There was only one good thing about this film. The lovely black and white bunny which you see Anne holding sometimes. I hope Jane Austen liked rabbits because nothing in this film would have impressed her. It floats off into a period drama fantasy land where beautiful people of all races flounce around saying anachronistic things. It has such radically different dialogue and looks so modern that it might have been better to retell the story and set it in the present era.
Persuasion is actually my least favourite Austen novel but I’d rather read it a thousand more times than attempt to watch this insincere adaptation again. It compares very unfavourably with Emma (2020), which certainly took some liberties but kept the essence of the novel and, most significantly, didn’t change the character of Emma. If you love Anne Elliot, do not watch this new adaptation of Persuasion, which turns her into a sarcastic, mouthy, unsympathetic character who rolls her eyes at everyone and gets drunk. Stick to the 2007 film or really any other version.
I will conclude this review with the words of critic Deborah Ross in The Spectator: “everyone involved should probably be sent to prison.”
Low-resolution image taken from Wikipedia.
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