This evening, I watched the new Netflix production of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion”, starring Dakota Johnson (daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson) and Cosmo Jarvis.
Unlike the 1995 version with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds and the 2007 version with Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones, this version veers away from the written word of the novel and adds a 21st Century twist in both language and adaptation of the characters.
None of this is to intimate it is not the equal of the other two productions in style and production values, but the sensibilities are different. Here, we have a worldly Ann Elliott who nurses her disappointment of spurning Frederick Wentworth 8 years earlier by analyzing everyone in her sphere and drinking quite a bit of wine and other spirits. She’s not a lush, but she certainly puts away the drink.
There is some “numbering” in the dialogue At one point, Mrs. Clay says that in London, good-looking people are 5s, but in Lyme, Ann’s father and sister will be 13s. At another point, Frederick is referred to as a 10. It’s disconcerting to say the least, but for anyone unfamiliar with the novel or previous filmed versions, it’s likely to have great appeal.
Ann directly talks to the audience and expresses those feelings/thoughts/motives that the novel and previous films had left to our imaginations. She also has much earlier discussions with Wentworth about their previous relationship and they agree to be friends.
I recommend the film to anyone curious about this approach. It’s not Austen’s way, but the writer(s) seem to tap into Austen’s intents in various ways. Richard E. Grant is a perfect, supercilious and foppish Mr. Elliott. His eldest daughter is appropriately vain and plain. Were it not for the 1995 and 2007 versions, both of which I love, I would have taken great exception to this "adaptation" which is "based on" the novel rather than being faithful to it.
Miss Griffith resembles her mother and makes Ann far more beautiful than we have seen her before. Jarvis as Wentworth is believable as a sea captain and makes his feelings about Ann known from the first time we see him.
The casting is color-blind.
