Jane Addiction Part 9 - Sense and Sensibility Vol I

Welcome to my 10 week critique of films based on the works of Jane Austen. I will review each installment of PBS's "Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen" and also take a look at other adaptations of the same novel. Enjoy!

Note: Masterpiece just began its two week presentation of the 2008 "Sense and Sensibility" mini-series. This week, I will look at the first half of this series and also examine Ang Lee's 1995 feature film adaptation.

Sense and Sensibility Vol. I
Sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are temperamental opposites - elder Elinor is polite, rational, and emotionally reserved, whereas brash, passionate Marianne freely speaks her mind. Along with their gentle mother and precocious younger sister, Margaret, the Dashwood ladies find themselves homeless when Mr. Dashwood dies and older brother John inherits Norland, the family estate. Although John made a deathbed promise to his father to look after his stepmother and half-sisters, he and his pushy wife Fanny quickly move in, quietly pressuring the ladies to find a new home and promising them only a small annual allowance. Elinor tries to be civil toward John and Fanny while Marianne wallows in bitterness and mourning.

Fanny's older brother Edward Ferrars visits Norland. Modest, kind Edward is sympathetic to the Dashwood women and develops a friendship with Elinor. When Fanny senses that Edward is falling for her sister-in-law, she hints to Mrs. Dashwood that she expects her brother to marry a wealthier woman. Fanny's snobbery pushes Mrs. Dashwood over the edge, and she rashly accepts the first housing offer that fits her meager budget - an invitation to rent Barton Cottage on her cousin Sir John Middleton's estate. Elinor sadly says goodbye to Edward, but he promises to visit her soon.

Sir John warmly greets his new tenants and insists they visit his home. There they meet his boring wife Lady Middleton and her boisterous busybody mother Mrs. Jennings. The Middletons also introduce the ladies to their good friend, Colonel Brandon, a tasteful, mild-mannered naval officer who is immediately charmed by Marianne. Yet, Marianne is incensed when Sir John and Mrs. Jennings teasingly hint that she is destined to marry the much older Colonel.

As Brandon pines for Marianne, she meets Willoughby, her equally spirited and outspoken male counterpart. The two are immediately inseparable and the neighbors and family begin to assume that Willoughby has or will soon propose to Marianne. Elinor feels for the dejected Brandon as she laments her separation from Edward.

One day, after inviting all the neighbors to a party at his home, Colonel Brandon suddenly departs the gathering, saying that he must deal with a personal emergency in London. Willoughby and Marianne mock the inscrutable Colonel for his seriousness, vociferously agreeing that Brandon is too dull for their tastes. It is more obvious than ever that these two are in love, so when Willoughby asks Mrs. Dashwood if he can see Marianne in private, everyone assumes that he will propose to her. But when Elinor, Margaret and Mrs. Dashwood come home to find Marianne sobbing hysterically, they see a flustered Willoughby rushing out the door, saying he must leave to stay at his aunt's home for at least a year. Watching Willoughby ride away, the Dashwood ladies are perplexed by another man's inexplicable departure.

The first half of John Alexander's 2008 "Sense and Sensibility" mini-series is proof enough that this is the best of the BBC's batch of new Austen adaptations. Maintaining the proper tone is always crucial and it's no surprise that Andrew Davies is the man behind this brilliant script, which may be his best work to date. Managing to capture the lightness and beauty of a tale that begins with death and deceit is no easy task, especially when there is so little dialog from which a screenwriter can draw. More than any of Jane's other stories, S&S describes feeling and character more often than it details actions, so it is up to the screenwriter to create scenes that embody the emotions and personalities at the core of this narrative. Davies accomplishes this with dozens of telling vignettes, like the sequence in which Fanny persuades John to shrink the ladies' allowance as they pack their carriage and drive to Norland. In a few tidy scenes, Davies conveys Fanny’s greed and John's utter lack of conviction.

