ITV Persuasion -- My Thoughts
Jan. 14th, 2008 12:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
olde_fashionedI've just finished watching the new ITV adaptation of Persuasion, and I must say, that I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would!
If you do not know that this is going to contain tons of spoilers, then conisider yourself duly warned.
To those of you who have seen it, what did you think?
I was not ignorant of the adaptation's flaws, thanks to RoP and various other communities online, so perhaps it helps knowing in advance and not being shocked by certain glaring omissions or apalling alterations helped a bit. ;-) I was very sorry not to see that one of my favourite scenes from the book, when one of the little Musgrove boys climbs up onto Anne's back, only to be physically removed by Captain Wentworth, had not made it into the movie. :-( I also did not care for a few members of the cast (Mr. Elliot and the Crofts, namely) and I kept getting strange sensations of desiring to punch Anne's obnoxious relatives in their officious noses. ;-P
Elizabeth Elliot was hideous. Mary Musgrove was revolting. My dad watched most of it and summed up Sir Walter very aptly. He called him an arrogant something, which made me laugh. ;-) I thought he could have been just a little bit more ridiculous (as he was in the novel) and there weren't enough mirror scenes -- (Which, btw, I caught a reference that we Americans only got to see a SHORTENED version. They cut out a scene with Anne and some old love letters, Mr. Elliot looking admirably at Anne on the Cobb in Lyme, and there might be others. *grrr*)
I also do not see what all the fuss is about Rupert Penry-Jones. He did not do much other than stand around and look grumpy at poor Anne. I confess I looked rather grumpily at poor Anne a few times myself, although that was only because the hairdresser had pulled her hair too tight. I did think Sally Hawkins did a very good job conveying Anne's loneliness and despair, and I loved the addition of her journalling. Very moving, and a great way to connect with the viewer, I thought. I thought it was especially so when anne was covering her mouth and sobbing after she thought Wentworth was to marry Lousia.
How on earth would Frederick convince Anne's father to sell Kellynch to an unseemly and obscure sailor, might I ask? That was the most unrealistic part, IMO, other than Anne trotting around Bath. Rather pointless, unless they wanted a breathless Anne to stand huffing and puffing before her love after she's chased him around half the city. Why was he as composed as could be and not even remotely out of breath, I'd like to know??? He was a Naval captain, not a track star. I think Cpt. Wentworth would have done better to buy Anne a pair of Nike's as opposed to a big house. ;-) lol.
Was Mrs. Smith's name really Harriet? I certainly don't remember that. I'll have to check my book later.
Oh! I almost forgot. One thing that I DID like, was that we get to hear Wentworth himself reading The Letter, not like the 1995 version where there is a double voice-over spoiling it entirely so that you can't hear a thing. I do wish they would have kept the novel's setting for it (not running by herself) but overall I liked this better than the Root/Hinds version.
*pauses, after rereading what I've written so far* I have this nasty habit of dwelling on the negatives of an adaptation, don't I? :-/ Sorry about that. I did like it though. I haven't made up my mind as to whether I'll be buying it yet, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I loved the costumes, if I did wish Anne would have worn something other than That Bonnet all the time, and the music was very lovely. I taped it (much to the dismay of my family...) so that I can watch it again at my leisure. That, for me, is the true test of a good costume drama. Either I get bored with it and have no desire to watch it more than a few times, or it grows on me more and more and I become increasingly fond of it. ;-)
Enough! I want to know what everyone else thought. :-D
ETA: Came across this article, (linked from RoP) and while I don't agree with everything this budding comedian says, I do whole-heartedly agree with this:
At the end of the film, as she is about to kiss Wentworth (oh, come on, you always knew how it comes out), her mouth twitches like a bass zeroing in on a tasty side order of plankton as her face moves slowly toward its target.
LOL!
Read the full article here
If you do not know that this is going to contain tons of spoilers, then conisider yourself duly warned.
To those of you who have seen it, what did you think?
