Granted, I have not read the book, but I have read several of Jane Austen's novels and have seen many movie/TV-movie remakes of her work. I find this to be one of the lesser remakes (though to be fair, the only "Persuasion" adaptation I've seen- maybe it's the fault of the book.)
I did kind of like the fact that all the characters were meant to look like "real" people. No one was unrealistically attractive. And I enjoyed the subtle transformation of Anne from unattractive to relatively attractive at the end of the picture, a detail I only barely noticed consciously. The actors were fine.
My main problem was the pacing/editing. Now I'm not the kind of person who needs an action flick pacing where every second is exciting - I do like to see the characters grow, to see the passing of time, to see them just being themselves, and I also realize that life (at least for women) was much more sedate back then..... but even given all that it was just too slow. For example, the scene where they all just stood around on the beach. Maybe I am missing something by not having read the book but I felt that that scene had nothing to add to the movie and it was just wasting time.
Once again, this may just be how the book was, but I found the ending to be very abrupt. I felt that the scene in the Elliot's party was a set up for a huge confrontation, with cousin Elliot's behaviro revealed, with the snobby dad refusing Wentworth, etc. Maybe this is just the Hollywood trained mind, but I was actually very startled when the last scene (don't want to ruin it by saying) came on.
In summary, it was decent enough, but I think I'll stick with Sense & Sensibility (yes, they are too beautiful, but I adore Ang Lee & Emma Thompson!) or the BBC version of Pride/Prejudice as my favorite Austen adaptations.
This viewing has inspired me to steal the book from my boyfriend's bookcase to read - perhaps it will give me a fresh perspective on the film.
I did kind of like the fact that all the characters were meant to look like "real" people. No one was unrealistically attractive. And I enjoyed the subtle transformation of Anne from unattractive to relatively attractive at the end of the picture, a detail I only barely noticed consciously. The actors were fine.
My main problem was the pacing/editing. Now I'm not the kind of person who needs an action flick pacing where every second is exciting - I do like to see the characters grow, to see the passing of time, to see them just being themselves, and I also realize that life (at least for women) was much more sedate back then..... but even given all that it was just too slow. For example, the scene where they all just stood around on the beach. Maybe I am missing something by not having read the book but I felt that that scene had nothing to add to the movie and it was just wasting time.
Once again, this may just be how the book was, but I found the ending to be very abrupt. I felt that the scene in the Elliot's party was a set up for a huge confrontation, with cousin Elliot's behaviro revealed, with the snobby dad refusing Wentworth, etc. Maybe this is just the Hollywood trained mind, but I was actually very startled when the last scene (don't want to ruin it by saying) came on.
In summary, it was decent enough, but I think I'll stick with Sense & Sensibility (yes, they are too beautiful, but I adore Ang Lee & Emma Thompson!) or the BBC version of Pride/Prejudice as my favorite Austen adaptations.
This viewing has inspired me to steal the book from my boyfriend's bookcase to read - perhaps it will give me a fresh perspective on the film.