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.

I'm going to watch it - but the 1995 version of persuasion with Cieran Hinds and Amanda Root is fantastic and the definitive version imo.

Same as S&S with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet being the best version.

I can't decide if I want to watch this or not. I'd decided against after reading a few reviews, then I read Helen Lewis's review, who I think likes it as a sort of 'inspired by' version (like Clueless, not as good as that though obvs). Having seen the trailers, I shallowly think I'm going to have a problem with Wentworth not being handsome enough though.

As you can see my username in a huge Austen fan and I watch all the adaptations as a rule. I knew this was gonna be shite from the trailer, and boy were my expectations met.

I don’t even mind modern adaptations of Austen. The latest Emma with Anna Whatsherface and Bill Nighy had a really modern feel to it, but it worked. It kept the charm of the novel, but the humour was more suited to a present day audience. The characters were also very true to the novel.

but this adaptation of Persuasion. Where to start….and bear in mind that artistic liberties are expected. I like these adaptations to be true to life and the time, but I expect to make a good story they don’t always follow the style, customs and history. I can cope with that.

However there seemed to be something in every single scene which was SO off the mark, that if it had happened even in the tiniest way then Anne Elliot would written off as a madwoman and ex-communicated and the rest of the Elliot family would have been rejected by society for their outspoken female relation.

examples:

• Carrying a rabbit around. WTAF
• swimming in the sea.
• blurting out at dinner that her sister’s husband once proposed to her. This would be such a huge faux pas that the likes of Captain Wentworth wouldn’t touch her with a barge pole
• swigging wine out of a bottle
• shouring “Frederick” at him - again, he’d think she’d gone mad. She would never use his first name either
• On that note - all the first name calling. You can simply Google what friends and acquaintances would call each other depending on their sex, rank and order of birth but EVERYONE was on first name terms
• lady Russell being a sex tourist. Rank

alao the modern terms such as playlist, self-cafe an ‘ex’ have no place in an Austen adaptation. I also agree with a PP about the woke casting - I like authenticity too. Although I like the Musgrave sisters, the actresses seemed to have read the book!

feel like I need a shower after watching ir

I like the diverse casting, but having watched more of it (still couldn't finish it), the main issue I have is that Anne's character is so totally different from the book (and much less appealing).

I agree that the last Emma adaptation was very successful, though much more modern than any of the others. For one thing, it was a visual treat, and the relationship between Knightley and Emma was more grown up from the start (as opposed to the elder brother-ish depiction in most of the others, and in the book, for that matter).

YY @SenecaFallsRedux why was the character so wrong?! And inconsistent. Anne went from melancholic moping (which is how I remember her from the book) to free spirited auntie running through the woods and being hilarious at breakfast.

I blame Americans who think a sweet ‘meet cute’ is an essential part of any romance.

also what was with the bizarre rescue scene?! I don’t mean the Louisa ‘catch me captain’ (which me and DD pissed ourselves laughing at when she went ‘thunk’ on the ground) but they obviously thought they needed Wentworth to rescue Anne in some way so he rescued her from the horror of…playing with her nephews?!

One of the reasons Clueless worked is that they didn't completely change Emma/Cher's character. She made sense in the environment they wrote for her, but she was still in essence Emma.

Anne's character in this new Persuasion is so completely different from the book Anne that it's a completely different story. But if they modernised it properly, and had that kind of character, then they could have made it work. Setting it in the Regency Era was a big mistake, IMO.

Ahhh. Have just watched the 1995 version. That's better Thank you all for the near unanimous recommendation!

(I agree about the latest Emma. I didn't like it to begin with but it grew on me. Knightley had bad teeth which was very off putting but other than that I thought it was excellent. THAT DANCE SCENE 🔥)

One of the reasons Clueless worked is that they didn't completely change Emma/Cher's character. She made sense in the environment they wrote for her, but she was still in essence Emma.

Anne's character in this new Persuasion is so completely different from the book Anne that it's a completely different story. But if they modernised it properly, and had that kind of character, then they could have made it work. Setting it in the Regency Era was a big mistake, IMO.

