The new Netflix original film adaptation of Persuasion by Jane Austen may be at the top of the streamer’s charts — sitting at a comfortable No. 1 worldwide and in the United States — but not everyone is a fan. Not only does it have a 31% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes — making it certified rotten — but many die-hard literature fans are furious. The movie is loosely based on Austen’s novel, but it takes liberties with the linguistic style of the dialogue that has ripple effects on characterization and story. Some fans feel like this was a waste of Austen’s title, and perhaps even a disservice to her work.
Persuasion was the last novel completed by legendary author Jane Austen and published in 1817. It is about a 27-year-old woman who was “persuaded” to end a marital engagement in the past as she is now forced to spend time around her former fiance and reconsider her prospects. The book has all the subtext and intricacy scholars praise Austen for, but critics say that some of this subtlety is lost in the new movie, where the flowery language is modernized.
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The new Persuasion film was written by Alice Victoria Winslow and Ronald Bass and was directed by Carrie Cracknell. It stars Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot and Cosmo Jarvis as her prospective lover Captain Frederick Wentworth. The movie has drawn many comparisons to Netflix’s Bridgerton – an adaptation of a modern novel series set in the same time period as Persuasion. However, many fans of Austen seem to feel that her work deserves a different approach if it is going to be adapted to the screen.
On top of that, the reviews from Rotten Tomato critics aren’t especially kind. “This new movie feels as if it had been written by someone who had never cracked a Jane Austen novel, just watched a few trailers for Pride and Prejudice and Emma, opened Wikipedia for a plot summary and went from there,” one Rotten Tomatoes critic wrote, with another calling it a “fundamental misunderstanding of Austen’s work.” K. Austin Collins of Rolling Stone wrote, “Austen works hard. But mediocrity, this movie reminds us, works harder.”
Here’s a look at what people are saying about the quirks of this new adaptation.
‘Worse Than Strangers’
Without a doubt, the most commented-upon line of dialogue in this movie was the phrase: “Now we’re strangers. Worse than strangers. We’re exes.” Critics condemned this line not only for being corny, but for failing to even be a modern analog for Austen’s words.
More Dialogue
Some fans were wary of the dialogue from the first trailer, but when the movie itself came out viewers found plenty of other lines to be disappointed in.
Misunderstanding
Many long-time fans of Austen’s writing felt that the screenwriters of this movie misunderstood her work on some fundamental levels. They felt that modernizing her language did not have any of the desired effects regardless of stylistic preferences.
Comparisons
While some critics generalized that adaptations of period pieces should be done in a certain way, others pointed out adaptations that took a similar approach to Persuasion that they thought were more successful.
Defenders
Of course, this movie had its defenders, and many of them had strong arguments to make. For example, some fans felt like the “modernized” adaptation was a valid approach, and that fans who were more interested in a faithful adaptation should hold out for that instead.
Life Imitates Art
It just so happens that in the same weekend Persuasion dropped, real-life exes Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck cemented their reunion by getting married. Many fans remarked that this was the “modern” adaptation they really wanted.
No More
Finally, there were some reports this weekend that the team behind Persuasion had similar projects in the works. Many fans feared that Netflix would greenlight this project based on the viewership of Persuasion without taking into account how many people disliked what they saw.
