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Persuasion, Carrie Cracknell's 2022 adaptation of Jane Austen's classic was released today on Netflix. The adaptation, starring Dakota Johnson, has managed to rile up Austen fans, and for good reason.
While the story, featuring the love that once again blossoms between Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth, has been kept intact, the mannerisms and subtle changes brought about are nothing short of "scandalous." From breaking the fourth wall to using Gen-Z vocabulary, the 2022 adaptation of Persuasion is an unsuccessful experiment.
Persuasion 2022 is an ambitious failure
Persuasion revisits the classic love story of Anne and Wentworth, two estranged lovers who have been given a chance to renew their romance once again. While the script remains more or less faithful to the original novel, the attempts at creativity made by the director, screenwriter and others have been a grand failure.
The Regency-era period piece is set in its own time, but somehow the mannerisms of all its characters are very modern. From Anne's apparent alcoholism stemming from the grief of heartbreak, to the characters flaunting a very Instagram-ish vocabulary tagging one another as "tens" or "thirteens," the movie seems very odd right from the beginning.
The blatant modernization of the dialog in a movie where the characters walk about in full-length Regency period high-waisted frocks and ride horse drawn carriages is nothing short of being blasphemous.
Not to mention, the Anne Elliot of Netflix's Persuasion is nothing like Austen's Anne. While the latter is timid and soft-spoken, despite being calm and thoughtful, the former appears outspoken and flamboyant with a dose of cheekiness. In the novel, Anne doesn't quite talk till a considerable part of the story has been narrated, but in the film she happens to be the narrator who not only narrates but also breaks the fourth wall now and again.
While this notion of juxtaposing modern Fleabag-ish esthetics with a nineteenth century story may have appeared like an ingenious idea to the creators, in reality the entire concept made us flinch and cringe. Anne, played by Dakota Johnson, communicates with the audience with winks and smirks that do not bring her closer to her audience and alienates her more from the character she plays. The smoky eyes and pink lipstick, which enhances her appeal as a celebrity, does nothing to help bring out Anne's character either.
The underlying tension between the past and the present
For fans of Austen's novel it is indeed very hard to accept this new rendition that Cracknell and team has cooked up. The unbearable tension between past and present in every scene becomes too hard to bear and one wishes that the cast and crew had made up their minds regarding where they wanted to situate Austen's heroine.
The tug of war that goes on between the novel and the cinema makes apparent the dilemmas of modern filmmaking and the anxieties it is riddled with around the portrayal of a non-modern character in this hyper-modern era.
Dakota Johnson sees the movie through
The only good thing about Persuasion seems to be Dakota Johnson. But then too, her lack of chemistry with her co-star Cosmos Jarvis, who plays Captain Wentworth, is indeed disheartening. The sense of two estranged lovers coming together after eight years only to be compelled to become friends under the present circumstances immediately paints a picture of heavy romantic tension between the leads. But it couldn't have been farther from so in the movie.
Surprisingly, Anne somehow shares a better chemistry with Mr. Elliot, the conniving cousin played by Henry Golding, who expressed a brief and farcical romantic interest in her.
To say the least, Persuasion 2022 was a culture-crime. Demolishing Austen's classic feminist novel with cheekiness and random creativity, while peppering it with Anne's antics, which couldn't be less like Austen's Anne, the movie is wasted potential.
However, despite being such a disappointment, it is always a pleasure to see Dakota Johnson on screen. Not to mention some lush green highlands and men and women walking around in 1800s Britain flaunting their pretty frocks, hairdos and exquisite jewellery.
If you are looking for something light to watch on a Sunday afternoon, consider tuning in to Netflix to catch Dakota Johnson being mersmerizingly herself in the 2022 version of Jane Austen's Persuasion.
