Grant), and self-involved older sister Elizabeth (Yolanda Kettle) are forced to rent out the stately Somerset family manse, Kellynch Hall, and downgrade to a residence in Bath. With debt collectors constantly at the door, Anne’s vain peacock father, Sir Walter Elliot (a hilariously preening Richard E.
The circumstances that conspire to throw Anne and Frederick in each other’s paths again eight lonely years after their split derive from the Elliot family having to endure some reluctant belt-tightening. It could hardly be more different from the best-known - and still best - screen version of Persuasion, Roger Michell’s 1995 British TV movie (released theatrically in the U.S.) starring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds, which was far more melancholic and reflective in tone, in keeping with the novel. In its own sprightly fashion, this is as radical a riff on an Austen classic as Fire Island, Andrew Ahn’s queer spin on Pride and Prejudice, illustrating that there’s still plenty of life left for inventive screen treatments of one of English literature’s favorite adaptation sources. The immediacy this gives the character will likely endear the Netflix feature to young audiences who don’t care a whit about fealty to Austen’s novel.
Anne punctuates the film by breaking the fourth wall with droll direct-to-camera commentary and silent double takes right out of Fleabag. Still miserable years after being “persuaded” to ditch Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis), the handsome sailor without rank who wanted to marry her at 19, the heroine chugs wine from a bottle and sobs in a bathtub, wistfully stroking her pet bunny while insisting she’s “thriving.” She’s Bridget Jones in a Regency frock. The period trappings may remain in place, but the prism through which the story is told is very much that of a modern woman in a multiracial society, and you’ll either go with that or you won’t. Self-awareness and a big obvious wink to millennial audiences are written into the nimble screenplay by newcomer Alice Victoria Winslow and veteran Ron Bass, trading Austen’s subtle inferences, her carefully laid foreshadowing and teasing anticipation for a blunt candor that defies the repression of the times. Screenwriters: Alice Victoria Winslow, Ron Bass based on the novel by Jane Austen
Grant, Henry Golding, Ben Bailey-Smith, Yolanda Kettle, Nia Towle Cast: Dakota Johnson, Cosmo Jarvis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Richard E.
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