Persuasion on Netflix

[Tiddlywinkly]

Netflix has made Jane Austen boring. I can't get on board with it. It feels slow. I think the lead guy is really wooden too.

It's truly truly terrible. The worst JA adaptation I have ever seen.

This article sums it up well
www.spectator.co.uk/article/everyone-involved-should-be-in-prison-netflixs-persuasion-reviewed

I'll just quote this from the Spectator article:

If I may, I’d like to direct you to the superb 1995 adaptation by Roger Michell starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, which may, in fact, be the most perfect Austen adaptation ever. Not even Colin Firth in a wet shirt can see it off, and amazingly, it’s available for free on YouTube.

Dd was excited to watch this. She loves a bit of Austen. Persuasion is one of my favourite novels.

Christ it was shite. I actually liked Dakota Jonson having not seen her before but it was just so so shite. Dd was bored, I was horrified. We stuck it out out of principal but I was fuelled by glimpses of Henry Golding to get me through. Although wfh was the end scene.

Jeez

I was excited too. How foolish I was. Hopes cruelly dashed.

The script was SO. BAD. They massacred her character. So many cringeworthy moments and not in a good way. <shudders>

LouisRenault

I'm watching this apparent disaster at the weekend but plan to cleanse my palate afterwards with the 1995, which is utterly glorious. The best version of the best Austen.

TBH I'm watching the new one with friends for a laugh. It might be better than we expect.

Yes I definitely need to watch a decent version to purge this one.

Do you know what, I don't think I've seen the 1995 one. I have a terrible memory though and it might all come back to me when I watch it

When Ciaran Hinds reads "You pierce my soul" I swoon more than anyone has swooned before.

I am planning to hate-watch the Netflix version sometime very soon.

I gave up, boring and excruciating to watch.

I'm going to watch the 1995 version.

Oh the letter! I am not a romantic by and large but that has me sighing with delight.

Not in this version. This version has lady Russel as a sex tourist.

I think the letter was the worst bit.
Although there are a few contenders.

Another who thought it was total crap. I gave up and watched the 1995 version on YouTube. I think I prefer the 2007 version best. That also breaks the fourth wall but I liked it. In this latest version Anne is just an awful character.
While she knows she made a mistake not marrying him first time around I also don't believe she would spend the next 7 years drowning her sorrows or crying her eyes out. Her mother made the best of things and I think even if Anne had never met up with Wentworth again I believe she would have too.

I didn't know there was a 1995 version! I'm going to seek that out now :D Persuasion is my favourite JA novel :) Definitely not wasting my time with the Netflix garbage. Once I saw the lead actresses inaccurate hairstyle I knew there was no point even trying to watch it 😂

Oh dear. I bookmarked this for my weekend viewing but you’ve all out me off now. 😆

@ChipsNSaladCrean no don't be put off. It's great hate watch fodder.

@TheBirdintheCave, the version with Amanda Root and Curran Hi ds is perfection honestly. My favourite Austen adaptation by miles.

I need to rewatch the one with Sally Hawkins (where is it streamed). I remember finding the end a bit silly as doesn't she peg it round the Royal Crescent? I've only seen it once though.

Thank you for this thread! I’ve just watched the 1995 version on YouTube. It’s my favourite Austen adaptation and I didn’t know it was there.

Well, I (and it might be the c ovid talking) liked it. So there!

What did you like about it?

I really wanted to like it, said on another thread how much I love the Amanda Root version. I actually thought it was watchable, but you had to forget that she was supposed to be Anne Elliot, who was a completely different character. I don't know why they wrote her as a total cow in this one 🤷‍♀️ didn't like her at all. They messed up so many important moments, like when Wentworth notices she's exhausted and puts her in the carriage with the Crofts without words being exchanged. And the WHOLE point is that Anne keeps loving Wentworth when she feels all hope is gone (as per her speech that Wentworth overhears) - but in this one she actually says 'hope springs eternal!' Completely missing the theme of the book.

Glad I got that off my chest.

The woman playing Mary was brilliant though 😅

I have crushes on both Dakota Johnson and Henry Golding, liked the soundtrack and thought it perfectly acceptable fromage for a Saturday afternoon.

Mary was the best thing about it!

I think you are right @keeprunningupthathill. If it was some kind of Bridgerton, regency romp I could have enjoyed it. I liked a couple of the performances (agree re Mary, liked Richard e grant, like Henry Golding in everything). It was just too knowing and arch.

And I didn't fancy Wentworth - I have fancied him since I first read the book at 15 so to not see his appeal just showed to me how much they got wrong.

I usually like Richard E Grant but I didn't like him in this - could be the script, the direction, him, or all three!

Wentworth wasn't quite right was he. He had an excellent loving/longing gaze but the rest of his face looked wrong (sorry!)

Dakota Johnson was ok but she wasn't Anne, she was another character they'd made up completely.

I watched it with very low expectations, having read the reviews and loved the book and 1995 version.

I actually kind of enjoyed it in its way. It's just like a similar story with completely different characters as though it happened in a different period. I liked the relationship between Anne and Mary. It didn't work for me that I found both her brother in law and Mr Elliot more attractive than the Captain. The slapstick stuff as well as her never wearing her hair up or a bonnet did really annoy me though.

I tried to watch this steaming pile last night. I turned it off after 15 mins. When 'Anne' was behaving like an idiot with verbal diarrhoea at her dinner with Wentworth. Eek!
Loved the 1995 and 2007 version and I'm the proud owner of a dog eared copy of the book.
Utter rubbish!

I've been off sick this week, and found this with delight...... which very quickly turned to "Austen would be turning in her grave".

Absolute tosh. Not even the usually sublime Dakota Johnson could save that..... and her accent kept changing which annoyed me even more than the screen play.