Simon Langton's strength is giving actors time to make complicated feelings clear. We warmly recommend his Pride and Prejudice, where wit and attraction survive a tendency to push some of the supporting comedy too hard.
Fi1m perspective
In Pride and Prejudice (1995), Jennifer Ehle makes small adjustments while some of the people around her perform at a rather higher volume. Simon Langton is at his best here when he gives her time, trusting that a change in feeling will hold our attention. We were moved by Ehle and Colin Firth's courtship because they make attraction feel like a complicated business. The leisurely pace helps us notice how much the two performances are doing.
His directing career began in television drama in the 1970s, and Smiley's People (1982), adapted from John le Carré, established his reputation for literary work. His feature film The Whistle Blower (1986) kept him in espionage, but did not mark a permanent departure from television. Mother Love (1989), a psychological miniseries starring Diana Rigg, followed before the Austen adaptation. There is reason to look beyond the costume drama, even if Pride and Prejudice is the work we recommend most confidently.
The reservation is his handling of comic emphasis. Alison Steadman's Mrs Bennet is funny, but her emphatic delivery gives the worry beneath the fuss too little space. Benjamin Whitrow's Mr Bennet is easier company, though his dryness can make his detachment look more attractive than it should. Beside Ehle, these larger performances can seem to belong to a less observant production. Langton gets the ensemble mostly right, but does not always bring its members to the same level of subtlety.
Langton expands literary sources with additional scenes and visual detail, an approach that makes the choice of writer especially important. Andrew Davies's adaptation gives wit and attraction equal care, and Langton largely keeps that balance. The six-episode length of Pride and Prejudice gives us time to notice how confidently these people misjudge one another. Start there, with a little tolerance for Mrs Bennet.
Biography
Simon Langton (born 5 November 1941) is an English television director and producer. He is the son of actor David Langton, known for playing Richard Bellamy in Upstairs, Downstairs.
Langton directed numerous television drama series and serials from the 1970s onwards. His 1982 adaptation of John le Carré's Smiley's People received BAFTA and Emmy Award nominations. He won a BAFTA for the 1989 miniseries Mother Love, starring Diana Rigg.
He is best known for directing the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, for which he received a further BAFTA nomination. Langton has also directed episodes of series including Midsomer Murders and Rosemary and Thyme, as well as the feature film The Whistle Blower (1986).
