Persuasion and other rants

[mamadeb]

Before I go off on the main rant for this morning, I want to say that I'm about to hit Rodney McKay citrus allergy overload. And I feel a rant on that subject coming on, but I'll do my best to avoid it.

But here's the main rant.

Jane Austen's Persuasion

Masterpiece Theatre is, apparently, playing new versions of all of Jane Austen's works. Tonight's, and the first I've seen, was a 90 minute production of Persuasion.

And I hated it. A brief summary of the plot of the book goes like this - 8 years ago, Miss Anne Elliot was persuaded to not marry a young naval officer. Now they're in each other's company again, and although there are others who wish to marry them, it all ends well. And, yes, this is what happens in the movie.

However - not only is most of the wit and language gone, they made Anne this dull, plodding wallflower through out the movie. Yes, those of you who read the book know that, at the advanced age of 27, she'd lost her "bloom", and was considered plain and dull in the beginning of the book, but by the middle, when they're at Lyme - she's back to being pretty and vivacious. Mr. Elliot, her conniving cousin, would never have courted her in Bath had he not been struck by her there. She had a handsome older sister who was equally available and would have been far more amenable to his attentions.

But in this film, that never happens. She remains dull and unregarded except when she proves to be more practical (and medical) minded in emergencies than anyone else. She spends a lot of it crying over the fact that Wentworth seems to love someone else - even in a scene where in the book she was proud she'd maintained her countenance.

I'm also bothered by pacing details - in less than a week after their meeting and her injury, the "someone else" - Anne's brother-in-law's sister - manages to fall in love with and become engaged to a man who was still grieving after his own lost love. And there's no reason for it. Time can pass with a word and a phrase in a film. "We've been here for two months, and Anne has been with Mr. Elliot almost every night of it."

And, well, little details. Anne's friend Harriet Smith is presented as an invalid with a nurse, but Anne literally runs into her in the street. And...well. A lot of charm doesn't happen for a particularly charming book with a grown-up romance in the center.

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Well, that's a cryin' shame!

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the warning -- I shall stay away in *droves*. Persuasion is my favorite Austen, and experience shows it's one of the hardest to adapt for the screen.

[spiderine.livejournal.com]

If I recall, in the novel one of the reasons Anne was dissuaded from marrying Wentworth was because he drank and was abusive (to a ... previous wife or something?). By the time she met him again he was sober and repentant. It was kinda disturbing to me how they scissored out that little detail and made it seem that the lack of money and social standing was the only reason for the objection. Wentworth's previous difficulties made the objections more plausible, the choice more difficult and the decision more moving.

Just my opinion.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Absolutely agreed. After thirty minutes, I started channel surfing from boredom, and even though I watched the last half hour straight through, I couldn't possibly have cared less about either one of them. A pity, since I love the book.

[gingicat]

Drat. It's sitting on the TiVo and I was really hoping. :(

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

I saw that they were showing them, but being that I'm rather stupid I couldn't figure out what versions they were.

I have a box set of the BBC versions, which I haven't watched yet though I did see their original version of Pride and Prejudice ages ago and later the Colin Firth one (which is apparently the one they're going to show.)

So, yeah, I'm confused.

The only version of Persuasion I ever saw was the this film (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114117/) which I saw in the theater but it doesn't sound like you're describing that one.

And if they mess with Fanny Price I wash my hands of them. I'm one of the poor girl's only fans.

(I didn't see Mr. Elliot as a sociopath so much as really manipulative and a jerk. And the same can be said of Henry Crawford though if I had to pick one to date I'd pick Henry, he's more honest about what he is. But maybe I'm just not reading between the lines enough.)

[kelilah.livejournal.com]

Yep, we watched it too. And by half an hour in, I'd gotten the book off the shelf to check my "wait, did *that* happen?"s. The answer was almost always no. This Anne was always on the verge of tears or hyperventilation, and Wentworth was far, far too pretty. And Sir Walter wasn't flighty enough. And the actress playing Mary seemed to have studied Sophie Thompson's vocal mannerisms from the wonderful Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds version. I think my only problem with the latter one (the 1995 one linked to upthread) was the kiss in the street at the end, but at least it was chaste and tasteful, unlike the one in last night's. Blech.

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the warning. I won't go out of my way to catch this series if it's as bad as that.

I've never understood why anyone would adapt an Austen and then change the language. It's like an episode of Miss Marple on Mystery where they changed who the murderer is. (Yes, an actual episode.) Why bother calling it Austen/Christie if you're going to throw out what made the story Austen/Christie to begin with?

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

I love the version of Persuasion that rosehiptea mentioned; you should try to see all of it. It's beautiful. The one Sunday night... meh. I had trouble paying attention to it. I mean, part of it was that I watched it directly after Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and it was a massive change in tone. But the rest of it was that I was just bored.