Tensions at Netherfield

Sadie Stein follows Elizabeth to Netherfield in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, where Jane's illness, caught on a rain-soaked ride her mother insisted on, throws Elizabeth together with Darcy and the Bingleys. Stein sets the grand house against the chaotic Bennet home: an army of servants, stricter protocol, sisters finished at a ladies' seminary. Social rules mean Elizabeth can't ignore Darcy, so they spar, and in one after-dinner exchange he concedes vanity is a fault while insisting pride has its place.

Then Stein takes an unpopular position. She feels sorry for Caroline Bingley. As mean and snobbish as Caroline is, Stein sees the desperation of someone watching something slip out of her grasp: the more she puts Lizzy down, the worse she looks, and she can't seem to help it. Her whole life has been engineered toward attracting an eligible husband, and the one she hoped for is falling for someone else. The film ends on Stein's blunt reminder that there simply aren't that many rich men to go around.