Of course, it takes great acting to capture the spirit of Austen's characters, and the two leading ladies are the best of this cast. Hattie Morahan's intelligent and even-keeled Elinor is exactly as you expect her to be, but Charity Wakefield’s Marianne is a pleasant surprise – she is just as intelligent and assured in her ardent manner, whereas most actresses would rely on being merely impetuous. Janet McTeer’s naively sweet Mrs. Dashwood is the perfect foil to Claire Skinner’s sociopathic Fanny. Indeed, Skinner’s portrayal makes Fanny one of Austen’s most delightfully reprehensible villains. She overflows with glee as she swiftly displaces her in-laws in mourning.

Unfortunately, the men are not so sublime. In most Austen adaptations, too little attention is paid to casting the men properly (a dopey move, considering how many horny, hetero women love to watch these films), and that is the biggest problem with this version. David Morrissey’s Brandon is blandon. Dominic Cooper’s Willoughby is attractive, but far more grating than sexy. Dan Stevens’s Edward is the most frustrating despite being the most likable. He’s lighthearted, cute, charming, but not much like the introverted Edward from the text.

Of course, all the heroics and caddishness come to light in the second act. Perhaps next week’s installment will give the men an opportunity to live up to the ladies’ stunning portrayals.

If not for that glaring deficit in casting, this new version of the story may have lived up to Ang Lee’s 1995 Sense and Sensibility. Half the credit for this brilliant adaptation goes to Emma Thompson, who not only starred as Elinor, but also wrote the screenplay that so deservedly won her an Oscar. Thompson is an actor’s writer, peppering her script with enough silence so that the players can express themselves in subtler ways. Enter Ang Lee’s eye for beautiful backdrops and scenery and here we have one of the most perfectly executed motion pictures of all time. Nearly every scene is a masterpiece.

Of all the fantastic actors that grace this production, including ingénue Kate Winslet as Marianne and Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon, Hugh Grant stands out most in his portrayal of Edward. The same man who brought us Bridget Jones’s Diary’s classic cad gives us this incredibly well-studied and subtle performance. Every stutter and averted glance speaks both the awkwardness and the secret burden behind his thoughtful expression. His climactic scene with Thompson’s Elinor is the finest and most cathartic payoff of any Austen-based film.

But Grant’s performance is just one perfect sample of a practically perfect film. With its top-notch acting, direction, writing, cinematography and score, this film actually justifies the time and expense taken to produce a big-budget theatrical release. In this one, rare instance, Hollywood trumps the BBC.

Jane Addiction Part 7 - Pride and Prejudice Vol III

Welcome to my 10 week critique of films based on the works of Jane Austen. I will review each installment of PBS's "Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen" and also take a look at other adaptations of the same novel. Enjoy!

Note: "Masterpiece" just ended it's three week presentation of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series. During these three weeks, I gave a synopsis of each installment and also examined different types of P&P adaptations, including the tv mini-series and the Hollywood period piece. This week, I will focus on modernized interpretations of the story, which I call far-flung adaptations.

Pride and Prejudice Vol III
Synopsis:While enjoying her vacation in the Derbyshire countryside, Elizabeth Bennet is surprised to be Mr. Darcy's honored guest at his palatial home. She becomes quickly attached to his younger sister Georgiana (the would-be bride of the lecherous Wickham), who has heard so much of Lizzy from her brother. But before Lizzy can make sense of this new dynamic, she receives a shocking letter from her sister Jane: their youngest sister, Lydia, has run off with Wickham. Darcy happens to visit Lizzy just as she is receiving the news and she confides in him. As she prepares to return home immediately, he abruptly leaves. Knowing that she is, in all likelihood, about to become the sister-in-law of his arch nemesis, Lizzy realizes that she may have lost Darcy's interest forever, and that actually bothers her.

Lizzy returns to a home in turmoil. Her father has gone to London to find Lydia and Wickham and her mother is hysterical. Lizzy feels guilty for not revealing Wickham's true character beforehand. Soon, it becomes apparent that the couple have not married, and Lydia may be destined for a terrible reputation and no marital prospects (a fate actually worse than being married to Wickham). Mr. Bennet fails to find the two and returns home in shame. Miraculously, the Bennets receive word from the Gardiners that Wickham and Lydia have been found and will marry if Mr. Bennet agrees to give them one hundred pounds annually. Knowing that this could never be enough to entice Wickham, Mr. Bennet suspects that the Gardiners have bribed Wickham handsomely.

