I had read the book also listened to a BBC Radio version of some years ago with Juliet Stephenson which was very fine. But as I began to watch this film version I had an increasing mixture of admiration for the costumes, interiors and cast yet misgivings.
The dramatic centre is Louisa's plummet from a height onto cold hard stone at the Cob at Lyme. Here in this film version following the fall, Captain Wentworth steps back and stands gazing and silent like a spare person at a wedding. Louisa is lying on her side pink-faced but unconscious. Anne has immediately rushed forwards, attends to Louisa and at the same time barks out urgent clear directions to everyone else. The book however tells it very differently:
"There was no wound, no blood, no visible bruise; but her eyes were closed, she breathed not, her face was like death. The horror of the moment to all who stood around! Captain Wentworth, who had caught her up, knelt with her in his arms, looking on her with a face as pallid as her own, in an agony of silence. "She is dead! she is dead!" screamed Mary, catching hold of her husband, and contributing with his own horror to make him immovable....."Is there no one to help me?" were the first words which burst from Captain Wentworth, in a tone of despair, and as if all his own strength were gone. "Go to him, go to him," cried Anne, "for heaven's sake go to him. I can support her myself. Leave me, and go to him. Rub her hands, rub her temples; here are salts; take them, take them."
Not an exaggerated description of people frozen in horror, Jane Austen hardly needed to add: "The horror of the moment to all who stood around!", it is powerfully clear from her description. Instead the truly daft film treatment of this scene robs it of almost all its drama and believability: Captain Wentworth had just fought in the Napoleonic Wars, presumably thoroughly used to injury, death - and killing*. His evident horror was an indication of the depth of his emotional involvement. That he stood back and did nothing while Anne instantly rushed forwards with the practised speed of a Mash medic is entirely preposterous.
In the book, Wentworth is first to move but even as a Man of Blood, is almost overcome with emotion. Anne's thoughts and words are first for him: "Go to him, go to him then to give directions for others to attend to Louisa. The scene unites Wentworth and Anne in their mutual concerns and as the only two taking effective action. What a piece of writing! It is clear to see why Persuasion was such a best seller as well as respected literature.
Of all actors in the world who could have played this heady mixture of horror and anguish, Ciaran Hinds is surely the leader, yet he is denied it here. He is though superb in the excruciatingly awkward encounters with Anne, all the intricate nuances of the halting delivery as he struggles with himself over choosing the right words is absolutely precise. Amanda Root as Anne unfortunately is just not right, not in acting in presence or in appearance, not in this part at least. Anne was strong self contained and wise but Jane Austen deliberately had placed her in possibly the most testing circumstances, torn in all directions, as her readers all understood and thrilled to. Strong people who are nevertheless tested to their limits is the trick to convey drama - as Jane Austen at least knew well. She was a very artful and skilled writer.
6.5 out of 10
*I have just discovered C S Lewis's description of a Knight
The dramatic centre is Louisa's plummet from a height onto cold hard stone at the Cob at Lyme. Here in this film version following the fall, Captain Wentworth steps back and stands gazing and silent like a spare person at a wedding. Louisa is lying on her side pink-faced but unconscious. Anne has immediately rushed forwards, attends to Louisa and at the same time barks out urgent clear directions to everyone else. The book however tells it very differently:
"There was no wound, no blood, no visible bruise; but her eyes were closed, she breathed not, her face was like death. The horror of the moment to all who stood around! Captain Wentworth, who had caught her up, knelt with her in his arms, looking on her with a face as pallid as her own, in an agony of silence. "She is dead! she is dead!" screamed Mary, catching hold of her husband, and contributing with his own horror to make him immovable....."Is there no one to help me?" were the first words which burst from Captain Wentworth, in a tone of despair, and as if all his own strength were gone. "Go to him, go to him," cried Anne, "for heaven's sake go to him. I can support her myself. Leave me, and go to him. Rub her hands, rub her temples; here are salts; take them, take them."
Not an exaggerated description of people frozen in horror, Jane Austen hardly needed to add: "The horror of the moment to all who stood around!", it is powerfully clear from her description. Instead the truly daft film treatment of this scene robs it of almost all its drama and believability: Captain Wentworth had just fought in the Napoleonic Wars, presumably thoroughly used to injury, death - and killing*. His evident horror was an indication of the depth of his emotional involvement. That he stood back and did nothing while Anne instantly rushed forwards with the practised speed of a Mash medic is entirely preposterous.
In the book, Wentworth is first to move but even as a Man of Blood, is almost overcome with emotion. Anne's thoughts and words are first for him: "Go to him, go to him then to give directions for others to attend to Louisa. The scene unites Wentworth and Anne in their mutual concerns and as the only two taking effective action. What a piece of writing! It is clear to see why Persuasion was such a best seller as well as respected literature.
Of all actors in the world who could have played this heady mixture of horror and anguish, Ciaran Hinds is surely the leader, yet he is denied it here. He is though superb in the excruciatingly awkward encounters with Anne, all the intricate nuances of the halting delivery as he struggles with himself over choosing the right words is absolutely precise. Amanda Root as Anne unfortunately is just not right, not in acting in presence or in appearance, not in this part at least. Anne was strong self contained and wise but Jane Austen deliberately had placed her in possibly the most testing circumstances, torn in all directions, as her readers all understood and thrilled to. Strong people who are nevertheless tested to their limits is the trick to convey drama - as Jane Austen at least knew well. She was a very artful and skilled writer.
6.5 out of 10
*I have just discovered C S Lewis's description of a Knight