Part 1: Anne Elliot Who?

 

The time has come. 

If you read my last post, "A Ramble about Jane Austen Adaptations", you might remember me tossing around the idea of watching + doing an in-depth review of the 2022 Netflix adaptation of Persuasion. Well friends, I did watch it, and can I just say...OOF. 

The director, Carrie Cracknell, stated in a New York Times article that "The film was made with a massive amount of love and attention to the source material and a really openhearted respect for Jane Austen. There’s been no attempt to dismantle the original material.” 

I have to wonder what movie she thinks she is talking about. 

Now I feel the need to preface this rant with a disclaimer: I'm not a purist when it comes to movie adaptations of novels, Jane Austen works or otherwise. While I prefer a mostly faithful adaptation, for the most part I don't mind some alterations here and there. I think it's kind of like Shakespeare, where as long as the characterization and the themes are the same, you can get away with some Baz Luhrmann-level changes. I don't mind if an adaptation adds a scene/dialogue as long as it's in character, and I love if something has more inclusive casting, especially if it's a modern adaptation. I think for time-accurate pieces it can be a bit of a double-edged sword--if you are sticking to the regency time period in your adaptation, it can be a better path to interrogate concepts such as race/gender/sexuality and use those as opportunities for conscious exploration of the novel's themes than to just pretend those things don't exist, although I understand why for certain works that may not be the case. (This article is better at explaining the concept than I am, so I will leave it linked for your perusal.)

And there's always an exception now and again where the movie differs a LOT from the novel and I end up enjoying both equally (yes I'm talking about Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and you can judge my taste if you want). 

The problem, my friend, is that much of the plot of Persuasion hinges on its characters being who they are, and them having made specific decisions for specific reasons. And that is why the 2022 version is a massive fail. *This is where spoilers for both the book and the film start to come in*

A brief synopsis of the book, ripped from Wikipedia because I am lazy and running on five hours of sleep and a full workday (which isn't that bad but I am a wimp): "The story concerns Anne Elliot, a young Englishwoman of 27 years, whose family moves to lower their expenses and reduce their debt by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. The wife's brother, Captain Frederick Wentworth, was engaged to Anne in 1806, but the engagement was broken when Anne was persuaded by her friends and family to end their relationship. Anne and Captain Wentworth, both single and unattached, meet again after a seven-year separation, setting the scene for many humorous encounters as well as a second, well-considered chance at love and marriage for Anne in her second bloom."

Looking at this synopsis, what pops out as the main goal of the novel is the phrase "a second, well-considered chance at love and marriage"--to me, this indicates that the story is attempting to prove that the reader will find Anne and Wentworth's romance "well-considered" and determine by the end of the novel that they are fit for both love and marriage (two very different things in the 1800s, when the book was first published). Additionally, saying she was "persuaded by friends and family" implies that the story intends to illustrate that Anne was "persuaded" to give up her man (which to me strongly implies that she did not want to in the first place and that any reasons for doing so were wrong or unfounded in some way). 

In contrast, the 2022 adaptation gives this synopsis on IMDB: "Eight years after Anne Elliot was persuaded not to marry a dashing man of humble origins, they meet again. Will she seize her second chance at true love?" 

Not too different of a setup, of course. But it is imperative that we notice the movie's main focus, the message it is intending to advertise, is a "second chance at love" for someone who was "persuaded" give up her "true love." From this, we can glean that the movie is a romance, a sort of redemption for a couple meant to be together but cruelly deprived from their happiness due to a spot of bad advice. What this movie needs to do in order to live up to its synopsis is to: 

Prove the couple once were each other's true love, prove they still are each other's true love after 8 years apart, and once again, show that Anne was "persuaded" to give up her man (which to me strongly implies that she did not want to in the first place and that any reasons for doing so were wrong or unfounded in some way). 

I also must point out that describing Wentworth as "a dashing man of humble origins" is an interesting choice--the first impression I get from that specific phrase is that their previous relationship was rooted largely in physical or aesthetic attraction and lacked maturity or depth...which, if you've read the book, is...interesting to say the least. 

Please remember these points as my rant continues...although I will absolutely be circling back to them later.  (What is this, a Zoom call?)

First, let's discuss one place where the movie went irrevocably wrong: characterization. Particularly of Anne and Wentworth, but also of almost every other character. NOTE: this is not a judgment on the acting ability of any of the actors involved; I believe the main fault was in the writing/script; and although I admit that some choices were perhaps not my favorite, that doesn't mean they "can't act". 

