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silverusagi
More period drama time! While each of the other Austen adaptations I've seen I've had enough to say about for them to get their own write up, I'm mashing all of Persuasion's into one post, because I don't have much about any of them.
Persuasion 1971 - BBC miniseries
Someone reviewing on Neflix said it better: "...strange sort of 1970s feel about the entire production. Not odd since that was when it was made, but you wouldn't expect the era to infiltrate the show so much. Then again, maybe its just the horrible fabrics the costume designer chose..." Horrible, horrible costuming! Anne is always in some green monstrosity As well as the fact that it does have a weird 70s feel. In fact, all Austen adaptations made around this time have this horribly dated feeling, which is so odd since they're set in the 1800s, and odder still since the BBC was turning out fantastic things like Upstairs Downstairs at the same time. Upstairs Downstairs looks old as far as cinematography goes, but you don't just look at it and think, "These people look like they walked out of 1970." At least I don't. This Persuasion is a faithful adaptation, but oh my God is it awful. It's just *boring*. It seems like all these old adaptations go out of their way to prove that yes, costume drama is the most boring thing on Earth. All anyone is doing is reading lines, and I don't get a sense of character at all. Then there's Anne. She looks about 35. Upon looking the actress up, she was 38. Let me just say that there's something as disconcerting about watching a woman who's almost 40 pretend to be 27 as there is about watching a woman who's almost 30 pretend to be in high school.
Persuasion 1995 movie
This was my favorite Persuasion adaptation. That said, I don't really like it that much? It's done well enough, but nothing about it really grabs me. It just seems like it kind of slowly meanders around. I liked the actors, but I didn't love them. IDK, there was just nothing that was really engaging to me. I realize Austen novels themselves can appear to meander around, but this version just didn't seem to do anything besides that. I'll probably rewatch it at some point, but it definitely didn't strike a chord with me the way adaptations of P&P and S&S have done.
Persuasion 2007 movie
Yikes. I'm not sure what was so bad about this, but I didn't like it at all. First the cinematography weirds me out. The cameras are always moving, like they're being held by hand? Like, if the characters are walking, it seems like the cameraman is also walking? IDK, there are just a lot of shots where it seems like everything is moving (and lots of weird closeups). Also, last part of the movie is rushed and plot is mashed up, like they realized they had too much to get through so just threw it into a plot blender. I didn't think any acting in this was good, and everything just seemed boring. Even Anthony Stewart Head seems to not be doing his best. Also, the ending: I'm not an expert on 19th century property law, but I'm pretty sure that you couldn't buy an estate just like that. That was sort of the point of entails. Also, Anne is a really good runner, apparently.
Persuasion 1971 - BBC miniseries
Someone reviewing on Neflix said it better: "...strange sort of 1970s feel about the entire production. Not odd since that was when it was made, but you wouldn't expect the era to infiltrate the show so much. Then again, maybe its just the horrible fabrics the costume designer chose..." Horrible, horrible costuming! Anne is always in some green monstrosity As well as the fact that it does have a weird 70s feel. In fact, all Austen adaptations made around this time have this horribly dated feeling, which is so odd since they're set in the 1800s, and odder still since the BBC was turning out fantastic things like Upstairs Downstairs at the same time. Upstairs Downstairs looks old as far as cinematography goes, but you don't just look at it and think, "These people look like they walked out of 1970." At least I don't. This Persuasion is a faithful adaptation, but oh my God is it awful. It's just *boring*. It seems like all these old adaptations go out of their way to prove that yes, costume drama is the most boring thing on Earth. All anyone is doing is reading lines, and I don't get a sense of character at all. Then there's Anne. She looks about 35. Upon looking the actress up, she was 38. Let me just say that there's something as disconcerting about watching a woman who's almost 40 pretend to be 27 as there is about watching a woman who's almost 30 pretend to be in high school.
Persuasion 1995 movie
This was my favorite Persuasion adaptation. That said, I don't really like it that much? It's done well enough, but nothing about it really grabs me. It just seems like it kind of slowly meanders around. I liked the actors, but I didn't love them. IDK, there was just nothing that was really engaging to me. I realize Austen novels themselves can appear to meander around, but this version just didn't seem to do anything besides that. I'll probably rewatch it at some point, but it definitely didn't strike a chord with me the way adaptations of P&P and S&S have done.
Persuasion 2007 movie
Yikes. I'm not sure what was so bad about this, but I didn't like it at all. First the cinematography weirds me out. The cameras are always moving, like they're being held by hand? Like, if the characters are walking, it seems like the cameraman is also walking? IDK, there are just a lot of shots where it seems like everything is moving (and lots of weird closeups). Also, last part of the movie is rushed and plot is mashed up, like they realized they had too much to get through so just threw it into a plot blender. I didn't think any acting in this was good, and everything just seemed boring. Even Anthony Stewart Head seems to not be doing his best. Also, the ending: I'm not an expert on 19th century property law, but I'm pretty sure that you couldn't buy an estate just like that. That was sort of the point of entails. Also, Anne is a really good runner, apparently.