Siân Evans

Persuasion is my absolute favourite Jane Austin book and one I have read and listened to on audiobook so many times. Unfortunately it is one that is often overlooked when it comes to film and television adaptions and one that gets forgotten about it as a book. So when I first saw that Netflix were doing an adaption, I was very excited... until I saw the trailer. I was shocked and outraged by the change of character of Anne and the whole thing seemed of a very different tone to the book, my initial reaction was of the Austin purest horror. However, I wanted to watch it anyway as I love the book so much and want to see more persuasion adaptions so who am I to scoff at someone doing just this! I went into watching it with a very open mind, thinking of it as a film inspired by Persuasion rather than Persuasion itself. This was definitely the way to go into watching this film for diehard Austin fans. I personally found it to be a joyful and lighthearted adaption of Persuasion, a modern translation as it were, aimed at introducing younger audiences to Austin's (in my opinion) best work and retells the story in a humorous and expressive manner. It translate's Austin's satire to modern day humour and feeling. I laughed, I cried and I enjoyed Anne's commentary far more than I thought I would. It tells Anne's story in a way that encapsulates modern ideas of talking about and dealing with emotions unlike the original. I also liked the inclusivity of the casting and would love to see more of this in remakes of classics. In short, if you watch this film rigidly focused on the original work and are not openminded to new retellings of classic works, then I can understand why you would dislike it. However, watch it with an open mind and ignore the questionably "period" costume, you might very well enjoy it.