Rating: 
Summary: An excellent movie!
Review: Persuasion is my favorite Austin book, and this movie does an excellent job of bringing the characters to life. Amanda Root does a persuasive job as Anne. My only complaint is how the infamous letter from Captian Wentworth ("You pierce my soul") is read by both voices. I thought that detracted from the climax. But well worth repeated watchings anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply Dreadful
Review: I'm wondering if all the people who gave this great reviews really watched this movie . . . it's long and draggy - it should have learned from the A&E Pride and Prejudice - that movie was 5 hours long, but it never lags. Rent Persuasion, don't buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Just defending one of my favorite movies
Review: This "review" is coming from a person who doesn't usually write reviews, but I was flipping through the section for this movie and was struck by some extremely negative reactions.
This movie is amazing... Amanda Root is amazing, her portrayal of Anne is touching, as her character is able to develop throughout the film. It is presented very well; characters are real, their various motivations human and real, which all add to make a colorful, beautiful movie.
I am not recommending "Persuasion" to everyone: one must be extremely patient, as the plot ambles along at its own pace. However, for those who appreciate richness in story telling and charming characters, this movie is amazing. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Perfect day for an imperfect romance.
Review: I loved this DVD and watch it periodically. So many aspect's of the novel are captured in this movie. It takes you away.
Rating: 
Summary: if you have problems sleeping this is the movie for you!
Review: Ok, ME and my friend love to watch period pieces and for the past two weeks have been looking for new movies to buy. We saw this and thaught hey it is rated five stars, the same rateing as Pride and prejudice it must be great! well we were so wrong, we both allmoast fell asleep and , my poor friend spent 20 dollers on it! it is so dull, their is hardley any plot. just do not waste your money on it! but hey if you want to go on ebay my friend is selling hers!
Rating:
Summary: Almost my favorite Jane Austin movie ever
Review: I read the reviews before watching the DVD and I was well prepared about the strong and weak points many reviewers have written. After watching the DVD, I must say that I am still unsatisfied with the performance by the leading actress Amanda Root. As many reviewers have said before, she's totally unattractive no matter it's in the beginning or in the end where some reviewers have said that she has "blossomed" or "transformed". Beside her apparance, her acting skill was not impressive, either. She just had her eyes wide open at almost every shot. As to Capt. Wentworth played by Ciaran Hinds, I have to say that he's totally charming and handsome. He steals the show. Whenever he appeared in any scene he's the focus. No question asked. I love watching Jane Austin's movies very much. I have BBC's Pride and Prejudice, BBC's Emma, Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility and I just need to add the Persuasion to my collection. The story itself was extremely romantic. The casting and the set are wonderful, too. However, I just can't help but wandering if Anne Elliot was portrayed by a slightly younger, more eye-pleasing actress, then this movie might have been my favorite Jane Austin movie of all time. Hope there will be another adaptation (maybe on the big screen) in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely bad casting
Review: I was anticipating watching this movie ... and i was really disappointed by the fact that the casting was completely horrible. Anne was cast badly, Captain Wentworth was cast badly...in fact the whole cast just seemed out of place. There was no good music in the background, not a significant, good amount of development about Anne and Wentworth's feelings. Lady Russell was cast badly as well. This isn't just a biased opnion, i'm sure many people would agree if they saw this movie just how badly it was cast and that the actors just ruined the beautiful story.
Rating:
Summary: Very delicate
Review: After reading many of the reviews here, I wasn't sure how I would feel about this movie. Some people absolutely adored this production, and others were very critical of the casting and directing (and defended their points of view eloquently).
I do agree that Anne in the novel was probably more assertive, among other things- but I thought Ms. Root's Anne was something very special. This is a wonderful adaptation, for it is subtle. You see, Anne had experienced true love, but because she was once young, and persuaded by a family friend to not lower herself socially, she lets love pass her by. Quite innocent and inexperienced, you can imagine Anne's inner struggle to chose between her own impulses, which were considered improper, anyway, and her station in society. Wentworth, thus scorned, takes off and Anne is left to find a better match. She has had other suitors (Charles), but does not accept any proposals. Years have passed, and Anne is older, what was deemed a "spinster". Ms. Root appears sad, sallow- her face appears to have been set in a frown for a very long time. One wonders how she was able to capture the hearts of men at all, but it is her kindness, her sensitivity and her intelligence that make her so precious.
When she is sent to stay with her sister, there is some humor in how she is confided in by all the members of the Muskgrove family... When she meets Capt. Wentworth after so many years, you can see the emotion in her eyes, despite her demeanor. You can see her heartbreak when her sister Mary reports later on that Capt. Wentworth had found her so altered after all those years that he barely recognized her (ouch!). He is so perfectly indifferent at first that you just know he is punishing her for her past rejection (his rare, stolen glances are fabulous!). And she does not have the guile to see this- I remember almost crying when they all go off on their long walk, and she is ignored, bossed around, and forced to watch the Muskgrove girls cavort with the man she desperately still loved.
I thought Ms. Root was exquisite- as her love is rekindled, the sallowness in her expression fades and is replaced by radiance and her eyes become luminous. Mr. Hinds is very dashing as Capt. Wentworth, with a face that is not necessarily "good-looking" in the traditional Hollywood leading man sort of way, but handsome in a masculine way.
