SnoopyStyle Anne Elliot (Sally Hawkins) is engaged to naval officer Frederick Wentworth (Rupert Penry-Jones). Her father Sir Walter Elliot (Anthony Head) is dismissive despite himself going through financial troubles. Her godmother Lady Russell (Alice Krige) talks her out of the engagement for his lack of station in life. Years later in 1815, Wentworth has become a highly sought-after bachelor successful Captain. He returns to visit his sister and her husband Admiral Croft who has rented the Elliot estate. Anne has to endure her regrets as she is passed her prime.Sally Hawkins is great as the reserved Anne who is so easily swayed and has basically blended into the furniture. This TV movie doesn't have much in the way of cinematic style although they use obvious big locations. Anne's passivity does make it hard to watch. It's one note and then, a bunch of stuff happens, she runs a lot and it ends. It's not the most satisfying but I do love Hawkins.

floppyearsthbunny I loved this version of Jane Austen's Persuasion. It convinced me to start reading other works by her, so I felt I had to defend it. It has some differences from the book, but none that annoyed me after having read the book. In fact, I loved this ending better. When I reached parts I remembered from this adaptation in the book, it only made me enjoy it more and smile.Another thing I liked was the characters really honestly felt real. It didn't feel sappy at all. I identified with Anne and her struggles myself.Finally, I really enjoyed the scenery. Some of the rooms were really gorgeous as well as the costumes which were very beautiful. They seemed to benefit the characters, not take away from their performance.

TheLittleSongbird I love Jane Austen's work, so I actually say with a heavy heart how disappointing this Persuasion was. Especially considering that 1995's Pride and Prejudice(in my opinion the ultimate Jane Austen adaptation), 1995's Sense and Sensibility, 2009's Emma and 1995's Persuasion have proved to be solid adaptations and succeed beautifully on their own merits.This adaptation of Persuasion isn't without redeeming values. The scenery and costumes are stunning and evocative complete with a melancholic atmosphere, the music is understated and beautiful and Anthony Head and Tobias Menzies are excellent and charismatic.On the other hand, the camera work is dizzying, the close-ups of Anne's face annoyed me after a while and it is annoying that when more than one person is talking not all of them are shown on screen. The adaptation is too short at two hours and consequently felt rushed so that we felt nothing for the characters or felt any passion coming out from the story.When it comes to the dialogue it was lacking the wit, poignancy and humour of the language of Austen, alternatively it didn't flow from line to line complete with some unintentionally funny moments such as Anne chasing Wentworth down the street, a somewhat modernised touch that stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the adaptation.Head and Menzies aside, the rest of the performances are disappointing. I love Rupert Penry Jones, but apart from his handsome looks I found him dull and wooden. Sally Hawkins fares better, her interpretation is confident, though she is let down by bad direction and the decision to make Anne spoilt rather than resourceful. The Musgroves are sadly underused while Amanda Hale is awful as Mary, acting as though she was in a completely different period.In conclusion, disappointing and one of my least favourite Austen adaptations, and this is coming from somebody who didn't think much of 1999's Mansfield Park(not yet seen the 2007 one) either. 3/10 Bethany Cox

pauhaa Most has been said already that needs to be said about this film. It's really hard to understand the need to rewrite scenes, invent conversations and omit others, move plot elements around and abandon Jane Austen's methods of building tension for something else. This film is not shorter than the 1995 adaptation, nor is Persuasion a very extensive novel. It's not a question of truncating but of completely nonsensical rewriting. If you never read Persuasion you would know nothing of Anne Elliot's character or her relationship with her family, with Lady Russell, with the Crawfords, with the Musgroves, with Mr Elliot or Mrs Smith, after watching this. The fluctuations of hope and bitterness in the minds of the main characters are now smoothed down to an anachronistic and unconvincing linearity: Captain W sorting things out in conversations with his best buddy and Anne hearing the truth about Louisa's engagement and then only waiting for the right moment (and finally running!) while people bump into her. This retains none of Austen's philosophy about character and manners and how people develop and find a balance of ideals and values. I've seen adaptations that do. The question of honor and commitment is an important one in Austen, but when Wenthworth is talking to his friend and reasoning that he apparently now must marry Louisa Musgrove, he really sounds like a time traveler trying to understand the strange ways of the period. I watched this through out of curiosity and it really is enlightening to see just how good the original story is: where you change it, you instantly go wrong. Loosen up, Anne Elliot, you hear them say, forget propriety, forget you are a Jane Austen character... er... ?