The newlyweds pay an uncomfortable visit to the Bennet home. As Lydia is bragging to her sisters about the wedding, she accidentally mentions that Mr. Darcy was there. Burning with curiosity, Lizzy confronts her aunt Gardiner about Darcy's role in Lydia's marriage and finds out that it was Darcy who paid Wickham to marry her. Lizzy realizes that he could only have done this out of consideration to herself and her hopes are rekindled. Shortly after the Wickhams leave for Newcastle, Bingley return to Netherfield with Darcy in tow. Jane and Lizzy are reunited with their suitors and Bingley quickly proposes to Jane. Darcy, however, is his old standoffish self, which confuses Lizzy. But she is completely thrown when Lady Catherine De Bourgh shows up on her porch, demanding that Lizzy promise to never marry her nephew.

Two of the very best Pride and Prejudice adaptations are modernizations of the text: the 2001 film version of Bridget Jones's Diary and the 2004 musical Bride and Prejudice. One story reshapes an average modern-day single Englishwoman as Elizabeth Bennet while the other faithfully interprets the marital politics of the original text through a Bollywood lens.

Bride and Prejudice's main success as a P&P adaptation is that very thoroughness that simply cannot be achieved in a contemporary western interpretation of the story. Most American women today are unlikely to relate completely to the marital woes of the Bennet girls. But in the context of an eastern society, where arranged marriages and dowries are more the norm, Elizabeth and Jane - or in this case, Lalita and Jaya - actually make complete sense in the present. In this version, Lalita and Darcy are socially divided by class and cultural differences. He is a brash, arrogant white American and Bingley is the Indian English Balraj Bingley who brings him to Armristar for a friends' wedding, where they meet the Bakshi daughters. And with the dazzling musical number that follows, this film really takes off. In addition to telling Austen's story really well, B&P adds enormous fun by being a Bollywood musical.

Famous Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai is well-cast as Lalita - she has the chops for the musical bits and she also gets the smartness of the character. Martin Henderson's Darcy, though not being nearly as dashing as Colin Firth or Laurence Olivier, is quite perfect as an obnoxious American. It's amusing to see Darcy interpreted this way. And for some fun, against-type casting, check out Naveen Andrews (tortured ex-torturer Sayeed from "Lost") as Bingley and Gilmore Girl Alexis Bledel as Georgie Darcy.

The casting is just another fine feature of this very canny adaptation. Overall, this version of P&P captures the spirit of the story better than most, and even outs forth a compelling and believable premise, despite the ramdom outbursts of song and dance.

The courtship of Elizabeth and Darcy takes a very different direction in Bridget Jones's Diary. Renee Zellweger's Bridget bears little resemblance to our Lizzy, at least at first. This character is best known for her flaws - her (over)weight, her propensity to get drunk and then stumble into work hungover, her "verbal diarrhea" tick, etc. In other words, she's a normal, lonely, single woman in her early thirties. Her main problem is that she has no confidence. Her discontent comes into a focus when she meets stuffy Mark Darcy at her mother's New Year's party and she overhears him insulting her. And like a modern-day Lizzy Bennet, she soon finds herself sleeping with Darcy's nemesis, Daniel Cleaver, who also happens to be her boss.

And thus, we have a contemporary tale of a questionably marriageable woman. In this rendition, our heroine suffers more from personal demons than social constraints, but our hero is just the same. In fact, this Darcy is also portrayed by Colin Firth, who, along with screenwriter Andrew Davies, carries much of the 1995 P&P mini-series into this story. His interactions with Zellweger bring out her inner Lizzy, as she unwittingly mocks his high class world with her nervous banter. Hugh Grant's Cleaver is the best Wickham that ever graced a P&P adaptation, bearing the perfect balance of sleazy and sexy. Even though you immediately sense his danger, you understand why Bridget falls for him.

A beautifully paced collection of hilarious vignettes, BJD is one of the most beloved Austen adaptations. In an era where an Elizabeth Bennet is no longer ahead of her time, it is so refreshing to see, instead, a woman who embodies all of our common fears. And in the end, that very average lady can still get her Darcy.

