Mr. Darcy, a proud gentleman, meets Elizabeth Bennet — and their first impressions are wrong in every way that matters.
In Pride and Prejudice (1940), based on Jane Austen’s novel, Laurence Olivier plays Mr. Darcy, a wealthy landowner who meets Elizabeth Bennet, played by Greer Garson, at a country ball. Darcy is proud and reserved, Elizabeth is witty and prejudiced against him, and their misunderstandings keep them apart until each learns to see the other clearly.
Olivier plays Darcy with a formal elegance that slowly gives way to warmth. His proposal scene, in which he admits his love while also insulting Elizabeth’s family, is played with a wonderful mix of arrogance and vulnerability, and his later humility is what wins her.
Pride and Prejudice is a beloved adaptation of Austen, and Olivier’s Darcy remains a classic of the role: a man who must learn to be less proud, and who does so with style.