There’s a reason whyJane Austen’s works are so frequently adapted for the screen. Over two centuries after Austen’s death, the humor, honesty, and comments on society still resonate with the same refreshing wit and brilliance when they were first published. Austen adaptations have come in all forms, from the fairly straightforward retellings (the 1995 one-two punch of BBC’sPride and PrejudiceandAng Lee’sSense and Sensibility), to impressive modern updates (Clueless, this year’sFire Island). Especially in recent years, we’ve seen a combination of these two, which attempts to bring a slightly contemporary spin on these classic stories, as withWhit Stillman’s wry 2016 take ofLove & Friendship, and 2020’sEmma.fromAutumn de Wilde.
But what made all these adaptations work was a delicate handling of tone that the story required. Even when trying to bring a modern sensibility to these characters, these other retellings weren’t bogged down with anachronistic choices or odd quirkiness that didn’t fit in with Austen’s original tales. InCarrie Cracknell’sPersuasion, however, this same level of care is notably absent, in a film that attempts to be both reverent to Austen’s work, while also throwing in modern touches that awkwardly clash.
Dakota Johnsonplays Anne Elliot, who was persuaded to end her relationship with, Captain Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis), a decision she still regrets years later. As Anne’s family is forced to move due to their mounting debts, Anne goes to visit her younger sister Mary (Mia McKenna-Bruce), and after eight years apart, Captain Wentworth once again becomes a part of her life. With Wentworth getting closer to Anne’s sister-in-law Louisa (Nia Towle), Anne has to reckon with her feelings of love that still overwhelm her.
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Johnson gives Anne a delightful charm and playfulness that makes her a solid protagonist here, but it’s the added eccentric choices in the filmmaking that make this character feel off. Cracknell, directing a screenplay byRonald Bass(Rain Man,My Best Friend’s Wedding) andAlice Victoria Winslow, throws in far too many winks at the camera—often literally. Anne has almost becomes an 1800s take onPhoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, commenting directly to the camera, explaining her feelings to the audience, and basically avoiding any sense of nuance this story could have.
Even worse isPersuasion’s attempts to “modernize” this story in ways that are hard not to roll one’s eyes at. For example, when a new eligible bachelor, Mr. William Elliot (Henry Golding) appears, Anne describes him as a “ten,” and that she can’t trust a ten. Earlier on, as Anne shows the audience a box of items from her time with Wentworth, she shows “a playlist he made me,” which is just a collection of sheet music pages. These peculiar additions only take the audience out of Austen’s story, and are little more than cumbersome ways to supposedly help a younger audience latch ontoPersuasion.
It’s a shamePersuasionfeels the need to modernize in this particular way, as Cracknell’s take is at its best when it avoids talking directly to the audience, or dropping modern-ish references. IfPersuasionwants to relate to a newer audience, all it needs is Anne’s frustrations with regretting her past and trying to change the outcome in the present. Remorse for events long past is an understandable and sympathetic idea for any generation!
Persuasionalso has an extremely game cast that isn’t done any favors by the choices made throughout this story. Again, Johnson is quite charming as Anne, when the story sticks to Austen’s narrative, and both Jarvis and Golding are compelling romantic possibilities. Anne’s entire stuck-up family is extremely fun, especially McKenna-Bruce, who can’t go an entire scene without complaining about her situation, and the always brilliantRichard E. Grantas Anne’s father, Sir Walter Elliot, who lacks any self-awareness, and revels in his bombastic ways.
But the beauty of Austen’s work is how after all these years, these stories and these ideas still resonate with audiences with the same fervor, and by striving to update this tale here and there,Persuasionflounders with a story that is already inherently modern in its themes. In its own way,Persuasionis trying to persuade its audience that Austen was brilliant in her modernity, when Austen already handled that quite well without Cracknell, Bass, and Winslow’s help.
