Mrs. Bennet

Mrs. Bennet is the anxious, voluble mother of five unmarried daughters, and she wants exactly one thing: to see them all married before her husband's estate passes out of the family. She frets, schemes, and announces her nerves to anyone within earshot, treating every ball and eligible bachelor as a matter of survival.

Austen wrote her as comic relief with real teeth underneath — the panic is absurd but the stakes for a woman with no inheritance are genuine. Olivia Colman finds both registers at once, letting the shrillness curdle into something more plaintive, so the laughter never quite loses its unease.