Persuasion

Rating:
Summary: This one really grows on you!
Review: Persuasion has never been my favorite Austen novel. It's very short, rather sketchy, and involves a heroine, Anne, with whom I have very little in common. When I first saw this adaptation of the film, I'd just hopped across the lobby of my local theatreplex from a happy screening of the 1995 Sense and sensibility adaptation. The opening scenes of this film apalled me. The projectionist was probably to blame for much of this, but even if it were projected flawlessly, i don't think i could have forgiven the director for not being Ang Lee. ;o) The opening is dark...overcast...the camera angles are shaky. Amanda Root's Anne is small, mousy, and meek - the complete antithesis of my beautiful, spirited Marianne Dashwood and my energetic, naive Emma Woodhouse. Since that first viewing, my opinion of the adaptation has completely changed. This story is remarkably satisfying if you give it a chance...much like Anne, who is a little too easy to dismiss when you're enraptured by Marianne. It has a quiet strength and an understated elegance you'll come to love, as the scenes and those in them become brighter, steadier, and more wonderful to watch as the film progresses.

Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: When I first watched this film I was bored. The filming was rather dark, and I couldn't follow the plot very well. However, I was young and inexperienced in the ways of Austen, and anything that didn't have Gwenyth Paltrow or Emma Thompson wasn't too interesting to me. However, I waited some time, and watched it later. After reading the book, I became enchanted with the movie. Amanda Root is the perfect person for the role, as well as Ciaran Hinds. It is very faithful to the book, and captures all of the good that it has to offer. This for me now is the perfect book for me to snuggle up with on a rainy night, and I would urge anyone who thinks it a bit boring, or a bit heavy to give it a chance and maybe you'll learn to love the characters as I have come to do.

Rating:
Summary: What a treat!
Review: Jane Austen is perhaps one of the most enduring writers. Her heroines are usually intelligent and practical. Actress Amanda Root is perfect as "Anne". Her family is ridiculous and many of the characters just as interesting (even the good, but misguided ones). 'Anne' many not be the most beautiful (or that young, as per practice of that period), but she is someone worthy of devotion as we see in the once spurned love, Captain Wentworth.

If you are looking for fast paced action, stylized sex, high tech effects - this is not the film for you. However, if you love a well developed story, wonderful characters. wonderful film production and a sweet story (with a happy ending!), you will greatly enjoy Persuasion.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: I can't say I remember much about this film, mainly because I found the whole plot kind of blurry and fuzzy.

Rating:
Summary: Not as captivating as BBC/A&E's P&P
Review: I had recently seen Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth before I purchased 'Persuasion' with Amanda Root and this may have been the problem. I fell in love with [P&P] the depth of the characters and attention paid to every detail including and especially the beautiful music. I was disappointed after watching 'Persuasion' and can't quite put my finger on why. You aren't left with the feeling of knowing the characters and it almost seems that it is over before it begins. Very slow and confusing in some parts. I admit I had to use the rewind button several times and use the subtitles. It's a good thing I knew the plot of the story before I began watching.

Rating:
Summary: Even guys like Persuasion
Review: I've come to love Jane Austen movies, and Persuasion is another very enjoyable love story. I loved Sense and Sensibility, Emma and Pride and Prejudice, and I think Persuasion is also a wonderful story, possibly not quite as emotionally impactful as S&S (which achieves a fantastic climax) but wonderful. I have to admit, the subtitles were necessary for me to decipher some of the more quietly mumbled lines. I would caution the viewer that this movie moves more slowly than S&S and Emma, but it is worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Amost great ...
Review: Much of the praise given to this movie is deserved. The acting is uniformly excellent. Indeed, every character, excepting none, is carefully etched and individuality drawn. To name a few: Ciaran Hinds as Wentworth, Sophie Thompson as the ever-complaining, self absorbed sister Mary, Corin Redgrave as the narcissistic, snobbish aristocrat Sir Walter Elliot, Susan Fleetwood as the a sympathetic, but still classist Lady Russell, Richard McCabe as a falsely fragile, introspective Captain Benwick, Samual West as scheming, polished, pretty boy scoundrel; also, with the reservation noted below, Amanda Root as Anne Elliot.

The period is superbly portrayed. The attitudes about society, class, and birth rights being almost incomprehensible by modern mores are made tangibly credible. The costumes, personal appearance, and grooming all accurately show Eighteenth century England, a time quite different from our own. People, even upper class people, sweat, sometimes wear dirty cloths, are not always perfectly shaven, don't always have straight teeth and show real emotions and human variation, not to say faults. Eighteenth century Europe's detailed and steeply declinated social stratification is magnificently, though incidentally, portrayed.

Granted Mr. Elliot's motivation and behavior are under explained, but this is a minor flaw.

So what is really wrong with the movie? It is just not believable that a homely, reserved, and wilted Anne Elliot could attract or re-attract the dynamic and successful Captain Wentworth. Amanda Root, being limited by her inherent appearance and personality, may have done a less than optimal job, but I cannot think of any actress who could have made credible that hansom, rich, self assured Wentworth would be attracted to this mouse in the corner. Perhaps the fault is with Jane Austen's plot. Perhaps when she wrote the character of Anne Elliot, Jane was indulging in a bit of wishful thinking motivated by her own romantically unfulfilled life.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing and Disgusting!!
Review: I have read and seen all of Jane Austens works many times and and I have never seen a worsely depicted video. If Jane Austen were alive she would be ashamed of it. There never were such bad actors and acttresses and a worse screen adaption that I have ever seen. They were very, very UGLY and totally wanting in every thing needed to portray what the author had in mind. It was absolutly disgusting for me to see such a wonderful book portrayed so badly!! If I were to buy any version of Persuadsion I would buy the 1960s or 1970s version which was truly a master piece. I would never spend a cent on this one, EVER!!

Rating:
Summary: My favorite pf the recent Austen movies
Review: Of late, there seems to be an entire cottage industry of adapting Jane Austen for film.

This one's my favorite, and it's pretty much on the strength of the actors -- Amanda Root manages to let us see her character gain strength, beauty, and confidence through the course of the telling of the tale, and Ciaran Hinds is by turns forceful when in his element, vulnerable when not.

One also gets to see a fair amount of the actual locations -- Bath, Lyme Regis, and others.

My one quibble is the closing shot, where love prevails in a way that I'm sure the film makers thought tame enough, but would be scandalous for the Regency period. Ach, well. The light falling on the buildings of Bath, and the characters showing us that love does triumph is an image that has been imprinted on *this* mind, though.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent as expected!
Review: This is my favorite Jane Austen adaptation. It is quiet and meaningfully paced to enjoy the atmosphere of Austen's 18th Century England. As a huge anglophile I have seen Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds in several similar tv/movie productions. They are superb in these roles. The story is quite faithful to the book. The characters are true and lively to watch. I recommend to all romance / british drama lovers everywhere.