Film adaptations of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice have tended to cast the role of Elizabeth Bennett with an actress older than the 20-year-old she’s described as in the classic novel, an intelligent young woman with "a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous." The 2006 adaptation directed by Joe Wright broke this mold with Keira Knightley, a fresh face with enormous talent and buoyant enthusiasm. To date, her performance may have been the defining portrayal of one of the most well-known female characters in English literature.
