag about the size of Mr Collins’s French beans. Some of lines were quite literal translations and they sounded a bit stilted and archaic at times. But well, it’s from 1961. The only thing I really disliked about the script was the P&P0-like twist on Lady Catherine at the end.
For some odd reason they mixed up Longbourn, London and Lambton every now and then, but I’m persuaded to blame the actors rather than the scriptwriter. There were more indications that it was a rush job and they didn’t have the time and/or money to shoot a lot of takes. Because of financial reasons or perhaps limited technical possibilities, everything was filmed in the studio. The few exterior scenes in Meryton and the garden at Longbourn were obviously fake. I’d been hoping to figure out which Dutch house they had used for Pemberley, but there were not exterior shots at all, unfortunately. The only room shown was the portrait/statue gallery with the camera in the position of Darcy’s portrait; the Gardiners, Lizzy and Mrs Reynolds staring up at the viewer. One might argue that this is a cinematographically very intriguing interpretation, but I bet they were just too cheap to have a portrait painted.
The waistlines of the dresses were all too low, but they looked rather nice - nothing like those ridiculous P&P0 hoop skirts. As for the men’s costumes however, oh my! The pointed lapels on both their coats and waistcoats were absolutely huge. Think Edward Ferrars in S&S2, but worse. It was quite distracting, especially when they were pinstriped as well.
As for the actors, Lies Franken was a bit (11 years) too old for the part but she played a creditable Lizzy, and Jane was fine too, although they both giggled too much for my liking. Ton Lutz (splendidly absurd as Mr Collins) was actually having an extramarital affair with Ann Hasekamp (Jane) at the time! Mrs Bennet was also suitably silly, and Liselot Beekmeyer portrayed a wonderful ditzy blond Lydia. But Mr Darcy... just no. Ramses Shaffy was totally wrong for the part, looking rather boyish, cheerful and just plain dim-witted. Luckily he didn’t have a lot of screen time. Mr Bingley, on the other hand, was delightful. I never saw such happy manners, and Maxim Hamel is now my all-time favourite Bingley. After proposing to Jane in the garden he jumps through an open window to find Mr Bennet, and then Lizzy and Jane dance around the room knocking over a little table.
However, the most absurd and hilarious thing about this adaptation were the ‘introductions.’ Since originally the six episodes were shown over a period of almost 5 months, the audience needed a recap of events. This was done in a number of unusual, creative ways, such as with a blackboard, animation and a puppet theatre, with the paperdoll-sisters singing ‘Ik ben zo blij dat ik een Bennet ben.’ I kid you not. Overall the mini-series is a lot of fun, but not always for the right reasons.
Practical information:
Unfortunately the tv series is not commercially available. The tapes can only be watched at the archives of the ‘Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid’ in Hilversum. The image and sound quality is generally good, with the exception of episode III of which there is only a telerecording left, which is of lesser quality but still tolerable, I suppose.