Jane Addiction Part 6 - Pride and Prejudice Vol. II

Welcome to my 10 week critique of films based on the works of Jane Austen. I will review each installment of PBS's "Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen" and also take a look at other adaptations of the same novel. Enjoy!

Note: "Masterpiece" is in the midst of it's three week presentation of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series. During these three weeks, I will give a synopsis of each installment and also examine three different types of P&P adaptations: the tv mini-series, the Hollywood period piece, and what I like to call far-flung adaptations, but more of that later. This week, I will focus on the Hollywood's straight adaptations of the story.

Pride and Prejudice Vol II

Mrs. Bennet is angry with Elizabeth for refusing Mr. Collins's marriage proposal, but is livid when Lizzy's friend, Charlotte decides to marry him, instead. Charlotte isn't much into romance and she assures Lizzy that she is happy with this choice as it will secure her financial health, but Lizzy is incredulous. At the same time, Jane must contend with the Bingley crew's abrupt departure from Netherfield. Both Elizabeth and Jane's marital prospects are suddenly shaky, especially after Wickham becomes suddenly engaged to a wealthy neighbor.

Jane and Lizzy find respite in respective holidays - Jane travels to London to visit her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner (also in hopes of reuniting with Bingley) and Lizzy visits Charlotte in her new home at Rosings. Wishing for Lizzy to regret all that she gave up in refusing his proposal, Mr. Collins makes a big show of introducing her to his rich benefactress, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Elizabeth is thoroughly unimpressed by haughty, bossy Lady Catherine, who happens to be Mr. Darcy's aunt. Soon enough, Lizzy finds herself in the company of her nemesis. Her anger toward Darcy roils with each passing day, especially when she learns that he expressly deterred Bingley from pursuing Jane. Unaware of her growing resentment, Darcy throws Lizzy for a loop when he asks her to marry him.

Elizabeth curtly refuses Darcy, pointing to his interference with Jane and Bingley as well as his past mistreatment of Wickham. Darcy storms off and soon leaves his aunt's house. But before he goes, he gives Lizzy a letter which explains his interference with Bingley (claiming that Jane's seeming indifference and the Bennet family's general ridiculousness made it look like a bad match) and his full history with Wickham (including the part where Wickham tried to run off with his underage sister). After Lizzy returns home, she takes a serious look at Wickham, her family and herself and increasingly finds that Darcy was on target. She tries in vain to prevent her father from allowing Lydia to travel alongside the regiment to Brighton and fails equally in keeping her mother from constantly haranguing Jane about Bingley.

Again, Lizzy finds balm in travel, joining the Gardiners on their trip to her aunt's hometown in Derbyshire. While there, Mrs. Gardiner insists that they tour neighboring Pemberly, Mr. Darcy's estate. Lizzy is at first nervous, but when the housekeeper at Pemberly informs them that Darcy is out of town, she is able to relax and take in the beauty of the surroundings. The trio are surprised by the housekeeper's unabashed praise of Darcy's character when suddenly, the man himself appears on the scene. Darcy politely introduces himself to Elizabeth's relations and cordially invites them to return during their visit in town. Lizzy leaves Pemberly pleasantly dazed by Darcy's newfound manner.

What with the budgets and the big stars, it would seem that Hollywood would have no problem producing the very best Austen adaptations and yet, this is consistently the most disappointing type of Austen adaptation. In fact, Hollywood filmmakers seem to do a much better job of modernizing or otherwise reinterpreting these texts (examples such as Bridget Jones's Diary and Bride and Prejudice will be explored next week), for when it comes to giving us a feature-length story that looks and feels like the novel, the industry largely fails. It is difficult to pinpoint a single reason why this is so. Both the 1940 and 2005 theatrical releases of Pride and Prejudice fall far short of the text, but in markedly different ways.

Robert Z. Leonard's 1940 Pride and Prejudice is certainly the worst of all P&Ps and it's badness is along the lines of what you would expect from a shoddy adaptation. Foremost is that the plot in Aldous Huxley's script barely resembles the novel. In this version, neither Darcy or Elizabeth are flawed as much as they are misunderstood, mostly by each other. Their tension sprouts from a series of childish misinterpretations and assumptions, sort of like a "Three's Company" episode. Some of the villains aren't so bad either, like Edna May Oliver's Lady Catherine, who only puts on a front of haughtiness to test Elizabeth's strength(?).

