MOVIE:
Persuasion
WHERE TO WATCH:
Netflix
OUR RATING:
2/5 Stars
WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
Eight years after Anne Elliot was persuaded not to marry a dashing man of humble origins, the meet again. Will she seize her second chance at true love?
WHAT WE THOUGHT:
Jane Austen's books have had more adaptations than most writers could ever claim, some more loosely based, while some books have multiple film and TV versions. Her tales of self-determination for women and undying love have stood the test of time, and her plethora of book fans are critical to any new adaptations. Few, however, have sparked such loathing as Netflix's latest adaptation - Persuasion.
While still set in the familiar English Georgian society of her books, this version's script has taken some very modern liberties, casting millennial slang into Anne Elliot and Co's vocabulary and Fleabag-ing Dakota Johnson's inner monologues with constant fourth-wall-breaking. The streaming giant was clearly trying to replicate its rolling success with Bridgerton and a more modern spin on period dramas, but it didn't land with what should have been its main audience. However, not falling into that category, I'm probably one of the few who didn't hate it.
If you need a little reminder on which Austen tale this is, Persuasion's leading woman has been haunted for years by the man she loved and let go, persuaded to end things because he had no title and no fortune. While Anne ghosts through her life and loathes every minute she spends with her family, her lost love returns to her social circles - now with both rank and money - and she starts wondering if there's still hope for them yet.
As you might have guessed already, I am not one of the Austenites, having copies of the blasphemous Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters in my bookcase. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for her stories from a time when women had very little, but I am no purist and love a little twist on the old for modern audiences. Johnson's Bridget Jones-ified Anne was the most relatable Austen character I've experienced, and if you come at this piece as a rom-com rather than a period love story, you might have some fun with it. For me, the problems with the script were rather that it was unimaginative and clumsy, as slang and modern writing don't necessarily mean you have to lose all sense of poetry.
My other gripe was our leading man - Wentworth - played by Cosmo Jarvis, who I don't think many people are familiar with. While handsome, every time he spoke, it sounded like he was in constant pain with every syllable, constipated with every interaction, with and without Johnson in the scene with him. Perhaps a choice to symbolise the character's resentment towards his former love; instead, it came off ragged and unappealing, causing me to dislike the character overall.
In romances like these, you don't want to be rooting for the jerk of the story, though; to be fair, who can win when they're up against the too-good-looking Henry Golding, who really should have been the main lead. Perhaps this casting choice is more true to the original, but they were already taking liberties with the script; perhaps they could have tweaked the characters as well.
I did, however, highly enjoy Mia McKenna-Bruce as Anne's hapless and selfish hypochondriac of a sister, highly entertaining in every scene with her abrupt candour and self-obsession with zero interest in raising her own children. She was absolutely terrible, in a good way, and McKenna-Bruce had a lot of fun with the portrayal and showed some leading lady potential for future projects. Outside of Johnson, she stole the show in every scene, and hope to see more of her.
It's fine if people are mad at this adaptation of Persuasion, but it was very clear from even just the trailers that it set out to make fans angry. For me, it's just another piece of algorithm-curated content for the Netflix machine, and they knew it would reach the most eyeballs. It's not Austen, it's not Fleabag, it's not Bridget Jones, and it's not Bridgerton despite the diversity - it just stole ideas from each to create a dumb though fun rom-com for our predictable appetites. Thanks to the Austen side of things, it did have some merit in its messaging - you will be much happier carving out the life you want for yourself rather than trying to adapt to the expectations of what others want for you. At least you weren't enticed to spend your hard-earned money at the cinema. This Persuasion doesn't take anything about itself seriously, so you shouldn't either.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE:
Persuasion is now streaming on Netflix.