As the story of a young woman forced by family and friends to break off an engagement to a penniless man who later becomes successful enough to be considered a “good catch,” Persuasion seems to be the most autobiographical of Austen’s novels. Except that – if there was such a suitor – Austen never reconnected with him.
Still, the pathos generated by Anne Elliot’s circumstances is unlike that in any of Austen’s other novels – she does not need to marry to survive; rather she has been living with a broken heart and the knowledge that if she had just been a little stronger in her youth, life would have been much different.
As with many of these novels, three adaptations come to mind for quality and availability:
- The 1971 BBC miniseries starring Ann Firbank and Bryan Marshall
- The 1995 BBC miniseries starring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds
- The 2007 ITC made-for-tv movie starring Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones
- The 2022 Netflix made-for-streaming movie starring Dakota Johnson and Cosmo Jarvis
- A proposed 2022 movie that is not yet released as of this writing
I hope to get around to writting fuller reviews of each soon, but the “Cliff Notes” version is:
The 1971 version, one of the first BBC miniseries adaptations is faithful, but may seem dated today, in part because of what we might consider overly-reserved acting.
The 1995 version is actually delightful, if you can get past the fact that they used accomplished stage actors who don’t visually fit the roles as well as you might expect. And that Amanda Root seems to have been coached to look terrified in most scenes. In truth I enjoy this one a lot – it tells much more of the story than the 2007 version, and the leads play their roles convincingly. If you’re paying attention you can almost feel Ciarán Hinds’ heart breaking in one scene during which you can tell he longs to express his heart but is forced by contemporary manners and unwanted interruptions to stick to banal generalities. Because of the pacing of the miniseries, some of the relationships among the characters play out more realisticly than in the movie version.
That said, the 2007 movie is more accessible to modern audiences. The leads are prettier; the side-plots and minor characters are minimized, and the emotions are portrayed more obviously. Sally Hawkins, whose Anne Elliot is underestimated, overlooked, and taken advantage of by everyone around her, manages to look unsure of herself and disappointed in situations without constantly looking terrified as the BBC heroines do. The truth is that I enjoy it just as much as the 1995 version, right up until the end, when Anne’s apparently bedridden friend chases her down on the streets of Bath to share some information about one of Anne’s would-be suitors. What is that about? Did the production run out of money? Never mind; no one else seems to notice, and you probably wouldn’t have if I didn’t spell it out.
The 2022 Netflix version is apparently written to make the heroine more “modern.” Not only does she use anachronistic speech, but she is far more direct and outspoken than Anne Elliot in the books and the other adaptations listed. The story is also “dumbed down” in the sense that the emotional tension that propels the book is wasted by the characters telling us what they’re thinking and “Anne” commenting wryly on each turn of events. There are other issues I won’t go into. Mostly it serves as an unevenly modernized Hallmark movie that will mostly serve as a spoiler for the book or better adaptations. Watch the 2007 version first.
If you’re inviting a friend over for a romance movie and popcorn, go for the 2007 movie. If you want to dig a little deeper into Anne’s story, and you have time for a miniseries, go for the 1995 version. If you want a dumb-down version that exposes the characters’ inner thoughts in such a way that the tension and – frankly – much of the plot is wasted, check out the 2022 Netflix version.