Persuasion Movie

Adapted from what is arguably Jane Austen's most mature and subtlest novel, Persuasion is somewhat more nuanced and restrained than the more frequently adapted Emma and Pride and Prejudice. The protagonist, Anne (Amanda Root), is, by the conventions of society, considered an old maid when she remains unmarried at 27. However, a second chance arrives when her former love, Captain Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds), returns from the Napoleonic Wars. The pair, who hardly speak throughout, are surrounded by the usual assortment of family members, friends, acquaintances, and distant relations, many of them what pass for stock characters in Austen novels. There's the social-climbing parent, the dour upper aristocrat, the scatterbrained younger relatives, and, of course, the apparently suitable suitor who turns out to be all wrong. Of course, Austen's protagonists are never dumb, but Anne, being somewhat older, is also a good deal wiser, and the characters around her accordingly take on greater dimension and subtlety. Naturally, this being an Austen story, all ends well, but the path is somewhat less straightforward than in other films adapted from her work.

Restricted to under two hours in which to communicate the nuances of familial and social connections, and how they impact one's major life choices, in the 18th century world described by Jane Austen, Persuasion does an admirable job. Ordinarily, the only way to do her novels justice is to resort to the miniseries, or else cut away large portions of character interaction (to call it plot suggests a linearity that Austen's stories, by and large, do not possess). Persuasion fits in as much as possible, especially at first, presumably in order to get all of the characters into action as quickly as it can. This makes things a little confusing, as the viewer spends some time figuring out who is related to whom, and why this individual and that seem to despise one another on sight. One might be lost entirely, except that the fine performances from the principals -- Amanda Root (Anne) and Ciaran Hinds (Wentworth), both of the Royal Shakespeare Company -- are sufficient to steer one through. They bring Austen's tale of love denied, and then rekindled, to life with the smallest gestures. In particular, Root brings to her character a marvelous transformation over the course of the film. From a quiet, rather dowdy character at the beginning, we see her blossom as she recovers the confidence and passion of her youth. It's a more complicated tale than most of Austen's stories, and occasionally the clutter of the plot threatens to get in the way, but overall this is a fine adaptation, avoiding the stiltedness that too often overwhelms this type of production.