American film fans are being treated to a much smoochier ending to Pride & Prejudice than Britons were allowed to enjoy
The extended ending being played in US cinemas sees Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Bennet kiss her Mr Darcy in a moonlit haze as he repeatedly sighs her name.
The finale to the latest adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel in Europe was decidedly refined by comparison.
British cinema-goers saw the film close with Elizabeth's father giving his consent when Darcy asked for her hand in marriage.
He then declares of his unwed daughters: "And if any young men come for Mary or Kitty, send them in, for I am quite at my leisure."
Matthew MacFadyen, who plays Darcy, told USA Today: "You got the more sugary (ending). The Brits hated it."
The mushier version, which is eight minutes longer, was chosen for release after being hailed a success at a US test screening.
But some of the 450 members of the Jane Austen Society of North America were reportedly so shocked by the romantic clinch that they broke out laughing.
"It has nothing at all of Jane Austen in it, is inconsistent with the first two-thirds of the film, insults the audience with its banality, and ought to be cut before release," said former society president Elsa Solender.
Not to be outdone, an online petition has been launched in the UK calling for the kiss to be included in all DVD releases.
"This petition is a call to arms... for the British/Irish/European fans etc who have been denied the 'international' ending scene in the new film version of Pride & Prejudice," it reads.
"What did us poor Austen aficionados (in the country of her birth no less) do to deserve such injustice?"
The petition, which can be found at http://www.petitiononline.com/PP2005/petition.html, has more than 500 signatures.
The film opened in select US cinemas this weekend and will be released nationwide on November 23.