I was pleased with all the actors, and with how the story was portrayed. Austen wrote to a niece that Anne was almost "too good" for her, and this production allows you to see why- there is not the (wonderful and necessary!) outpour of emotion or the impatience of younger heroines such as Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice, or Marianne in Sense and Sensibility; Anne is older, more cautious. This is not the love affair of two first-time lovers. I appreciate the fact that, despite the improvement of her countenance toward the end, it is not Anne's beauty that wins hearts, but rather her mind and spirit.
Perhaps I enjoyed this because I did not expect much, and was therefore pleasantly surprised. As already mentioned by fellow reviewers, this is not the BBC's P&P or Lee's S&S- but what it is, is something very rewarding in its own right.
Rating:
Summary: Great story marred by poor casting and direction
Review: I'm afraid I must agree with arabellafig. It isn't exactly poorly done, but it could be far far better, and suffers badly from comparison with Emma Thompson's "Sense & Sensibility" and of course with A&E's exquisite "Pride & Prejudice" but it could be far, far better. I too had high hopes after reading so many glowing reviews, the story will always be memorable, but it is almost a filmed version of Cliff's Notes on Austen's original tale. It runs 104 minutes to S&S 136 to P&P's 6 volume set. Why? Perhaps it was designed around television commercial space.
What particularly grated was the casting and much direction which was strangely off. The eldest sister Elizabeth is pissy and crude although she has been in charge of Sir Walter's social responsibilities and second only to him in "precedence" since her mother's death. It is not necessary to have her slouch in a chair and throw papers about in a pout to establish her character as a bad egg. Neither one, especially Ann, is believable as daughter of nobility and the upper class. Ann in particular clomps about clumsily, starts, scuttles, and hides. One can hardly imagine her daring to give an order to anyone (other than calling for a doctor after Louisa's fall) although giving orders to servants is her station in life. The very elegant and lovely and believable Lady Russell has been her close companion and surrogate mother since Ann lost her own mother at 14 - and this is the result? Compare to Lady Russell herself, to the S&S apparently lower ranking Eleanor Dashwood (Emma Thompson) saying her farewells to the servants or the elegant creature who Marianne Dashwood discovers to be her replacement, or to P&P Elizabeth and Jane Bennet. Rather than an image of a Lady of gentle quietness, forebearance and resignation, she seems more a scared rabbit. I could see her in the role of the starting, clomping, bewildered maid in P&P being ordered to stop working on Lizzy's hair and attend to Miss Jane. She does the staring traumatized eyes quite well however, so they are featured in nearly every scene. The hypochondriac youngest daughter Mary is well acted - but she even seems older than Ann.
What is NOT featured is any kind of dialogue that would establish the character that is claimed for her. We have only the doormat behavior to establish deference to others; the blandishments of the scheming Mr. Elliott on skill at Italian; the final speech overheard by Capt. Wentworth. We should be allowed to see more of her than what is filtered through her blind and belittling family, not less.
P&P actually added character development - for example, not until the scene at the Rosings pianoforte did it occur to me that part of Mr. Darcy's problem just might be that he is as naturally shy as his sister, or why Georgiana had specifically NOT been entrusted to the tender care of Lady Catherine. Edward in S&S was beautifully developed through Margaret's Atlas (in a wonderful scene that does not exist in the book).
I don't suppose I will never ever watch it again, but it has sent me back to re-read the novel. A good thing, that, as is the reminder that a wonderful story does not automatically make a wonderful movie all on its own - and the critical impact of good direction, the overall artistry of casting, lighting, staging, landscape. One of the things I love about DVDs (such as S&S) is the opportunity to listen to scene commentary by the actors and directors, to understand how very much goes into the making of a good or great film, how little into poor or merely adequate ones.
Rating:
Summary: None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives¿
Review: If the pleasures of tea, a letter from a friend, sparkling oceans and ships appeal to you, this movie will be a delight. From the sunlit kitchen tables to the birds chirping at the country estates, you will find the atmosphere and sound very realistic. This is the story of two people seeking a second chance at happiness and almost seeming to pass by one another like two ships in the night. Neither is willing to say what they are feeling as both are still emotionally distraught from their unfortunate breakup. Anne (Amanda Root) is an angel of mercy to everyone around her. She not only provides care, she also seems to be everyone's confidante. In her eyes we see her own private torture, which she tries to hide at all costs. She feels that perhaps she made a mistake in rejecting the love of Capt. Wentworth (Ciarán Hinds), who could not provide for her financially at the time. When he appears in her life again, she fears she may lose him forever. Her own family has gone in various directions due to their own financial difficulties. She is burdened with guilt and financial worries. At first she is shy and melancholy and then when she realizes love may again be within her reach, she blossoms into a beautiful woman who knows exactly what she wants. The temptation at the start of this movie is to just stop the tape and rewind. However, something in the story kept me watching and the conclusion was very worthwhile. The story is not complex, yet the finer details are worth following and are at times very amusing. Some of the dialogue is so wonderful you have to rewind just to listen to it again! Mr. Elliot: "Good company is always worth keeping."
Anne: "My idea of good company, Mr. Elliot, is the fellowship of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation and a liberality of ideas. That is what I call good company."
Mr. Elliot: "That is not good company. That is the best." Or when Mr. Elliot is trying to seduce Anne into marrying him he tries to work his way into her heart with some blandishment and yet Anne is only engaging in a casual dalliance. Anne: "You presume to know me very well, Mr. Elliot"
Mr. Elliot: "In my heart...I know you...intimately." A relaxing, beautiful and contemplative movie
you can enjoy on a cold day with a pot of tea and some
heart shaped shortbread cookies. Dreadfully Romantic!
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