Persuasion : Complete BBC Adaptation [1995]

Review Summary: Wouldn't persuade me to watch it again!

Review:

As a massive Jane Austen and period drama fan I was looking forward to viewing this film of Persuasion. Being the only Austen novel I have not read but being fully aware of the storyline I was quite eager to see how this version compared to the supposedly weaker 2007 version. I am sorry to say I was bitterly disappointed.

Despite a brilliant storyline to work with the writers seem to have dumbed down the story to a level of extreme monotony. There are a few witty one-liners and comic moments, that do serve to keep the viewer mildly interested but for the most part this film is lenghthy and dull, taking an alarming amount of time to take off and the end result is not exactly satisfactory either, being too rushed with a very rushed kiss (compare to the magical 07 one). There are simply too many characters with seemingly not enough purpose in the story. Alot of the time it appears that the characters are there merely for appearences sake but the result is alot of confusion for the viewer especially if you are not already familiar with the story.

The acting throughout could not be considered bad but questions must be asked as to why the characters all look so old and haggard. Wentworth and Anne were, if I am right only in their late twenties. Amanda Root as the lead is quite endearing, despite her old appearence and on the few occasions that she smiles one can clearly see why the casting director chose her. She manages not to look as miserable as Sally Hawkins in the 2007 version, which is a welcome relief. The same cannot be said for Wentworth, who just cannot compare to the screen presence of Rupurt Penry-Jones. Where to start? He is too old, not charismatic and just not worth creating a movie about. Although on a positive at least the screen-writer has given him a little bit more lines than the pretty much mute Wentworth of 2007.

As we have come to expect from the BBC the secondary aspects are for the most part very well co-ordinated. There is some good use of English locations, the music is charming and the costumes are appropriate though one must question why the absence of make-up especially given the age of the actors.

To conclude I wouldn't recommend Persuasion as a movie unless you are a big Austen fan or a period drama junkie. If you are not one of these don't expect this movie to get you into this genre of movie. If you are to choose a version of this movie to buy/rent I would choose the more recent one. It's shorter and looks so much better. The good news for prospective writers is that unlike alot of Austen's novels there is still significant space for remakes of this novel as this novel has certainly not reached its peak.

Review Summary: Utterly Lovely

Review:

Persuasion is my favourite book and this adaptation does it justice. The tone of the film matches the tone of the book: whistful. Anne is beautifully portrayed by Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds is wonderful as the charismatic Captain Wentworth. It's far subtler than the more recent ITV adaptation, and because of that all the more beautiful. Scenes in this film would melt the hardest of hearts, yet it is still funny. The perfect comfort film.

Review Summary: Brilliant sensitive version

Review:

I read the reviews and picked this version and have to add my voice to the others! This is brilliantly cast - with an Anne who looks like her bloom has gone, but you can watch her magically blossom as she becomes more hopeful of regaining her lost love! The acting is excellent, although Elizabeth and father are rather overblown, but the book clearly hints that they are. All in all they have taken the mood and meaning of the book and subtly used their cinematic skills to interpret it very effectively, so all the info we lose from not having feelings explained, is acted or implied. Completely brilliant. Job well done. Look no further for a good Persuasion - this is IT!

Review Summary: The best by far

Review:

This is absolutely my favourite T.V. adaptation of a Jane Austin novel. It is a real treat to watch from beginning to end: the whole thing is so well cast that every scene and every character have a charm of their own.

Review Summary: Comfort food for nostalgics that is well cast and crafted

Review:

Persuasion (1818) is often thought of as Jane Austen's most 'romantic' novel. Yet Austen's philosophy of love and romance might be quite different to what we understand as romantic today. She repeatedly counselled against a flighty over-indulgence of emotions (e.g. the characters of Marianne in Sense and Sensibility and Lydia in Pride and Prejudice), blessing her heroines with the prudence of rational love and controlled romanticism. Austen astutely recognised that women in the Georgian period, forbidden by custom and status to work beyond the home, were in danger of constructing and seeking to injudiciously act out wildly romantic fantasies. As Anne Elliott tells a naval officer in this brilliant adaptation, "We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us. You always have business of some sort or other to take you back into the world".

Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds excel as the leads and their on-screen chemistry is unmistakable as smouldering, unexpressed emotions threaten to penetrate the surface of their reserve. Root (who was originally sought by Emma Thompson to play the role of Marianne in Sense and Sensibility) has been frequently patronised on message boards - either consciously or unconciously - for her "plain" appearance, as if actresses must be classically beautiful before they can be considered good. I found that Root performed Anne with grace and intelligent sensitivity; she has the remarkable talent of letting her huge, searching eyes express what could often not be said in that era. Hinds makes for a Captain Wentworth as ruggedly handsome and virile as Firth in the role of Mr. Darcy; Wentworth is as morally principled as him and is a great deal tougher and more robust to boot. In his impassioned declaration to Anne - that "a man does not recover from such a devotion to such a woman, he ought not, he does not" - Hinds skillfully shows that Wentworth is thinking of his own strong, irrepressible feelings for Anne.

The leads are helped by an admirable supporting cast: Simon Russell Beale (as Charles Musgrove), Sophie Thompson (as his hypochondriac wife Mary) and Corin Redgrave (as the snobbish, spendthrift Sir Walter) do especially well, although I found that Mrs Croft (Fiona Shaw) and Lady Russell (played by Susan Fleetwood who died the year in which the film aired) sometimes look too similar to be clearly distinguished from each other.

Persuasion is quieter and more subdued than Austen's more famous novels. Appropriately the musical score is subtle and unobtrusive, complementing rather than overwhelming the dramatic moments of the narrative. Anne, too, makes for a less vivacious and lively heroine than, for example, the much-loved Lizzy Bennet. But this is not a fault: her development into self-conviction and in learning not only to trust her instincts and feelings, but more importantly to act upon them too, make her a paragon in a Georgian society which often sought to repress individual thought and feeling in women. She painfully experiences the pitfalls of letting oneself be guided or influenced by others. As Jane Austen counselled in an earlier novel, "We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be." (Mansfield Park, 1814).