I was thinking earlier about why certain Austen adaptations work so well - Emma, S&S, P&P. And others like Persuasion (though I never even knew there was a 1995 one til this thread, I’ll check it out) and Mansfield Park are always pretty crap. I wonder if it’s because the likes of Emma, Elizabeth Bennet and Marianne Dashwood translate well in the modern day. They are confident, slightly conceited and headstrong women. Which is more what women are like now. We don’t tend to have women who are Fanny Prices or Anne Elliots anymore. The Fannys and Anne’s are always portrayed as much more sprightly and extroverted than they actually are in the novels, I think film makers are petrified to make movies of women who are quiet and pious and understand their unfortunate place in society. So they change the character.

whereas what I absolutely love about Austen was that she wasn’t afraid to make protagonists who were a bit dull, plain and ordinary. Not many authors have been that bold to do that ever since.

Another mini rant about this adaptation.

The Persuasion letter is perhaps the most romantic few paragraphs in the history of literature. I remember reading Persuasion as a teen and going all funny about the gills over the gorgeous words Wentworth uses. There is so much passion in those words - it’s a literary version of an orgasm.

And not only did they bloody well shorten it, they had Anne read it quickly to the camera. AWFUL!

I blame Americans who think a sweet ‘meet cute’ is an essential part of any romance.

Some perhaps. But I think that most people who are drawn to these adaptations are watching them because they are Austen admirers who have read the books. And that includes many Americans, like me.

I'm waiting to watch the 1995 version as we are going to be staying where it was filmed in Bath next month!

@LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet I think that’s what the 1995 version does so successfully, gives us an Anne Elliot who is true to the book and her circumstances - quiet, constrained, duty-bound, without making her so drippy and martyred that it’s impossible to believe Captain Wentworth is in love with her. And I do agree Ciaran Hinds is the definitive Wentworth.

I’ve now watched the Netflix one too and I agree with everyone - they’ve missed the whole point of modern Austen adaptations, which is to retain the “essence” of the character, but place them in a different setting. I’m not sure that can actually work for Persuasion because AE is so completely rooted in her time and circumstances. Changing her to be more appealing to modern audiences just removes everything essential about her, and makes her another character entirely.

I don’t even like it if I view it as a random costume drama - I like my historical fiction true to the times otherwise what’s the point?

I’ll watch it for the sets and costumes, but will keep telling myself it’s some other story, NOT Persuasion.

Absolutely awful version that bears no relation to the book. The wistful, yearning regret of the novel is nowhere to be seen. Anne Elliot would never be arch or rude, she is sensible and a model of propriety at all times.

However, I think she could easily be relatable to modern audiences if the main part of her character - kindness - was emphasised. It's true strength of character that she is the way she is, particularly as her family are mainly dysfunctional and unkind. Anne is clearly very well loved by everyone other than her family who are hateful to her a lot of the time and use her for their own ends regardless of her own comfort, needs and desires. How she deals with that and eventually triumphs is very interesting. She has very few cards to play but still ends up with her heart's desire.

Anne is clearly very well loved by everyone other than her family

Yes, she begins to blossom when she's away from her father and sister and with the Musgroves, who, though they aren't terribly sophisticated and polished, are really kind and know how to value her. They like Anne better than they like Mary, in fact.

My (adult) DD watched it and thought it dreadful. She said Wentworth needed a good wash and some vitamins!

I shall not bother.

Excellent description 😂

Watched it with DD and we did quite enjoy it. So much wrong though! The weird flips from melancholy to goofing around with the children. The almost public wee!
It's very Netflixy in terms of cast and tone and good fun if you divest all sense of relating it to the original novel. Mary was brilliant though.

I watched maximum of 10 mins and switched off. Worst adaption I have ever seen.

I didn't like it as an Austen adaptation but I thought it was perfectly watchable if you forget the incredible book it was (allegedly) based upon 😂

God it’s awful. Wentworth looked like a potato.

Lasted 10 minutes. So much wrong I don't know where to begin. I quite like Richard e grant as her father, but that's the only positive.

Things I liked

The set design was gorgeous. May not be 100% regency but a lovely pallet and very pleasing to My eye

The actress that played Mary

Things I didn't like

Wentworth

The script particularly modern words such as EMPATH!!!!

I listened to the book on audible recently and I felt like they have missed so much plot it was hard to follow.

It would Have been better as a four parter with more detail and better screen play.

The song in the final scene was beautiful. The rest was enjoyable, but I gather only to people like me who haven't read Persuasion (yet)