Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 28-December-03
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Persuasion (1995)

Imagine the story of Cinderella, only with no glass slipper and a fairy godmother who gives bad advice, and you get a sense of "Persuasion." Based (and greatly improving) upon the novel by Jane Austen, this quiet but deeply satisfying film picks up the tale years after the heroine let her prince slip away, when both have reached a more mature and careful age and must rely on true love, not magic, to find each other again.

Anne Elliott (Amanda Root) is the middle daughter of a bankrupt aristocratic family, a decent, sensible woman in her late twenties who feels the approach of irrevocable spinsterhood. Eight years ago (and unbeknownst to most of her acquaintance), Anne fell in love with a penniless sailor but was persuaded to give him up by a family friend named Lady Russell (Susan Fleetwood). She has regretted her decision ever since, especially since her life is now defined by loneliness, books, and the failings of her obnoxious family. When her pompous father and peevish older sister head to Bath to escape their creditors, Anne goes to visit her hypochondriac younger sister Mary (Sophie Thompson, deliciously horrid) and her good friends the Musgroves, who are Mary's in-laws. There, quite unexpectedly, she comes face-to-face with her long-lost love, whom the Napoleonic Wars have transformed from a mere seaman into the wealthy and successful Captain Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds).

In Austen's book, Anne and the captain are well nigh intolerable, all wishy-washy and feeble and unable to seize the happiness that stands right in front of them. Fortunately, screenwriter Nick Dear (and the two leads) rid them of such impotence, so that even though most of the movie revolves around their awkward attempts to reconnect, they seem mostly to be victims of bad timing and other people's foolishness. As the film progresses, the suspense builds over whether their one and only chance at love expired years ago: Captain Wentworth first indulges in stale vengeance by treating Anne with disdain; then appears to accept the advances of Louisa Musgrove (Emma Roberts); then evinces traces of his old attachment to Anne; and then seems to be lost again after she meets a handsome cousin (Samuel West) and subsequently removes to Bath. The movie invites the viewer to share in their agony and confusion: is love really forever, or does it require an auspicious set of circumstances, which, when wasted, cannot be regained?

The bare emotions of the story benefit greatly from the movie's lack of fanfare and the casting of actors who look like people instead of movie stars. (You gotta love British films for this reason if no other.) Despite the early-19th-century settings and costumes, the characters seem more real than romantic, with lines on their faces, mud on their coats, and a rather frightening susceptibility toward injury and illness (for which there are no reliable remedies). Indeed, a faint shadow of the harshness and fragility that used to mark all life permeates "Persuasion," lending extra poignancy to the notion that all worthy souls, like Anne and Wentworth, should grasp love when they can --- especially if it comes around a second time.

Copyright © 2003 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.