They did Jane Austen dirty - 'Persuasion' (2022)

A new Regency film is on the block - Netflix and Dakota Johnson take Jane Austen's 1817 novel somewhere... new. But is it a fabulous adaptation or an insult to her memory?

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[tinyfreckle]

The book: “Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted. It was a perpetual estrangement, ”

The Netflix bastardisation: “Now we’re strangers. No, worse than strangers. We’re exes.”

Nuff said.

[FitzDizzyspells]

“Just a bunch of people going to each other’s houses” is just another way of saying what the playwright W. Somerset Maugham wrote years ago about Austen: “Nothing very much happens in her books, and yet, when you come to the bottom of a page, you eagerly turn it to learn what will happen next. Nothing very much does and again you eagerly turn the page. The novelist who has the power to achieve this has the most precious gift a novelist can possess.”

[liv]

To me, the entire problem with this movie came down to *tone.* Emma 2020 worked because Emma IS a comedy. P&P 2005 is beloved by so many because it's the ultimate romance, and it's all about longing and yearning. There's humor in all Austen novels, but this just felt completely detached from anything resembling the story we know. But my main gripe with the movie is this: you can't make a good adaptation all the while telling your audience you think the original characters suck. Whatever you do to the story, the characters HAVE to feel like themselves, because *that's* how we connect to the story. Jane Austen novels have always been more about characters than plot. If you don't have the characters, you don't have the story.

Final complaint, I'm still not over THE SMOKEY EYES.

[emmavink]

Um, the point about Anne isn't that she is supposed to be shy in the novel. She is just very self contained. All her thoughts contradicting anything the people around her do are internalised. She isn't outspoken. She most certainly isn't sarcastic vocally towards those around her. She also goes out of her way to be kind to everyone around her.

She isn't a Lizzy Bennet or a Marianne Dashwood or an Emma Woodhouse.

She is far closer to characters like Eleanor Dashwood and Fanny Price. Her strength is in her consistency. Which is why the fact that she was persuaded initially to reject Wentworth hurt him so much.

I hated that they tried to turn Anne into another period piece Manic Pixie Dream girl. Not all heroines need to be outspoken. And "strength" doesn't need to look the same everytime.

They did both Anne Elliot and Dakota Johnson dirty. I think she is an amazing actress who should just stay clear of doing popular book adaptations from now on 😂

[damagehurdle]

She had more chemistry with her cousin than Wentworth.

[becki]

Its a missed opportunity, they've made a shallow film trying to ride the Bridgerton train. Persuasion is unique because Anne is 27, a 'spinster' in Austen's times, and gets just as romantic an ending as Emma woodhouse and Lizzy Bennett. She's quiet but strong, supports everyone around her... the film was pretty and had nice music but there's just no depth. Where is the Anne we deserved.

[kateorgera]

"I think Austen knew how to laugh at herself, she had a good sense of humor"
I mean I agree, I do. Being too precious about Austen is definitely not what Austen herself would want. Still, I feel kind of weird turning Persuasion into a comedy considering it was written on Austen's deathbed. It was bitter, regretful, reflective for a reason.

Not to mention, the creators of this are apparently planning to tackle Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice next. I'd like to think some of the criticism could maybe help them tackle those next projects with a little more forethought? Maybe?

[vegselene]

My biggest problem with this film was the extra conversations that Anne and Wentworth had at Uppercross and Lyme. For me, the entire plot hinges on their "perpetual estrangement" - the difficulty that they both have in speaking to each other and their complex emotions about each other. It is utterly absurd to me that Wentworth would ask Anne to be friends, at any point in the story, but especially where he's at emotionally during the trip to Lyme. He's still mad at her! He's trying to pretend to himself that she isn't the one that got away! That chat on the beach had me yelling at my screen.

There are absolutely challenges to bringing this story to the screen, mostly because of how internal it is and how much the original relies on the narrative voice. But in terms of plot and pacing, I feel like Austen kind of served it up on a platter! Compared to Mansfield Park, for example, which is pretty meandering, the original plot of Persuasion is very tight and well constructed. You don't really need to add anything, and it's not so complex that you need to cut extraneous details or events. But the script took so many liberties with the plot and pacing that serve no narrative function.

[hermstefanny]

That last speech frustrated me as well. Like, the point of Wentworth and Louisa was that at first he admires her uncompromising attitude, and the firmness of her values, because he was still bitter that Anne was persuaded to give him up, but after the accident, he learns to appreciate Anne's mind more. The whole point is that sometimes is ok to change your mind and they ended with a whole paragraph about "don't let anybody say who you can love"! Like, excuse me? Did you even read the book?

[MarleyMe]

The professor at my college who taught my Jane Austen and Adaptation class must be salivating to put this in her syllabus today. I think I saw a lot less redeeming this than you, but I am maybe a snob. Though yes, this is beautifully shot. In my mind, Anne is introspective and incredibly restrained; shy may not be the right word, but I cannot imagine her being as flirtatious or direct as she comes off in this film. It feels like the two characters know there is something still between them and the other still cares for them. This cuts the agony and tension that makes Persuasion...well, Persuasion.