From the moment I first saw the trailer, I felt like Ms. Bennet felt when Charles Bingley had come a'calling to hopefully propose to Jane: rushing around my living room in a panic. I suspected that Anne's personality had been altered significantly in the book, but I tried to be optimistic/give the movie the benefit of the doubt. Really, I did! In a series of messages to a friend who had asked for my opinion, I said the following:

"I am excited bc I LOVE Persuasion I do have some concerns already lol 

This Anne seems a bit more sarcastic than the book

Also the use of the word “exes” in a period drama made me cringe 😭

[Maybe they are] livening Anne up a bit if it serves some kind of larger purpose, so I’m cautiously optimistic 

Wentworth [is] supposed to be the strong silent type so hopefully he has some layers hiding under that facade 😂

I will say Henry Golding looks like he’s doing well and he’s charming enough to pull off the cad character without anyone suspecting anything haha

I expect they made her more outgoing so a modern audience would be able to connect with her

Since we're spending the whole movie in her head I guess it could be a bit depressing if she's more morose

I guess they would want to put the most energetic or funny moments in a trailer."

The Anne Elliot of the novel is not a Lizzie Bennet (nor is she a Bridget Jones). She is shy and humble, burdened by her own loneliness yet fearful of admitting that she is unhappy. She has strong principles and a strict moral code, although she is not outwardly outspoken or confident. Although she seeks to always act politely and respectfully, she often encounters problems because she is so riddled with anxiety and embarrassment. She is not in any way faultless, and has many regrets but her own guilt and embarrassment makes it difficult for her to do acknowledge that, so she pretends everything is fine. She is often taken advantage of her family and friends, but she continuously sacrifices her own happiness to keep the peace. Despite being treated as an afterthought, she shows them love, loyalty, and respect, and works hard to publicly maintain their reputation. She is not exceptionally witty or talented or brilliant, but she is kind, supportive, dutiful, practical, and loyal. 

She is also the middle child of three daughters, which is why her family views her as somewhat inconsequential and why her marrying is of such importance--in 1800s England, women could not inherit; if you did not have a son, the estate would go to the closest male relative and the wife/daughters would be kicked out upon the patriarch's demise. This is also why daughters in son-less households were often encouraged to marry their male cousins, so the estates would remain in the family. 

All this is important, because the rest of Anne's family is not like her. The Elliots, specifically Anne's father and sisters, are known for being beautiful but also vain, attention-seeking, spendthrift, and obsessed with status and reputation. In her family, Anne is a wallflower (a shrinking violet?) in a lavish bouquet; she is not one often noticed. 

The Anne in the movie is not the Anne of the novel. She is a hot mess--not only has she never gotten over Wentworth, she continues to indulge in poor coping mechanisms: drinking to excess, wallowing face-down on her bed, screaming his name out a window and then ducking when she realizes oh, he's literally right there. You know, typical rom-com humor. And don't get me wrong, I love the romcom genre and its cheesy jokes--and the movie appears to also, relying heavily on slapstick humor such as Anne knocking a gravy boat of plum juice (?) on her head or getting caught impersonating her former fiancé by wearing a jam mustache to breakfast. These moments, none of which are in the novel, work hard to sell this version of Anne as a quirky, rough-around-the-edges heroine in the spirit of Bridget Jones. 

And yet, the movie character strives to prove that she not just a hot mess. She aims to be full of wit and constantly making her opinions known, albeit not always to the person she's talking to or about. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, considering the movie is framed by a series of Fleabag-style fourth wall breaks where she directly addresses to the audience with a cutting observation or sarcastic remark...

Except this Anne is also just not a nice person. She's obnoxious, she's rude, and the secondhand embarrassment is STRONG. And not in a fun, "she's a hot mess but I love her", Wynonna Earp kind of way.

This Anne deeply resents her family, and boy does she show it. In a scene that does not exist in the novel, a formal dinner at her sister and brother-in-law's home is ruined when Anne interrupts the conversation to announce to the entire table (including Wentworth) that her sister's husband proposed to her first. While it is implied that the gaffe is partially borne from drunkenness, the immediate reaction from everyone at the table as well as us watching at home was "WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?" Even if there was some awkward humor in that scene, the possible answers as to why she would say it--maybe to communicate "screw you, I had other options" to Wentworth, maybe  to embarrass her sister because she despises her so much--create a tense discomfort that lingers for several scenes afterward. Scenes such as the ones depicting a recurring joke where instead of listening to the same sister complain, Anne sarcastically "replies" with random Italian phrases about where to find a good cappuccino. Which should be funny, especially considering her sister indeed does not notice. But after humiliating said sister by reminding her and everyone present that her husband wanted you instead (knowing that she highly values others' opinions and her attention-seeking behavior comes from being the youngest in a family of self-focused people)...it just comes off as mean. 