Nevertheless, this version remains popular to this day, undoubtedly due to Laurence Olivier's portrayal of Darcy. Colin Firth's Darcy may be more to the heart of our hero, but could there ever be a more perfect movie star cast in this role? Olivier, the prince of classic film royalty, is Hollywood's best answer to English aristocracy. How unfortunate that he should be paired with Greer Garson as Elizabeth. In addition to being bland and a little prissy, Garson seems too matronly to play this young woman. She cannot evoke youthful pride. She has no spark.

In comparison to that farce, Joe Wright's 2005 Pride and Prejudice is stellar, and even outside the comparison, this one manages to get a lot right. Screenwriter Deborah Maggoch masterfully wraps together every key scene in just 129 minutes, without dropping too many characters or plot turns. Roman Osin's cinematography - the use of natural light, fog, rain - is breathtaking, even on the small screen. The palette of rich blues and browns is especially flattering to Keira Knightley, who is as beautiful but also as understated as Lizzy should be.

The real rub of this version is that Knightley's resemblance to Elizabeth ends there. She's very good in the role she plays, but that role just isn't Lizzy. Instead, she comes off as a typical modern-day 20-year-old - a little boy crazy and very brooding. There are numerous shots of her sulking in the corner, frowning to herself as she twirls on a swing, sighing in her lonely sorrow- these are the moments when the movie really drags. Beside that, her portrayal simply isn't consistent with Austen's 20-year-old heroine, who is beloved for being the ideal of good-humored womanhood.

But Knightley isn't alone in missing the target. When many good actors go wrong, the director is usually to blame. Wright must have strove to make this P&P unique by pushing his players to reinterpret these well-worn roles, but ultimately, the story suffers. Donald Sutherland's Mr. Bennet is the worst example. Instead of being a sharp-witted man who has grown too used to making a joke of his wife and daughters, he's a dizzy dilettante who doesn't know any better. In the end, he's a helpless romantic. Sutherland's stab at Mr. Sensitivity is not only inappropriate to the tale, it's also poorly executed. He seems to be hopped up on Vicodin. Also a disappointment is Rosamund Pike's distractingly odd Jane. While the novel's Jane is certainly reserved, this one is said to be very shy, which Pike emotes through a lot of weird "deer in the headlights" facial expressions. Though pretty in certain flashes, her face is undeniably British.

Brenda Blethyn, on the other hand, rocks the reinterpretation in her remodeling of Mrs. Bennet. She makes the most of Sutherland's sleepy portrayal by toning down her own character, who is usually the harpy to Mr. Bennet's wise ass. Blethyn's Mrs. B is no less of a drama queen, but she also captures this overgrown teenager's arrested development. Sadly, her performance is the only quality standout in this well-written, gorgeously shot but poorly directed attempt at a feature-length Austen adaptation.

Jane Addiction Part 2 - Northanger Abbey

Welcome to my 10 week critique of films based on the works of Jane Austen. I will review each installment of PBS's "Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen" and also take a look at other adaptations of the same novel. Enjoy!

Northanger Abbey

Synopsis: Young Catherine Morland, one of ten children, is pleasantly shocked when her neighbors, the Allens, invite her to vacation with them in Bath. Unaccustomed to urban society, Catherine is immediately awed by the sights and sounds of this bustling city. She befriends Isabella Thorpe and the two bond over their shared love of tawdry Gothic romance novels. Isabella's dopey frat boy older brother John pursues Catherine, but she is too busy pining for the far more charming Henry Tilney to notice. Though pressured by John, Isabella and her older brother James (who turns out to be Isabella's secret beau) to dismiss the friendly society of Henry and his sister Eleanor, Catherine agrees to visit the Tilneys at their ancient estate, Northanger Abbey. General Tilney, the stern patriarch, rules the spooky castle with the same tight grasp he holds over his children's lives. Catherine's imagination is stoked by the General, the Abbey and the mystery surrounding the late Mrs. Tilney's death, and she begins to imagine herself a character in one of her cherished horror novels.