A lot of these tactics might work in a version of Emma or Northanger Abbey, which feel...goofier, for lack of a better work. But Persuasion needs to feel forlorn, in my mind, not like a Parks and Rec episode. Also, I have a physical aversion to the "Now we're worse than exes, we're friends" line; I'd think that was bad writing, even if this were a YA rom-com. Feels insultingly dumbed down for us, but also for the character.

[Alex-svwy]

For me, the biggest problem of the film wasn't anything to do with Jane Austen or the book. I just thought it was a mediocre film--I didn't like the dialogue, I thought the pacing was off, it felt like the script writers thought I was a bit stupid, and I thought some of Anne's talking to the camera would have been better shown than told. I've changed my mind about adaptations over the past few years--I think there's a lot more room for interpretation and deviation from source material because a film and a book are two different media with entirely different purposes and abilities when it comes to storytelling. But it must be a good story, above all else. And I don't think this film succeeded in telling a good story.

[analisavenolia]

in defense of clueless, i actually think it's a fairly good modernization of emma. so much of the novel is preserved and translated to the 90s setting, and i think a lot of the discrepancies can be excused because the movie never claims to be an adaptation

[mckellcreates]

I agree that the book's Anne Elliot isn't "shy, " but she is reserved in the sense that she tries to keep the peace and doesn't feel like she needs to be the center of attention. This Anne's smirks at the audience and snarky comments made her very unlike the character in the novel for those reasons. Also you can tell from the book that she is someone who feels stable and reliable to others, because she thinks before she speaks and can be counted upon to be rational. Her yelling out the window and announcing her past proposal and things like that may seem subtle, but they completely change her character in that way. I think Dakota Johnson could have been an amazing Anne, but the direction the writers and directer wanted her to go with the character was all wrong and she played right into it. Also her hair and makeup were distracting. And yes on lack of chemistry, but great casting in general. The sets and locations and filming were beautiful! But that made it even harder in a way because things looked so right but felt so wrong! It certainly isn't a comfort film for me because of the unnecessary amount of cringy and awkward moments. Jane had a wonderful sense of humor, but I didn't find any of the film's attempts at humor funny or relatable. It was all just uncomfortable and wrong in the ways that really matter.

[fish-fingers_and_custard]

Kinda feel like Anne Elliot was Lizzie Bennet/Emma Woodhouse-ified in this adaption. Bit disappointing since it's nice having a quiet and introverted Austen heroine every now and again.

[MsJayteeListens]

One of the lines that me going ‘huh’ was Wentworth telling Anne she’d always been so sure of her own opinion. The point of the book is that eight years before she had been persuaded not to marry him, if she was that bloody sure then they would be married.

It’s interesting what you say about Anne not being shy, in the 1995 movie, which I love, Anne is fairly quiet throughout yet near the end there’s a bit where she sees Wentworth’s sister and her husband across a room and rushes excitedly over to them. To me it suggested that Anne doesn’t say much until she’s sure of people and their opinion of her (and with her family it makes sense), she knows Wentworth’s sister and the Admiral like her and that they’re generally a nice people, so they get to see more of Anne.

[ilvaens]

About the language. I'm not a native speaker and my English had been absolutely awful up until I was 14 and decided to do something about it. However, now I read Austen and listen to audio versions of her books and the language is easy to understand, very precise and simply beautiful. The point of my comment is, if a non-native speaker can appreciate and fall in love with Austen, why do such a disservice to the native audience and chance her amazing language this much? Kids read classics in school as far as I'm aware, and those who are interested in costume period dramas are probably perfectly capable to understand the language. And if not - isn't it better to help them expand the horizons? I remember a somewhat recent controversy about a modern Romeo and Juliet adaptation with "updated" language. It was criticized and some british actors said it best: when you have the right director, performers, and tone, even Shakespearean language becomes more understandable for any audience, with all its heavy metaphors and somewhat archaic words, so it's a bit disrespectful to the audience to dumb it down. Which is true, because Shakespeare is far harder for me to grasp in English, but even his language is more accessible in great productions.
Anyway, I don't see a reason to change Austen's language this much. It's okay to do it, I just see no reasons to, and they always give ones!

[tezzag]

I don’t think this “Anne” ever looked at Wentworth in a truly loving way. I don’t think this should ever have been described as adapted from Persuasion. It was a modern rom-com dressed in period costumes.

[brookeg]

"A little bit of a soggy tea towel" is fabulous and I'm using it forever.

[kimberlymba]

I lost my mind when they showed a Jane Austen heroine peeing behind a tree and eavesdropping on the hero… I’m sorry but absolutely not! Lydia Bennet wouldn’t even have been that crass 😳

[TheLittleLottiee]

I read Persuasion for the first time this January and loved it so much I thought “wtf why don’t more people talk about Persuasion?” and when I heard there was a film coming out this very same year I was so excited for it. I think part of my problem was that I went into it *wanting* it to be my new comfort film but I just hated it. 😂 For me, it doesn’t capture any of the feelings or commentary of the book that made it so great. Mary was my favourite part of the film for sure.