In the book, it is the sister of Anne's brother-in-law, Louisa, who tells Wentworth that he proposed to Anne first before switching his affections. Louisa is a naive, flirtatious and high-spirited acquaintance of Anne who has her eye on Wentworth and saying such a thing is meant to speak volumes about her character. She is written that way in order to provide a sharp contrast to Anne, who rarely speaks ill of anyone and seeks to smooth over any disputes even (or maybe especially) at her own expense. To redistribute this line to Anne completely destroys this contrast, thus making it difficult to judge Louisa as a "wrong" option for Wentworth's affections...because hey, at least he could take her to a dinner without having to worry what she'd say to kill the vibe. The book scene is also an important clue into what Wentworth is thinking. It is when Louisa's gossip startles him that Anne realizes that he has not yet forgiven her for letting herself be persuaded to end their engagement. In the movie, having Anne share the news herself makes it look like Wentworth finds her obnoxious because of her current behavior, not because he's still holding a grudge. And honestly, who can blame him?

Frankly, Anne's "witty comments" are almost always passive-aggressive digs at the people around her--how annoying they are, how pompous and self-absorbed. Which isn't necessarily untrue, but after like five cheap shots, the smugness starts to bleed through. When every snarky line is accompanied by a smirk and an eyeroll, the energy starts to feel less like the audience is getting a secret peek into the mind of the one sane person in the room and more like we're watching a person who is desperately trying to convince themselves they're better than everyone else around them, really. Which, once again, isn't a bad thing if the character is supposed to be someone whose Achilles heel is their own lack of self-awareness (whether out of fear or naivety). Many an entertaining and thought-provoking plot has revolved around a lovable but arrogant character's stumble towards their own humility (and humanity). In Persuasion 2022 however, Anne is both continuously the butt of the joke as well as the only one allowed to make them, which she does--usually at everyone else's expense.

The "jokes" that are not outright insults to those around her rely heavily on awkwardness, to the point of lacking any humor at all. The dinner scene is one example, but another that I wish I could forget is a rambling speech meant to break an uncomfortable silence about how she dreams about having an octopus stuck to her face. (No, this isn't in the book either.) She also quips about how she "never trusts a 10". You know, because rating someone's attractiveness on a scale and letting it dictate whether you trust them or not is very very different from her family's AWFUL habit of only associating with rich, noble people. 

Unfortunately, it is strange (and perhaps impossible) to believe a character is supposed to be the smartest person in the room and have all the answers while being faced with scenes where they are a total hot mess, to the tune of dear Lord, Anne, pull yourself together!  This becomes apparent most ironically when watching the infamous scene (also in the book) where Louisa gives herself a concussion by leaping off of the sea wall in the hopes Wentworth will gallantly & romantically catch her: by that point, Anne has been the resident hot mess for so long that it feels wrong and frankly, out-of-character for anyone other than her to do such a ridiculous thing. This dilutes what should a pivotal moment, as in the book it is Anne's coolheadedness in managing the crisis that causes Wentworth to re-examine his feelings for her as well as his actions towards leading Louisa on. 

Perhaps Anne's flaws would not be so grating had the movie also spotlit her positive points, particularly how she treats others. They make a weak attempt on occasion, such as the three or four scenes where she entertains her nephews. Unfortunately, she ruins this by acting like her sister is forcing her to pull her teeth out when she is asked to babysit, while simultaneously judging her for finding parenting tiresome or annoying. 

The movie entirely removes the book character Mrs. Smith, a widow who suffers from ill health and financial difficulties. This causes several problems for the plot, but also for Anne's characterization, because Mrs. Smith is one of Anne's closest friends despite her family's apparent disapproval. While her family believes they should not interact with someone destitute and disgraced, it is Anne's kindness and loyalty that allows her to maintain their friendship--something she could not do with Wentworth for the sake of her own happiness all those years ago. This tells us a lot about Anne as a character, specifically her belief in putting others before herself.  In fact, it is Mrs. Smith who defends Anne's character to William Elliot (Anne's cousin who holds a deep hatred for her entire family), reassuring him that Anne is not like them. William later finds this to be true because he witnesses Anne's moral and upstanding personality firsthand and, if Mrs. Smith is to be believed, does end the novel with a positive opinion of her despite his deep-seated resentment for her family members. None of this happens in the movie, not only because Mrs. Smith does not exist but also because it CANNOT happen with Anne as she is written in the film. Persuasion 2022's Anne is just as rude, superior, self-righteous and embarrassing as any other member of the Elliot clan. 

