Here are the things that went wrong with Netflix’s “Persuasion”
Persuasion is perhaps a lesser-known novel among Jane Austen’s works. With Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma usually taking up the screentime and space on bookshelves, it’s rare for the book to spend time under the spotlight.
However, Netflix’s recent adaptation of the book starring Dakota Johnson made a ripple among the avid Austen readers that piqued my curiosity. After watching the film, I took the liberty to read the novel and compare what went right and what went wrong with the film.
Here are the things that went wrong with Netflix’s Persuasion
Two things stood out for me (in the worst way): Anne Elliot and the script.
The Conundrum of Anne Elliot
Anne Elliot is quiet and selfless; She dissolves into the background and remains good-hearted to everyone she meets and talks to. Basically, things happen to her. She doesn’t actively look for trouble, trouble finds her. She isn’t a badass boss or a quirky pixie; She is, at her core, a good person. Her defining characteristic is her quietness and willingness to help others.
This kind of main character portrayal is very different from what we normally see on our screens. From superheroes to women taking charge, Anne Elliot can be seen as a step backward for women. But there is value in her qualities that support and push for feminism.
Dakota Johnson (wearing modern-styled hair and clothes in a period drama, no less) becomes someone who can’t be Anne Elliot. Lacking her innate goodness and trading her quietness for being quirky, she becomes a transparent version of a character Jane Austen intended for her to be.
And, now… the script.
When you watch the film (or maybe you have watched it), you’ll notice something strange in the dialogue.
“He’s a ten. I don’t trust a ten,” is one of the modern lingoes that sort of jumps at you in the film. First of all, I have no problem with movie adaptations that tries to make wordy novels palatable for their audience. But at the very least, make it make sense, right? Why would the characters’ speech be period-appropriate and then Anne Elliot would just burst out in modern lingo?
While the film remains some traces of Austen romance (listening to the end credit song by Birdy, Quietly Yours, brings tears to my eyes), they do bypass some of Austen’s most memorable lines from the novel to distill them into punchy one-liners. Now, we’re worse than exes, we’re friends sounds weak against Austen’s There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved. Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never be acquainted. It was a perpetual arrangement.
If that doesn’t tug your heartstrings, I don’t know what will.
Persuasion is my new favorite Austen
Persuasion is a story about lovers meeting again. As a romantic, nothing makes my heart happier than falling in love now that the timing is right.
The story of Anne Elliot and Capt. Wentworth is unique from every love story I’ve read because of their steadfast, and quiet love for each other that shines through every page of the book. Despite my misgivings about the adaptation, I admit that the movie does make you fall in love.
