Persuasion – Film Review

Living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy, Anne Elliot is a nonconforming woman with modern sensibilities. When Frederick Wentworth–the dashing one she let get away–crashes back into her life, Anne must choose between putting the past behind her or listening to her heart when it comes to second chances.

Isn’t it kind of astonishing how Jane Austen’s novels are still being talked about to this day? I mean seriously, this is an author who published books in the 1800s and yet it seems as though more people are reading her works today then ever before, and it’s for good reasons too. Her stories are always filled with incredibly interesting themes, excellently detailed and realistic characters, stunning locations, worldbuilding, and romance.

There are plenty of Austen adaptations out there – some with unique, modern twists – and then there’s Persuasion, directed by Carrie Cracknell, who does her best to bring this classic story to life in 2022, but it fails due to a dull script that suffers from huge pacing issues and a story that did not translate well to the big screen.

The best thing I can say about Persuasion is that it is next to flawless on a technical level. The costume design here is top-notch, for starters. Seriously – every single actor in this movie is dressed to the nines in hugely accurate period piece outfits that are gorgeous to look at. Everyone looks unbelievably rich, and we can all chalk it up to the talented costume department for their stellar work on this film.

All of the locations are also phenomenally crafted and are stunningly beautiful. When watching the film, you’ll likely find yourself getting swept away by the imagery, and it’s hard not to. Joe Anderson‘s work as the director of photography here is possibly some of the best of the year so far.

But everything else surrounding all that, just kind of falls completely flat. The script from Ronald Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow tries way too hard to be funny at certain times, with some seriously strange fourth wall breaks that take you right out of the story, just as soon as you get sucked into it.

It moves along at a snail’s pace, too. The film may only run for one-hundred-and-seven minutes, but it feels considerably longer. There are a lot of scenes of characters just sitting around talking to each other, which isn’t necessarily a problem. The problem is that these conversations are bland and uninteresting.

And to be honest with you, I can’t see audiences sitting down and getting deeply invested into the film, either. Maybe the most diehard Jane Austen fans will fall in love with this new adaptation, but even that’s hard to say. I have read some Austen books before, and this film, in my opinion, does not do the author justice.

Dakota Johnson is easily the best part of the entire film in the role of Anne Elliot. She’s also the only character I really cared about. The script seemed to put a ton of focus on her character – which is obviously nice – but in doing so, it seemed to neglect a lot of development for everyone else.

While it looks beautiful and features a great Dakota Johnson performance, Persuasion is a dull and uninspired Jane Austen adaptation.