Fate

Netflix: Pride and Prejudice

If it is my fate to be one of the millions whose faces must be plain that Keira Knightley's may transcend, that is a fate I can accept.

Just watched Pride and Prejudice, and I hope it represents the tip of the iceberg. Knightley's face makes the movie--her wry expressions tell the tale, and her beauty makes Darcy's obsession with her more than plausible.

But she's more than just a pretty face, as the phrase goes. She holds her own in two confrontations with Judi Dench, no small feat. And the scene in which she bickers with Darcy over his mistreatment of her sister, on which the whole film balances, is a thing to behold.

Having seen only this and Walk the Line among the films in which the Best Actress nominees starred, I'm already inclined to disagree with the winner. Reese Witherspoon does fine work, and WTL comes to life when she hits the screen and sags without her. But P&P is Knightley's coming out party. Don't miss it.