Persuasion

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

Persuasion is an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel of the same name, in which a young woman despairs and regrets after rejecting a suitor she loved due to his station. I am a sincere fan of Jane Austen screen adaptations, there is something about them that holds a very traditional yet captivating style. However, what I love even more than that is a creative writer/director who can take a Jane Austen adaptation and present it in a manner that we've never really experienced before. In 2020 I was absolutely blown away by the work done to bring Emma  to the screen in a fresh way; and while Persuasion isn't quite in the same league it comes darn close. This film really excels at finding the charming wit that originates from Jane Austen and shining a bright spotlight on how amusing these characters and stories can really be. What really enhances this is the way in which the audience interacts with Anne Elliot, our protagonist. The whole narrative Anne talks to the camera in asides that give insight into her own observations or state of emotion; this is really fun and the film plays with this to make you feel very empathetic towards Anne. The film also steadily crafts this nice, intricate web of relationships that exist between characters, watching how these relationships change and develop subtly is an impressive art that notes a great adaptation screenplay. The cinematography throughout really maximises the blend of colour and lighting, painting these scenes in an almost picturesque manner. Stuart Earl's work on the score for this film is phenomenal, he captures some of the melancholy with the lighter more mischievous moments.

 

Dakota Johnson, who played Anne Elliot, hasn't presented a character performance I've enjoyed this much since A Bigger Splash; watching Johnson awkwardly express her emotions to her co-stars one moment while bearing all to the camera the next was excellent. Richard E. Grant, who played Sir Walter Elliot, is exquisite as this self-indulgent fop; the overbearing manner grant lends to his role's ego is extremely funny. Yolanda Kettle, who played Elizabeth Elliot, matches Grant's performance beat for beat in terms of portrayal; I loved how Kettle instilled this sense of vanity and superiority within each of her scenes. Mia McKenna-Bruce, who played Mary Musgrove, is one of the funniest performances in the feature; listening to McKenna-Bruce's depiction of a woman who always worries after herself and cannot bear to ever miss out is classic Austen wit. Nia Towle and Izuka Hoyle, who played Louisa Musgrove and Henrietta Musgrove respectively, this pair enter the film with such energy and make for fast on-screen friends to Johnson's character; I particularly enjoyed the kind and compassionate portrayal we got from Towle. Hardy Yusuf and Jake Siame, who played Little Charles Musgrove and James Musgrove respectively, are entirely charming and excellent young performers in this; the scenes with this duo and johnson are some of the most heartwarming in the film. Edward Bluemel, who played Captain Harville, is a very likeable role who entertains and guides moments in the back half of the film well; Bluemel portrays a charismatic man with a distant sort of grief with remarkable talent. Henry Golding, who played Mr. Elliot, comes into this film oozing charm by the bucketload; Golding is a very winning performer but he does great work to make you feel uneasy and distrusting of his character.

 

However, the best performance came from Cosmo Jarvis, who played Wentworth. Jarvis comes into this feature like he had been chiselled out of the pages of Austen. This is a man with a cool exterior, often hard to read and finds difficulty in expressing his emotions. Yet in saying all of that, Jarvis shows Wentworth to be kind, a good listener and one who is aware of the needs of others. The hurt this character carries around from having his heart broken mirrors Johnson's own performance in a very subtle manner. I think watching Wentworth try to fill the void where love was with other connections or his own work is a trying conflict for him. In fact those scenes with Jarvis and Johnson steadily rekindling the romance between their characters is a massive part of why this movie works so well.

 

Persuasion loses its sense of era at times, both through performance and dialogue choice. These moments make some scenes feel disjointed in their portrayal to one another, as if the writers couldn't map the narrative entirely to their own creative expression. Most of the final act really stretches out Anne being courted by Mr Elliot and Wentworth, a love triangle of sorts that dragged out the time before the conclusion very severely. The narrative leading up to this had felt like an extremely witty ensemble piece with break away moments featuring Anne. But this final act lost some of the punch and engaged in a more trivial point of character conflict. The editing lent a slower pace to the film that never matched the fast-paced witty dialogue and delivery, often lingering too long on scenes that didn't need to be as long as they were. 

 

Simon Paisley Day and Nikki Amuka-Bird, who played Mr. Shepherd and Lady Russell respectively, are rather inconsequential as the main advisors to the Elliot family; I found Amuka Bird's performance in particular to be too stoic in nature. Lydia Rose Bewley, who played Penelope Clay, really rattles through her dialogue at a frantic and often garbled pace; you lose a lot of what this character could be in Bewley's portrayal. Ben Bailey Smith, who played Charles Musgrove, is very content with portraying a background player and little more; his voice is often dwarfed by Johnson or McKenna-Bruce when he is on-screen. Afolabi Alli, who played Captain Benwick, is a rather morose figure who doesn't show a broad scope of emotion in his performance; even his biggest motivating factor of grief is barely present at all.

This is a Jane Austen adaptation with an abundance of wit; a feature that takes really imaginative creative risks. I would give Persuasion a 7.5/10.