Ever since my high school English teacher told us that Mr Darcy sinking a red billiard ball in the BBC’s 1995 series Pride and Prejudice was “blatant symbolism for sex”, I feel somewhat qualified to throw my bonnet in the ring when it comes to Austen spin-offs.
The recent Netflix film Persuasion has been panned by critics on Rotten Tomatoes as “chaotically anachronistic”. Austen purists lay on their chaises, fanning themselves with the indignity of it all. Anne Elliot (Dakota Johnson) drinking wine straight from the bottle? Looking at the camera with “gratuitous fits of self-awareness”? Describing a suitor as a “10” and preaching the benefits of self-care? The film apparently even qualifies for the same descriptors as a tornado, with Vox declaring it “an absolute disaster”.
Haters going to hate but, trust me, Netflix’s Persuasion is brilliant.
At first, I felt as though I should join the ranks of the indignant. Heaven forbid, we must preserve Serious Literature! What next, Jane Eyre in cabaret? What kind of unearthly sacrilege is this? But the truth is, I enjoyed Persuasion immensely, right down to the last historical inaccuracy.
The caricatures of Anne’s family, particularly her gambling father played by Richard E. Grant, are reminiscent of Alison Steadman’s brilliant hysteria as Mrs Bennet in BBC’s Pride and Prejudice. Johnson embodies Anne wholeheartedly, managing eye rolls and tears almost simultaneously. Frederick Wentworth, played by the intensely smouldering Cosmo Jarvis, glides in and out of scenes, a paragon of tall dark handsomeness with brooding puppy dog eyes.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that adaptations get a rough trot. We’re protective of the characters as we have come to know them in our imagination. And Austen superfans can be like nightclub bouncers at the Ivy, they’re not letting in any old floozy.
But why are we so obsessed with preserving the purity of a text, and so resistant to the charms of this adaptation in particular? The objections range from the film being a comedy of errors while the book is a nuanced exploration of emotion, to the casting of Dakota Johnson, who, according to one social media user “has the face of someone who knows what an iPhone is”. Did it take a few too many liberties, wearing its modernity a bit too brashly, like a flash of ankle under the petticoat?
No one was complaining when Colin Firth dove into a lake in his clingy white shirt. We laughed along when Elizabeth Bennet was plucked out of Old Blighty and planted in Bollywood in Bride and Prejudice or when she fought the undead in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. We adored Bridget Jones and her Granny pants. For a while there, high school kids actually studied Cher Horowitz and her digitised wardrobe for their HSC. Perhaps if Persuasion had been labelled a “reinvention” from the beginning, rather than an adaptation, there would be fewer knickerbockers in a twist.
Dakota Johnson, left, and Henry Golding in a scene from Persuasion.
Persuasion has all the ingredients of a good period piece: scathing dialogue across the table loaded with subtext, furtive glances, hurried gulps of wine and, of course, the heroine peeing in the bushes. Characters navigating strict social norms are the mainstay of a good britches and bonnet drama and the modern twists – such as characters talking about “thriving” or Wentworth giving Anne a “playlist” consisting of sheet music – only enhance the film by drawing us into this bygone world. Let’s face it, it’s a challenge for Gen Z to look at anything longer than an Instagram story, so it’s miraculous for them to engage with a 200-year-old text.
Persuasion is a universal story: getting back with your ex after he got a promotion. Johnson’s Anne is the 19th-century cool girl, charming kids, men and dour-faced dowagers alike. She could be an Instagram influencer with her colourful wallpaper and bunny cuddling, talking us through her dysfunctional family and broken heart, while she wants nothing more than to read a book and chug a bottle of wine #relatable. “Don’t let anyone tell you how to live, or who to love,” she says, a quote that could almost come straight from Meghan Markle’s new podcast. And the painfully romantic line from Frederick’s letter, “you pierce my soul” still makes us swoon like the bodacious bodice-wearing babes of Austen’s era. While there’s zero chance The Da Vinci Code is getting remade in 2203 with a quirky modern twist, Netflix’s Persuasion proves the timelessness of Austen.
Persuasion is not only not that bad, but it’s also good, brilliant even. It’s like a giant, Victorian-era-themed dress-up party where everyone’s invited. With a final wink at the camera as she cuddles her Wentworth, we leave Anne on a cliff, the story neatly folded back in on itself like origami while Birdy’s sweet ethereal voice sings, and we drift off into a romantic reverie, caught in a spell cast 200 years ago #swoon.
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