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Rating:  - movie Persuasion
I love this movie and I'm really glad Amazon had it. The price was great too since no one else had it or they wanted to charge over twenty dollars!
Thanks Amazon.
Rating:  - Slow moving but highly effective!
This version is very slow, but highly effective. The directing is spot on in transferring Austen's novel to screen. Modern day version's are compelled to change history in having actor's physically act out their emotions. In that era, a look, a sigh, a hesitation spoke volumes.
Spoilery - Ciarin Hind's Captain Wentworths' look over a wineglass, his controlled but pained look after touching her when helping her down off the carriage and then his look when dropping off the letter, screamed that he still loved her! I think Jane Austen would be proud to have this in her movie viewing collection.
Rating: - Gentle Persuasion...
1995's "Persuasion" is a very solid dramatization of Jane Austen's last completed novel. It has the usual Austen elements: a patient and good-hearted heroine, the man she was meant to be with, and a host of interesting characters and Regency-era social customs that get between the two.
The movie opens with the abdication of Napoleon in 1814. The British Navy, long at sea, is "paid off", releasing its naval officers to pursue quieter goals. An Admiral Croft rents the mansion of Sir Walter Elliot, a status-obcessed, foppish baronet on the verge of bankruptcy. Sir Walter moves his vain eldest daughter and her companion to Bath to make economies. His practical but much put-upon daughter Anne is left behind to close out the house. We learn that the brother-in-law of Admiral Croft is Frederick Wentworth, also back fron sea and once Anne's suitor, whom she was persuaded to reject on the ground that he lacked money and connections. Anne is now older, still unmarried, and regretting her choice.
On the way to Bath, Anne visits her sister Mary Musgrove, a hypochrondriac with young children who imposes endlessly on Anne. Wentworth, now a Captain wealthy with prize money, also visits the Musgroves to meet Mary's pretty sisters-in-law Louisa and Henrietta, who seem likely marriage prospects. Wentworth persuades the Musgrove clan, including Anne, to visit the sea at Lyme.
Anne suffers in silence while Wentworth pays court to the Musgrove sisters. An accident to Louisa forces Anne to take charge, pushing her together with Wentworth and causing him to take notice of her again.
Anne finally joins her family in Bath for a series of meaningless social rounds. A handsome, long-missing Eliot cousin materializes to pay suspicious court to Anne. Anne must balance his attentions with the surprise presence of an awkward and inarticulate Wentworth, who has followed her to Bath. In the end, Anne must hope for another chance to make the right choice.
Director Roger Michell turns this love story into high suspense, as each glance between Anne and Wentworth presages another turn in their relationship. Anne clearly regrets her earlier choice not to marry Wentworth, but hardly dares to hope that he will pass up younger and more attractive women for her. Wentworth is clearly wrestling with the long-suppressed resentment of his rejection and the ego-flattering attention of the Musgrove sisters, against his not-quite extinguished love for Anne.
Although short, the movie closely follows Jane Austen's novel and is highly recommended to fans of her romances.
Rating: - Great adaptation
Wanting to use a film adaptation of Austen's novel in a college literature course, I had several choices, including a more recent PBS adaptation. This version (with Amanda Root)seems much more accurate to me--the scene between Capt Harwick and Anne wherein they debate men's vs women's fidelity and ways of loving remains towards the end with Wentworth overhearing it (whereas in the recent PBS version the conversation occurs between Benwick and Anne in Lyme). Also, Root portrays Anne Elliot as a more mature and maturing woman, yet one who reveals strong emotions (her surprise at encountering WEntworth, for instance)with a great deal of subtlety and dignity (unlike the PBS version which has Anne Elliott running up and down the streets of Bath, unescorted, breathlessly searching for Wentworth). Finally, this version (the one with Amanda Root)incorporates lavish cultural detail--candelabras attached to music stands, for instance, to remind the viewer that all was not (fluorescently) illuminated during the Regency era.
Rating:  - Difficult to follow
The first time I saw this film I really struggled to follow all the characters. So, I watched it a second time. The beginning seems dark, and poor Anne is depicted as so meek and lonely with her sisters such jerks. Of course, her sisters were jerks. I really did not like the casting of Frederick Wentworth at all. He seemed too old and too weathered to play any sort of romantic lead. I just could not get into the romance between Anne and Frederick. So, I read the book because a friend told me it was such a wonderful story. I enjoyed the book, so decided to watch this film again. But, alas, it still seems too gloomy and not very romantic at all. I am surprised that so many enjoyed this version.
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