Jon Jones's 2007 version of Northanger Abbey, featured as the second installment of PBS's "Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen", is another successful Jane adaptation that manages to get the tone just right. This is due in large part to Andrew Davies's screenplay. Davies, a veteran adaptor of classic texts, is responsible for numerous Jane-based screenplays, including the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series and the P&P derived chick lit megahit Bridget Jones's Diary. This will surely stand amongst his best work. Northanger Abbey is Austen's silliest story, a playful satire of the sort of trashy gothic horror that she herself loved. This verson of that story is appropriately light and, at times, appropriately suspenseful and frightening. It's also about as sexed-up as Jane Austen story should be. Sex is always hanging around the periphery of every Austen tale - it is often the downfall of a caddish, would-be suitor or a wayward lady - and Davies manages to insert it into believable scenarios, like Catherine's dark fantasies and Isabella's eventual (and predictable) betrayal of James.

A large credit is also due to Felicity Jones, whose sprightly, wide-eyed Catherine is winning from start to finish. Catherine might be Austen's least remarkable heroine but Jones brings such a charming good nature to this character that she comes off as one of the most relatable. Her chemistry with JJ Field's Henry really carries the story and is beautifully sealed by an awkwardly hormonal and truly funny romantic climax. Fields is a suitable Henry and, despite his indie rock band bassist hair-do, manages to pull off flirty without being smarmy. As always, the jerky characters are my favorite to watch and William Beck's cro-magnon John Thorpe is exactly right. His half-assed marriage proposal to Catherine is the funniest scene in the film.

In principle, Giles Foster's 1986 version of Northanger Abbey has the same basic qualities as the more modern adaptation. A script that balances horror and humor? Check. Sexed up depictions of Catherine's morbid daydreams? Check. Now, imagine yourself, as a filmmaker, taking those elements and then dropping several hits of acid before going into casting and production. That's how you end up with this sort of Abbey.

I can't say that I enjoyed watching this, but I couldn't stop watching. The tone is very '80's avant garde, very Kate Bush video-esque. Katharine Schlensiger's Catherine is frankly hideous, which brings me to the single biggest problem with so many Austen adaptations- often, Brits be ugly. Many of these actors come from theater, and they've got the faces for it. They should stay on stage and leave the close-up shots for those less homely. It doesn't help Ms. Schlesinger's situation that she is surrounded by other ghouls, outfitted in garb straight out of Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" video. Bonus points for eschewing the customary empire waistlines and curly tendril-ed up dos that are practically mandatory in Austen-based productions, but does it have to be so garish? The soundtrack sounds like porn. Peter Firth's Henry acts like he's in porn and maybe that isn't inherently bad except that you would never want to even imagine these people having sex. Sadly, this only other Abbey completely loses the allure of its source and falls far short of it's successor. Yet it distinguishes itself by being so freakin' weird.

Your local PBS affiliate will surely rerun Northanger Abbey in the coming weeks and it will be available on DVD January 22nd. Look for the 1986 Northanger Abbey at your public library, if you dare invest the time. You would be a fool to invest a single dollar.

Jane Addiction Part 1 - Persuasion

I have the unfortunate luck of being a Jane Austen fan. We devotees are pretty obsessed with her work, and that's tough considering the woman wrote only six complete novels. We pore over those texts again and again, searching for newer nuances. When that becomes tiresome, we turn to screens big and small for those inherently less-nuanced adaptations. While the book will certainly always be better, Hollywood and the BBC have made up for quality with quantity and have supplied us with seemingly endless hours of Jane-based films and mini-series. Nearly 200 years after her death, this is how we make do.

I thought I had seen just about every English language movie or program based on an Austen novel until I discovered that there are four – count 'em, FOUR – new TV versions of her books, including Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility. I was further elated to find that all of these programs would be aired as part of PBS's ten week "Masterpiece" series, "The Complete Jane Austen". In addition to those current takes on Jane, the series will also include a new biopic Miss Austen Regrets, a 1996 adaptation of Emma (TV version – Kate Beckinsale in lieu of Gwyneth) and the much beloved 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth (you can check out the schedule at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html).