I was not ignorant of the adaptation's flaws, thanks to RoP and various other communities online, so perhaps it helps knowing in advance and not being shocked by certain glaring omissions or apalling alterations helped a bit. ;-) I was very sorry not to see that one of my favourite scenes from the book, when one of the little Musgrove boys climbs up onto Anne's back, only to be physically removed by Captain Wentworth, had not made it into the movie. :-( I also did not care for a few members of the cast (Mr. Elliot and the Crofts, namely) and I kept getting strange sensations of desiring to punch Anne's obnoxious relatives in their officious noses. ;-P
Elizabeth Elliot was hideous. Mary Musgrove was revolting. My dad watched most of it and summed up Sir Walter very aptly. He called him an arrogant something, which made me laugh. ;-) I thought he could have been just a little bit more ridiculous (as he was in the novel) and there weren't enough mirror scenes -- (Which, btw, I caught a reference that we Americans only got to see a SHORTENED version. They cut out a scene with Anne and some old love letters, Mr. Elliot looking admirably at Anne on the Cobb in Lyme, and there might be others. *grrr*)
I also do not see what all the fuss is about Rupert Penry-Jones. He did not do much other than stand around and look grumpy at poor Anne. I confess I looked rather grumpily at poor Anne a few times myself, although that was only because the hairdresser had pulled her hair too tight. I did think Sally Hawkins did a very good job conveying Anne's loneliness and despair, and I loved the addition of her journalling. Very moving, and a great way to connect with the viewer, I thought. I thought it was especially so when anne was covering her mouth and sobbing after she thought Wentworth was to marry Lousia.
How on earth would Frederick convince Anne's father to sell Kellynch to an unseemly and obscure sailor, might I ask? That was the most unrealistic part, IMO, other than Anne trotting around Bath. Rather pointless, unless they wanted a breathless Anne to stand huffing and puffing before her love after she's chased him around half the city. Why was he as composed as could be and not even remotely out of breath, I'd like to know??? He was a Naval captain, not a track star. I think Cpt. Wentworth would have done better to buy Anne a pair of Nike's as opposed to a big house. ;-) lol.
Was Mrs. Smith's name really Harriet? I certainly don't remember that. I'll have to check my book later.
Oh! I almost forgot. One thing that I DID like, was that we get to hear Wentworth himself reading The Letter, not like the 1995 version where there is a double voice-over spoiling it entirely so that you can't hear a thing. I do wish they would have kept the novel's setting for it (not running by herself) but overall I liked this better than the Root/Hinds version.
*pauses, after rereading what I've written so far* I have this nasty habit of dwelling on the negatives of an adaptation, don't I? :-/ Sorry about that. I did like it though. I haven't made up my mind as to whether I'll be buying it yet, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I loved the costumes, if I did wish Anne would have worn something other than That Bonnet all the time, and the music was very lovely. I taped it (much to the dismay of my family...) so that I can watch it again at my leisure. That, for me, is the true test of a good costume drama. Either I get bored with it and have no desire to watch it more than a few times, or it grows on me more and more and I become increasingly fond of it. ;-)
Enough! I want to know what everyone else thought. :-D
ETA: Came across this article, (linked from RoP) and while I don't agree with everything this budding comedian says, I do whole-heartedly agree with this:
At the end of the film, as she is about to kiss Wentworth (oh, come on, you always knew how it comes out), her mouth twitches like a bass zeroing in on a tasty side order of plankton as her face moves slowly toward its target.
LOL!
Read the full article here
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 07:37 pm (UTC)Hmm, time to search online for the long version then!
I didn't get to see this, and our admin assistant wandered over to my cubicle to remind me of all the Jane Austen Masterpiece Theatre happenings this winter, so hopefully I'll get an opportunity to see it later.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 10:04 pm (UTC)Oh, it's not Masterpiece Theatre anymore. It's now "Masterpiece". Isn't that stupid?
no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 10:58 pm (UTC)It's now just "Masterpiece"? Weird. I think the Seattle Times called it Masterpiece Theatre in their Jane Austen article last week. Hmm.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 03:44 am (UTC)That's what it said. Maybe we ignorant Americans aren't sophisticated enough to appreciate the "TheatRE" so they dropped it. ExxonMobil did drop the funding for MT quite a while back IIRC, though. Perhaps that's why?
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 07:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 07:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 07:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 08:11 am (UTC)True enough! I'd flip for a 10-hour JA movie! 8-D (and my family thinks Bleak House is too long, haha!)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 04:27 pm (UTC)You are, however, wrong about good family values no longer being made into film. Just look at some of the great movies that have come out recently, especially the Narnia movies (okay, only one is out so far, but the next one is out in May). Walden Media is a, well, not a Christian company, but their whole goal is to put out quality movies with positive family values, and I think they've done a good job at that. So you could make awesome Jane Austen films with them!
Bleak House too long? Rubbish! It's not long enough!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 09:58 pm (UTC)Hear hear! My sentiments exactly!! More Lady Dedlock, please! *lol* (hey, BTW, you've seen North & South, right? Well the green striped dress Margaret wears at the end is worn by Lady Dedlock in BH, I think as she rides in a carriage)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 10:08 pm (UTC)