Persuasion, on Netflix: Dakota Johnson and the second chances of love

Jane Austen (1775-1817), creator of intimate portraits, of intertwined loves, of life in English homes and of misunderstandings, yes, of sanity and feelings Y pride and Prejudiceis the author of Persuasionwhose new and umpteenth adaptation, now with dakota johnsonjust released Netflix.

Austen died young, at the age of 42, and wrote only six novels. Persuasion it was the last and was published posthumously. Director Carrie Cracknell makes her feature film debut with this film, but she has a well-deserved name on the theater scene, having directed plays by Ibsen and Jake Gyllenhaal, for example, in Wall of the sea / One lifeon Broadway.

But, and every time there is a but, something contradictory happens, one thing is a literary work, another, a theatrical piece, and even a film is something different.

For now, there are a couple of licenses that co-writer Ron Bass has taken, if Dakota Johnson’s looks at the camera are his, in style. Lots of fleas. Bass won the Oscar for his screenplay Rain Manand was the author of the libretto for My best friend’s Weddingthat of Julia Roberts, so much so that at 80 she must feel versatile like never before.

There is also a certain modernity that has taken over some characters, or at least from the actress’s wardrobe fifty Shades of Gray.

bland characters

Is that Anne Elliot, according to the conventions of the time, is about to become a spinster at the age of 28, and as much as it is necessary to establish a framework for the situation, the truth is that this adaptation flirts too much with some classic clichés, yeah , such as the social pressure on women to marry.

The problem wouldn’t be the update, even though it all takes place in the early 19th century, but the characters … well, they don’t have depth, soul or color in this film.

Eight years had passed when, reckless or, as the novel’s title says, due to a PersuasionAnne broke off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth (a silly Cosmo Jarvis), who as a sailor with no rank or money, was frowned upon by his father and Lady Russell, an old friend of his mother’s.

Obviously Wentworth is doing the same thing he would have done had he lived in the present, and not in the early 19th century: he feels broken, heartbroken, and heads out to sea.

But since we don’t have to spit, now the one that’s not in a good financial position is Anne’s family, whose father (a tattered, tic-ridden Richard E. Grant) has to rent his Kellynch Hall mansion and move to Bath. And it goes without saying that Anne and Wentworth meet right there, she, who has become almost a wretch – well, with how refined and exquisite the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson is -, and he is already a rich and capable officer.

Persuasion These are second chances. How will you, who was pining for him, react to the meeting? he, bland and expressionless as we said at the beginning, will he give up? Other themes are uncertainty, romance and love that always wins.

While it may seem simple, adapting Jane Austen to other media is clear it isn’t. She is one of the British authors with the most works transferred to cinema or TV, both in films and series, and this is not something to remember well.

I don’t know if this will be good news or not, but Ron Bass is working on other Austen adaptations, like pride and Prejudice Y sanity and feelings. Nothing, that.

“Persuasion”

Regular

Romantic drama. United States, 2022. Original title: “Persuasion”. 107 ‘, ATP L. Of: Carrie Cracknell. With: Dakota Johnson, Cosmo Jarvis, Henry Golding, Richard E. Grant. Available in: Netflix.