Persuasion

Rating:
Summary: Dissuasion
Review: This is the only Jane Austen adaptation that I have seen which fails. The characters never engage one's interest, and the influence of Anne's friend is underplayed so much as to leave the viewer wondering why Austen titled her book "Persuasion". Primarily missing is the tension between characters and subtle interplay that make Austen's novels such page-turners. Austen is a master at showing the social complexity and background of the early 1800s which this movie mainly misses.

Rating:
Summary: Sorely disappointed
Review: This was one of the most boring and tedious videos I have ever seen. I agree with Leonard Maltin that the film "demands patience." The two lovers showed very little passion. Root had almost the same expression on her face throughout the whole story. The actors spent more time eating than talking. And there was an overall feeling of heaviness. The book is far better than the movie. The only good thing about the movie was the scenery, and so I give it 2 stars.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best!
Review: Being an Austen freak, there was no doubt that I would like "Persuasion", but I found that I loved it. So many scenes stand out, but when Anne was reading Captain Wentworth's letter to her, my heart was pounding.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this movie!
Review: I have honestly nver read the book, for which some Austen fans will hate me:). But ever since I read and watch pride and prejudice I've been hooked to jane austen. From northanger abbey to Emma and Mansfield park I've loved each and every story. I rented, then bought this movie about six months ago and have watched it quite a few times since. Its interesting and well-acted with on location shots and scenery in England. I thoroughly reccommend this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Simply, one of the best movies I've ever seen.
Review: This is one of the most perfect movies I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. The script is a jewel, incorporating the gist of Jane Austen's novel without getting bogged down in the details. A satisfying story about second chances that is also intentionally hilarious at times.

The acting is superb and subtle. Especially, check out Walter Elliot's almost-over-the-top characterization (and his wardrobe) as an egotistical, foppish, and ultimately useless, aristocrat. Watch him check his reflection in the back of a spoon at dinner, or betray his narcissism by entirely forgetting the name of the family his daughter married into. He's a poodle in a waistcoat, but with half the brains.

Also, pay close attention to one of the finest of Austen's many hypochondriacs: sister Mary. Observe how many times she's cramming food in her mouth while complaining how "very, very ill she is."

Also, have fun counting the scenes where Mary clinches the snob-of-the-century trophy. She epitomizes Austen's genius at "regulated hatred." This is sly stuff -- I find myself paraphrasing Mary when I'm whiney. "It's vexing to be connected to such low relations," is a line I find useful when I have to visit my in-laws, for instance. (Has anyone yet written a Ph.D. thesis on Austen's hypochondriacs? What a literary gold mine that would be.)

I can't recommend this version of "Persuasion" enough for Jane Austen fans and anyone else who likes well-crafted, intelligent films. Each time I see it, I find something new in it that makes me laugh or admire it even more.

Rating:
Summary: Love lost and Refound
Review: A young woman, Anne, is persuaded by her close friend and surrogate mother, Lady Russell, to reject a young sea-man's offer of marriage because he is poor and without prospects. Eight years later, now a prosperous ship's captain, he comes home and is looking for a wife.

This must be the definitive adaption of Jane Austen's novel Persuasion. I cannot imagine any future adaption surpassing it. Every actor is the very embodiment of his or her character. Jane Austen, I think, would have recognised them all. Amanda Root is particularly good as Anne with her large expressive eyes. She is exactly the way I imagined her to be. And Fiona Shaw as Mrs Coft and Susan fleetwood as Lady Russell are both excellent.

However, I have some slight doubt about Ciaran Hinds who played Captain Wentworth. He certainly looked the part, though why they allowed him to appear in his first scene, when he should have been at his most impressive, wearing a filthy looking top-coat and a scruffy cravat I've no idea. But, as a ship's captain, Wentworth should have been portrayed as a strong man with an easy, confident manner and Ciaran Hinds it seems to me was a little lacking in that respect. At the dinner table when he was flirting with the Musgrove sisters, Louisa and Henrietta, and should have been at his most charming, he seemed to have some slight awkwardness and impediment in his speech.

And the scene at the recital when he storms off in a jealous rage was a bit over the top. A good man, even in a jealous rage, would never treat the woman he loves so unfeelingly, particularly after she has shown she cares by abandoning the other man and chasing after him. It was childish behaviour and heroic ship's captains are not normally prone to childish behaviour. But this scene is false to the novel and falsifies both the character of Wentworth and Anne. In the novel she does not chase after him; no woman at that time would have dreamt of doing such a thing in a public place. It would have been unthinkable. He comes to talk to her and it in only when Mr Elliot approaches to urge her to return to her seat that he allows his jealous feelings to show and, saying goodbye, leaves abruptly. But not in anger. More in sorrow than anger.

The novel of course is much richer than the dramatisation could ever be in its allotted time span. In the scene where Wentworth hands Anne into the carriage alongside Admiral Croft and his wife, we are left to infer Anne's feelings. In the novel, Jane Austen devotes nearly a whole page to expressing those feelings.

The film has a very moving ending. It made me cry. But then I cry whilst reading any of Jane Austen's novels or indeed whilst watching any good adaption. The very best, the unbeatable dramatisation, of course, is the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice - though even that is not without its flaws.

Rating:
Summary: Persussion
Review: Another great movie from a Jane Austin novel. Wonderful acting by Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds and the rest of the cast. But the DVD audio conversion is very bad. The background sounds are louder than the rest of the movie. This small problem ruins a great movie.

Rating:
Summary: A many-layered, wonderful movie!
Review: I've watched this film several times in the last 3 months and enjoyed it each time -- for me, this is the test of a movie. It's a slow-moving, thoughtful movie, filled with silences the viewer must use their perceptions to enjoy. Yes, it would be lovely if Frederick and Anne had more romantic bits together; however, it wouldn't be Jane Austin if this happened. I enjoy the faithfulness of the production that allows me to glimpse life in another time and another place.

Rating:
Summary: Well done adaptation of an Excellent Austen novel
Review: This is a fine movie adaptation of a beautiful story about a gracious, intelligent woman falling in love again with a former fiance. This Jane Austen story is very sweet and moving and the heroine is particularly worthy. Amanda Root did a wonderful job playing this role. Ciaran Hinds did very nicely as the suitor, but his character doesn't shine quite as well as in the book. Overall, a pleasant and touching film.

Some of the negative reviewers below compare this film with Emma and Sense and Sensibility and if you are looking for high-gloss, Hollywood Austen, then you might agree with their opinions. But this is not a high-budget movie, and as enjoyable as those movies are, this one gives another perspective into Jane Austen's world which is probably more faithful. To true fans of Austen, this film will hold its own.

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I watched the earlier version of this movie and was not too pleased with it. Now I have watched this version on DVD and find the actors and progression of the movie to be even duller. Anne looks all the way through as though she were a bewildered child who had just left an orphanage. I loved Emma and Sense & Sensibility and was sorely disappointed in this one.