The friendships the film does create for Anne to replace that of Mrs. Smith are weakly written to the point of being forgettable. Louisa is still a high-spirited girl who is pursuing Wentworth, but she and Anne are close friends. To the point that she notices Anne's lingering interest in Wentworth and asks her if she will give Louisa her blessing to pursue him. This complicates the dynamic between the two, which could have been interesting had it been explored--but alas, the movie refuses to cast Louisa as anything more than an errant plot device that disappears halfway through. They just made her more boring first. 

Lady Russell is Anne's godmother, of whom she is particularly fond. In the novel, she is instrumental in the family's decision to leave Kellynch Hall and avoid financial crisis, and was one of the most vital people persuading her not to marry Wentworth on account of his lack of wealth. Their friendship is barely depicted in the movie, with her character appearing only to alert Anne to Wentworth's return to town (cryptically warning her to "abandon all hope"), side-eye her at public functions, and in what was probably meant to be a pivotal scene, apologize and take full responsibility for persuading Anne to reject Wentworth's proposal all those years ago. There's also some attempts to liven up Lady Russell by suggesting that she regularly indulges in casual sexcapades via spicy European tours, but as with Louisa, there is no attempt made to let those changes inform the character or her decisions. She is simply there, and any changes made to make her "more interesting" would not have impacted the story were it taken out. I'm not even going to monologue about how out-of-character it is for a person obsessed with optics to brag to her protégée who she's advising on matters of propriety about her own scandalous behavior. 

The overall consequence of Anne from Persuasion 2022's personality transplant is that many parts of the plot and dialogue also no longer make sense now that she is different. After watching her snark on everyone and everything despite making a fool of herself on a regular basis, the scene where she comforts Captain Benwick about his grief over his deceased fiancee comes off as condescending and insincere. The scene also comes way too late to redeem her, clocking in past the halfway mark. 

Most egregiously, the movie's quirky fantasy version of Anne destroys the logic behind Anne's reasoning for the decision that started it all: rejecting Wentworth's proposal all those years ago. 

The bitter, sarcastic Anne who laments that she made the wrong decision (but really it was all Lady Russell's fault) cannot coexist with the Anne who made that decision. In the book, Anne is aware of her unhappiness but maintains her stance on the matter: "... but Anne, at seven-and-twenty, thought very differently from what she had been made to think at nineteen. She did not blame Lady Russell, she did not blame herself for having been guided by her ... She was persuaded that under every disadvantage of disapprobation at home, and every anxiety attending his profession, all their probable fears, delays, and disappointments, she should yet have been a happier woman in maintaining the engagement than she had been in the sacrifice of it."

She even tells Wentworth as such: "If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety, not of risk. [...] I have been thinking over the past ... and I must believe that I was right, much as I suffered from it, that I was perfectly right in being guided by [Lady Russell] ... Do not mistake me, however. I am not saying that she did not err in her advice. It was, perhaps, one of those cases in which advice is good or bad only as the event decides." 

AND WENTWORTH AGREES. He acknowledges that he wasn't thinking about things beyond his own disappointment, and he let his hurt cloud his judgment of her as well as his own mistakes: "He had imagined himself indifferent, when he had only been angry, and he had been unjust to her merits, because he had been a sufferer from them ... He had learnt to distinguish between the steadiness of principle and the obstinacy of self-will, between the darings of heedlessness and the resolution of a collected mind." 

It is worth mentioning that a good chunk of the problem is the Bridgerton-esque attempt at modernizing the novel's contents while maintaining that it's somewhat of a period piece. Once you take the Anne out of the Regency, you lose almost all of the context. 

During the time the book was written and published, the reality was that Lady Russell's concerns about Wentworth's lack of financial security were real and dangerous. When Wentworth proposed to Anne seven years ago, he had no wealth nor title and was preparing to enter a navy, a dangerous profession. In fact, there are several examples in the book of what Anne's fate could have been had she cast her family aside in favor of her love: Mr. Elliott, who was disowned by his family for marrying a woman of his choice only to have his wife die. He is constantly seeking to manipulate and avenge, and it is his deep hatred and resentment for her family that poisons the future of his and Anne's potential romance. Mrs. Smith, who was left alone by a husband who died and did not pull proper safeguards in place to ensure she would be properly supported. Finally, there are Benwick and Fanny Harville, who postponed their engagement until he had made enough to support them and spent much of their time together apart until she died early.

In the book, Anne might regret having to make the decision, but she takes responsibility for it and acknowledges that she had her reasons for doing so. While she wishes she hasn't had to make that choice, she is confident that she made the correct one. This maturity and self-awareness is not found in the 2022 movie's Anne, who remains petulant, snarky, and immature from beginning to end. A rational creature, she is not.

See you next time for Part 2: What in the Wentworth?