Persuasion (DVD)

Persuasion
BBC, 2007
Starring: Sally Hawkins & Rupert Penry-Jones

Having missed this when it was on Masterpiece Theatre originally, and finding it in none of the libraries I routinely procure movies from, I decided to 'splurge' after Christmas. Although, it was really just thinking smart: I was able to get the 2-disc Sense and Sensibility and Miss Austen Regrets DVD set AND Persuasion for less than I could buy just S&S alone. So, I did what any smart Austen-lover would do: I bought the joint set! And my Austen DVD collection is much happier for the extra addition. (Random sidenote: I dearly love the way BBC packages DVDs now, the cases look and feel very bookish!)

I will say, this was the shortest Austen DVD I've seen yet. At a quick 93 minutes, the story felt super rushed. (As in, I watched it with my family, and my dad - who knows nothing of the story - said "I think they needed to stretch it out, there's too much rushing"). I'm not a massive stickler for movie-book adaptation faithfulness (which annoys my best friend to no end), so it didn't bother me too much that the movie version is different from the book. I found I actually liked this Anne a little more - she seemed to recognize her own fault(s) in dealing with everything, instead of just being the passive victim. I loved Capt. Wentworth (again), and may or may not have actually liked Mr. Elliot more than I should have. (He reminded me of several friends of mine rolled into one character, and I was cracking up). Actually, I found this whole movie-rendition to be somewhat comical. Maybe I was just very tired, but I found it rather humorous and am happy to count it among my collection.

DVD provided by my personal library.