Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion

[StrychnineInTheSandwiches]

Persuasion is my favourite Austen novel. All that longing, those disappointed dreams, the lost bloom of youth. And Captain Wentworth smouldering about the place.

Well Netflix have produced an adaptation featuring Dakota Johnson acting all giggly and Fleabag-ish. Wearing lipstick! Calling Wentworth her ‘ex’.

I will no doubt watch it as soon as soon it’s released next month but I suspect I’ll snort my way through it.

Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds will always be the perfect Anne and Wentworth so I’ll try not to get too precious about this reinterpretation.

But watching the trailer made all ‘u wot mate?’ (as eloquent as Jane herself I’m sure you’ll agree).

I'm sure I read somewhere that Georgette Heyer didn't want her books to be filmed and so refused to sell the film/tv rights.

I don't mind a different point of view on a classic, but I hate it when they change the personality of the main characters. So Clueless was spot on with Cher meaning well but not being able to understand the big picture but Keira Knightly wasn't Lizzy at all because she had no sense of humour.

Oh my days, just watched trailer. Where is the subtlety and the repressed emotion? Anne isn't a flirt, she's wracked with self-doubt! She has NO IDEA that Wentworth still loves her until right at the end! I will NOT be watching this.

Hate the multi-racial casting. Fine in Bridgerton which is a made-up fantasy land but in JA it makes no sense because the historical context is such an important part of the story. Would be better to just do a modern adaptation instead of just randomly dispensing with the bits of the novel/context they don’t like. Also hate the knowing, arch Anne Elliot. That’s not her!

Absolutely love Persuasion. Nothing will surpass Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds but I will watch this out of interest.

It has got to be better than the Rupert version where Anne spent most of the time looking rather unwell and with one of the worst kissing scenes to ever grace the screens.

I didn't like Rupert at all. He was so cross and cold looking.

The 1995 version is on YouTube if anyone wants to watch

I've never seen the Ciaran Hinds version - based on this thread, I definitely need to watch it!

I like the Rupert P-J version but I know exactly the kissing scene you mean and it is bad!

Oh Sally Hawkins' kiss It was very...goldfish-like.

Amanda Root was the perfect Anne. Can't think anyone else will ever be better!

Poor Sally and Rupert. Directed to kiss like goldfish 🐡

Yes, definitely watch the Ciaran Hinds version. I think someone linked to YouTube, it’s quite hard to come by on Amazon etc.

Love Persuasion, that looks awful!

It's my favourite Austen too and in my top two novels of all time. The Amanda Root version is almost perfect, in my view, but not quite.

I've seen the trailer for the new version and it is clearly not Persuasion as we know and love it. I shall still watch it though, and will try to view it as a film that is vaguely based on the book rather than an adaptation. From what I've seen there is little of the original dialogue, and the characters are not at all true to the book, so it should be quite easy!

I don't mind if they go a little off piste in adaptations, but to butcher Jane's wonderful dialogue is just sinful. I wish they would stick to the novels or come up with their own stories. If they decide to make a 'proper' persuasion, i think Johhny Fynn would make a lovely Wentworth.

It's my favourite too - elegiac, properly romantic. The Amanda Root version is lovely. There is no room in Persuasion for sexy giggles.

They should cast their craven eyes over Barbara Cartland - plenty of opportunities for heaving bosoms and double entendres.

I'll definitely watch it. I love Persuasion and expect this to be more of a film based on the novel, rather than an adaption of the novel itself.
I do quite like the multiracial casting and expect some gorgeous sets but think it's going to be a kind of loosely based adaption that hopes to draw mixed crowd rather than purists.

Oh no, oh no, oh no...this is awful. I loved Bridgerton and I kind of liked the new Emma with Anne Taylor Joy, which this looks like it is trying to copy. But this is completely the wrong novel for this treatment.

It's meant to be quiet, Anne is supposed to have lost her bloom and to have resigned herself to a lonely life. Dakota Johnson can't have read it.

Amanda Root is sublime, she visibly regains her glow when she starts to realise that Captain Wentworth might not be over her. So much so that she turns heads on the Cob. I don't think that I can watch it Grrrrrr

Amanda Root is a queen. She was one of the best things about the Forsyte Saga remake. She should be much more appreciated.

Going against the grain here, but I thought Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root where a bit old for the parts.

I know Anne was supposed to be an old maid by Georgian standards, but she was still only 28 and Capt W was 32 or something?

Amanda Root was a only in her early 30s, though, so not that much older. Ciaran Hinds was about 42.

Johnny Flynn has already made an excellent job as Mr Knightley in the new Emma!

The first time the age gap didn’t give me the ick during the adaptions of the book, and the attraction actually made sense.

Agree Amanda Root & Ciaran Hinds were just perfect (as were Jennifer Ehle & Colin Firth in P&P)

The thing is, Persuasion generally becomes one’s favourite Austen once one is of a certain age, and this adaptation is so clearly aimed at a younger demographic that it is simply not for us. I don’t think Netflix have thought that through.

Let’s be honest: Clueless is fantastic but we mostly think that because we saw it at a formative age nearly thirty years ago. I am not convinced we would immediately hail it as a masterpiece on a first viewing at the age of forty.

Johnny Flynn made a very attractive Mr. Knightley. And I believe the first time a character in an Austen adaptation has shown us his bare bum.

It looks bloody awful.

Which is why I will definitely watch it

Another Ciaran Hinds fan here. I've also got a dvd of a creaky old 1971 BBC version that I'm fond of.

I love purist versions that are faithful to Jane Austen's characters and plot and include a lot of the original text.

I also enjoy completely updated versions eg Clueless or Bride and Prejudice.

What I absolutely loath, are productions which keeps the frocks but mangle the language, change the characters and use a knowing, modern style of filming.

I won't be watching.