Alert Janeite Carmen has kindly translated a report on the Israeli P&P series posted on her Spanish-language Jane Austen site.

The series has 6 chapters.

The cast
From left to right: nimrod artzi (mr. darcy), avikam gross (mr. collins), irit linur (la directora), omer ben gal (mr. bingley), alona sadeh (elizabeth), zohar (lydia creo), ora sadeh (mrs. bennet), neta sadeh (jane).

Bingley rents a “tzimer”, a beautiful house in the north for a weekend or more. That house belongs to the Bennets (called here Sadeh). Alona and Artzi (Darcy and Lizzy) start badly, she is 8 years older than him and she has a 15 years rebellious girl. Artzi is rich and he comes from Tel Aviv (people from there have pride, according to the stereotype). Lady Catherine is Artzi’s stepmother and boss of Gross (Collins) and she has a daughter. Alona is divorced and her ex seems to be a Wickham type. Neta (Jane) is also divorced.

According to my ‘poster’, she liked it, and she loves 95’s version. It’s fun and Shapira is good. The series is different from the novel, and it’s adapted to today’s Israel, and you must understand that society. Anyway, there are P&P details: Artzi’s company is called D.R.C., they use ‘fine eyes’ or ‘women’s imagination’ in the script. By the way, Shapira read the book and his character has pride but he is also shy.
The music and the photography are good.

Alert Janeite Lisa found another report on the film, including a mini-review of the Hebrew translation of P&P done by the screenwriter and a trailer (in Hebrew), by an Israeli Janeite.

We have no idea if or when it will become available elsewhere in the world or on DVD or with English or other language subtitles.

Alert Janeite Carmen let us know that a poster on her site El Salón de Té de Jane has posted some information and photos (site is in Spanish) from the Israeli P&P series that we blogged about a while back. The series will be broadcast in Israel beginning on May 31. The poster is going to review the series and Carmen will keep us informed of the proceedings.

We blogged last year about this, and it seems that the Israeli P&P is ready to go. The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle has an interview with the writer/director Irit Linur, which has some more detail about the adaptation.

And in what other ways does your version depart from the book?

Well, Darcy remained 28, but Elizabeth became 36 and a divorcee. Darcy remains rich, but Elizabeth is quite independent. Both work in the high-tech industry. I felt uneasy about maintaining the line of a rich man who saves his lady from a life of poverty. I thought it was inappropriate, and diminishes her charm. I thought maybe a reasonable gap would be a younger man and older, divorced woman with a teenager. Plus, I’ve ignored two sisters. I really couldn’t manage five sisters. They wouldn’t have volume. They never do, they are glorified extras in all versions. In the book it works just fine. You have to give your characters volume.

In your version, England has been replaced by the Galilee. Is it unusual for an Israeli television series to take place outside of the city?

We have our limits—it’s a practical thing. If you want to film outside Tel Aviv, then the time it takes to get there comes out of the time you have for filming. If you have to travel one hour to get there, you have one hour less to film. So it’s not that everyone is so self-centered, and everyone wants to make films and TV series about their natural habitats—it’s more costly.

Have you decided on a title?

I really don’t like the name Pride and Prejudice and the series eventually is not about pride and prejudice. Those are two abstract nouns. But I haven’t decided on a name yet.

Is it just us, or does it sound like a fanfic? Thanks to Alert Janeite Julie T. for the link!

ETA: Alert Janeite Rebecca W. found a pic of the leads on the site where the article was originally published.

The Jewish Daily Forward is reporting that a six-part, Hebrew-language adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, set in 21st-century Israel, will be broadcast on the Israeli cable provider Hot (!) next summer.

In the series, the tempestuous romance between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy will now take place between characters named Alona Sadeh and Nimrod Artzi, the latter recast as a high-tech worker rather than a stuffy landowner. The production will be scripted and directed by Irit Linor, who recently completed a new Hebrew translation of “Pride and Prejudice” and who previously translated Charles Dickens’s “Nicholas Nickleby.” Prime-time soap opera veteran Yael Hadar and stage and TV actor Dan Shapira will play the romantic leads.

Six parts! Elizabeth as heroine! Take that, ITV!