This Jane Austen adaptation has sex appeal and pop culture creed - but beware
When Netflix announced its adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, fans of the novel were “half in pain, half hope”. While there are a large number of Austen remakes, very few are wholeheartedly embraced as novel equivalents, and even fewer are not based on Pride and Prejudice.
The main difficulty comes from the fans themselves: as with many established fandoms, the constant hunger for new material is paired with extremely high standards and expectations.
Directed by eminent theater director Carrie Cracknell and starring Dakota Johnson, Netflix’s Persuasion tells the story of 27-year-old ‘spider’ Anne Elliot, a woman with “claims of birth, beauty and mind”, as she reconnects with Captain Wentworth (Cosmos Jarvis). ), the suitor he had persuaded to turn down eight years earlier because he was a penniless sailor.
Persuasion is arguably Austen’s most mature work. First published in 1817, it was the last novel he wrote and was completed while he was dying. Instead of a romantic comedy about manners, it has the soft, sad tone of a woman looking back on her life and imagining a happy ending she didn’t experience herself.
However, as Roland Barthes said, the author was dead.
While in the novel Anne is described as a “faded and thin” woman whose “blooming has gone away”, Anne is lively and outspoken.
She delights in her own wits and doesn’t care at all about her future, despite being an aging spinster in a bleeding family. The lack of social capital stems from being the sort of messy millennial who sips wine from the bottle and throws out embarrassing non sequiturs in social situations.
That’s not to say Johnson isn’t an outstanding actress. Best known for playing Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, she is captivating on screen and manages to create truly watchable absurd moments.
The real problem is that for most films there is no emotional stake. There was hardly any time to worry that the romance between Anne and Captain Wentworth might never work out; as Johnson’s Anne tells us on almost every occasion, “hope is eternal.”
Even Anne’s romantic rival, Louisa Musgrove (Nia Towle) initially encourages Anne to go after the captain (while providing some of the most fun goofy dating suggestions).
The film also doesn’t trust its audience: character motivations, storylines, and jokes are explained in great detail. Johnson regularly broke the fourth wall, winking and grinning at the audience.
It’s a device that was used brilliantly in Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, but it’s overused here. At one point, Anne complains: “There’s nothing worse than thinking your life is falling apart and then realizing you’ve fallen further down” – before actually falling.
Meanwhile, Captain Wentworth of Jarvis had little to do. He wasn’t flirtatious with Louisa, but he wasn’t stoic and aloof around Anne either. For the most part he was just there, looking hurt.
One of the few exceptions to this is the conversation between ex-lovers as they stand on the beach. Captain Wentworth told Anne, “I’ve lived with a thousand different imaginary versions of you over the years,” and it was heart-wrenching to finally show something that Anne had insisted on long – Wentworth knew and understood.
Anachronistic costumes, hairstyles, language and manners abound, but these are adaptations that have to do with good looks rather than historically accurate. Anne’s pompous and appearance-obsessed father, Sir Walter Elliot (Richard E. Grant) would be very proud, because, whatever you want to say about Persuasion, it really looks spectacular.
The Uppercross and Lyme settings in particular were brought to life by cinematographer Joe Anderson. She takes full advantage of the lush and green English countryside and the rugged coastline and coast that forms the backdrop for Anne and Wentworth’s thriving relationship.
Notably, this adaptation has a racially diverse cast — and unlike Netflix’s hit series Bridgerton, Persuasion makes no effort in the universe to explain or justify those choices.
Speaking with Indiewire, Cracknell said he’s always loved casting in a color-conscious way:
“The conversations I’ve had with many of the actors I’ve worked with over the years are how powerful it is for a diverse audience to see themselves represented in historical cultural texts and stories, because in some ways it kind of broadens the range of audiences who can feel a part of it. this story or being able to feel ownership of this story. To me, that’s one of the most compelling reasons to vote this way. Plus, it really opens up the range of people you can consider parts of.”
Color conscious casting has been popular in theaters for some time now, and its use in cinematic adaptations is nothing new.
Clueless (1995), The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019), and most recently Fire Island (2022) used a racially diverse cast to translate Emma, Dickens’ David Copperfield, and Pride and Prejudice, respectively, while still stands out as unique. films in their own right.
The casting includes Towle as Louisa, Nikki Amuka-Bird playing Anne’s godmother, Lady Russell, and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) as Anne’s scheming cousin, Mr Elliot. As Anne says of Mr Elliot in the film, the ever-charismatic Golding “could stick to the potato if it suited him,” making his flirting with Anne a thoroughly enjoyable show.
Grant’s Sir Walter Elliot is another highlight, as is Mia McKenna-Bruce’s stealing scene as Anne’s little sister Mary. When Mary states “the thing you have to understand about me is that I’m an empath,” it perfectly captures Austen’s satirical characterization of a hysterical and highly uptight woman for a contemporary audience.
Other attempts to modernize the subtlety of Austen’s observations on class and society are more divisive, such as Lady Russell’s satire on sex tourism, or repeated references to different characters as “10” (it seems that if you’re 5 in London, you’re 10 in Bath).
In fact, class themes are largely absent in this adaptation, with very little being done to allow new fans to distinguish between the Elliots as an upscale family with dwindling funds, and Wentworth as a wealthy man with limited social connections; but for those bothered by this, luckily the book isn’t going anywhere.
Persuasion is on Netflix now.
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