Since watching this series will complete my exploration of the Austen video archive, I figure there's no better time for me to embrace my fanaticism and at long last compile my Jane Austen Movie Guide! Over the coming weeks, I will take a critical look at the most recent "Masterpiece" installment and recommend other renditions of the same novel. I'll also include a brief synopsis of each story, in case you haven't read it before, which brings me to the point of doing all this. I want fresh meat to proselytize. If you aren't already, I will do my best to make you a Jane Austen fan. And then, we can talk about her stories. There isn't much else left for me to do. The woman only wrote six novels!

And so…

Persuasion

Synopsis: 27-year-old Anne Elliot has resigned herself to spinsterhood. She lives a somewhat lonely but peaceful life with her vain, spendthrift father, Sir Walter Elliot and her snobby elder sister Elizabeth. When the Elliots are forced to lease their estate so that they can repay their vast debts, Anne is stunned to find that the new tenants are the sister and brother-in-law of her old flame, Captain Wentworth. Anne had broken her engagement to the young and inexperienced Wentworth eight years earlier, at the insistence of her family and her friend Lady Russell. Now, she must contend with her long-regretted choice and face the newly wealthy and successful Wentworth, as he woos other women and barely acknowledges her existence. But Anne's mettle shines through when an unexpected tragedy forces her to take action.

Adrian Shergold's 2007 version of Persuasion is a perfect example of how Jane Austen gets a bad rap. The tone is all wrong. One of the most prominent myths about Austen's work is that it's stuffy, which this is, but it's so much worse than that. The director and screenwriter ripped away every ounce of humor from the story. One of the reasons Anne is so immediately likable, despite her plainness and her shyness, is that she is so patient with everyone else's retardation. She's the straight (wo)man for so many jokers, like her aging, narcissistic father or her hypochondriac sister Mary. But in this incarnation, Sally Hawkins's Anne is morbid, moody, sulky. She's as tortured as the stormy grayish-blue palate of the art design and the minor chord soundtrack that accompanies this relentlessly downbeat interpretation. There isn't anything to like about this her and if we can't fall for Anne, how is Capt. Wentworth going to?

For me, Austen's stories are drenched in a dazzling light, no matter what perils our leading ladies face. Howard Baker's 1971 Persuasion mini series features fairy-tale-ish costume and set design in deep pastel hues (I think that the early '70's were the heyday for trippy art design in Masterpiece Theater productions). It kinda reminds me of old school Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Probably more than any other Austen adaptation, this one does the best at visually capturing the inherent beauty and fantasy of her narratives. For that reason, it's worth checking out. Otherwise, it's only a decent achievement. While the overall tone is appropriately airy and satirical, Anne Firbank's Anne Elliot is a bit too stately and glamorous for a woman who is so accustomed to being ignored.

For the definitive adaptation, look no further than Roger Michell's 1995 Persuasion. This might be my favorite of all the Austen adaptations. Screenwriter Nick Dear expertly distilled the story into a screenplay, building dialog from Jane's own words and imposing that upon a very simple and elegant piano soundtrack. The acting is superb. With her wide-eyed gaze, Amanda Root's Anne looks shell-shocked at the outset but becomes softer and more graceful, appearing to grow younger as the story progresses. The amazing thing is that the transformation is entirely in her facial expressions. Ciaran Hinds's woolly Wentworth is tender and sympathetic, even as he pursues silly young maidens in front of Anne (and he's super hot). And the snobs are so deliciously abhorrent. Corin Redgrave proves in his portrayal of Sir Walter that "metrosexuals" existed long before the post-modern era. This Persuasion grasps both the subtle heartache and the sharp humor of the original text, all in a neat 90 minute package. Highly recommended.

Both the 1971 and 1995 versions of Persuasion are available on DVD. While neither title is likely to be at your average strip mall's Blockbuster, your public library is a good place to look. Librarians love all things British, especially Jane Austen. Or just commit yourself to one of those monthly-plan mail order thingies. Your local PBS affiliate will probably rerun the 2007 Persuasion in the next couple weeks, but I wouldn't bother. While Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason is both loosely based on this novel and very likely available at your nearest Blockbuster, I wouldn't bother with that, either.