Persuasion is the 2022 film adaptation of the Jane Austen romance novel of the same name, directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Dakota Johnson as the heroine Anne Elliot.
Like the novel, the film opens with the extravagant baronet Sir Walter Elliot (Richard E. Grant) and his two remaining unmarried daughters Elizabeth (Yolanda Kettle) and Anne preparing to lease their ancestral home Kellynch Hall in an attempt to recover financially. The Elliots' tenants, the Crofts (Stewart Scudamore and Agni Scott), are a friendly couple whom Anne quickly grows to like. The only problem is that Mrs. Croft's brother, Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis) is Anne's ex-fiance; she was persuaded to break their engagement years ago and hasn't found a husband on his level in the years since. But now Wentworth is rich from the navy and seeking a wife, and doesn't seem to have a spare glance for Anne. A man who does seem to have have interest in Anne, however, is William Elliot (Henry Golding), Sir Walter's repentant heir.
The film distinguishes itself from its source material and predecessor adaptations by having Anne snarkily narrate the story to the viewer. In addition, the script uses very anachronistic dialogue and includes slang that would not be out of place in the 2020s.
Persuasion was released on Netflix on July 15, 2022.
Tropes:
- Adapted Out: Mrs. Smith, an important friend to Anne who plays a key role in the unfolding of Mr. Elliot's true motives and character, does not appear at all.
- Adaptational Personality Change: Austen's Anne was sensible, pensive and considerate, keeping most of her negative thoughts to herself. This Anne is not only a First-Person Smartass to the audience, but she's also more playful and more prone to moaning about her doomed engagement with Wentworth.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the book Anne and Wentworth barely say a word to each other and don't even allude to their previous relationship until they reunite in Bath. Here the two converse as early as his arrival at Uppercross and agree to be friends before eventually rekindling their romance.
- Demoted to Extra:
- Admiral and Mrs. Croft, who were close friends to Anne and a model for a healthy marriage. The Admiral shows up in two scenes, Sophy Croft in one. (Sophy and Wentworth's brother is also written out.)
- Captain Harville only has any significance in the scenes at Lyme. His important conversation with Anne about the nature of love and longing (which in turn helps renew hope in Wentworth) is left out.
- First-Person Smartass: Unlike the novel, which utilized a third-person narrator, this film has Anne herself narrate the film to audiences, and she'll often do so with cheeky quips and eyerolls.
- Good Bad Girl: Lady Russel is a kind and maternal woman who apparently indulges in sex tourism.
- Lady Drunk: This Anne Elliot has a fondness for the bottle, often seen drinking wine or alluding to how she'll be drinking wine.
- Lighter and Softer: This adaptation is more comedic than the somber and emotional novel.
- Period Piece, Modern Language: The Regency England characters utilize plenty of modern terminology, such as "playlists", "exes", and "fashion-forward" as part of Anne's Adaptational Personality Change to First-Person Smartass.
- Race Lift: Jane Austen characters are implicitly white, being members of the middle and upper middle classes during the Regency. Here, Lady Russell, Captain Benwick, and the Musgroves are played by black actors, while William Elliot is played by half-Malaysian Henry Golding.
- Sexiness Score: One of the anachronisms in the dialogue.
- The vain Sir Walter is persuaded to move to Bath thus: "It is said if you're a five in London, you're a ten in Bath."
- The handsome William Elliot is considered by Anne to be a "ten".
- Tone Shift: Compared to the source material, bordering on Genre Shift. The novel is a more serious and introspective romantic drama (though not without its moments of humor) and is one of Jane Austen's more melancholic works. This film adaptation is much more lighthearted and goofy, and comes off more as a straight-up romantic comedy at times.
- The Unfavorite: In the opening sequence Elizabeth is shown to be Sir Walter's favorite daughter and a great beauty, and Mary made a good match for herself. Anne describes herself as "the middle child [and] the crack in his looking glass".
- What Would X Do?: Wentworth admits to Anne that he often thought "What would Anne do?" during dark moments at sea.
