OK, so I am biased. The Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds Persuasion is one of my very favourite films and Persuasion is my favourite Austen book, and I was wondering if they would mess this up as ITV pretty much messed up Mansfield Park. Firstly Sally Hawkins was a very good Anne. A likable and quietly confident Anne, although what on earth was all that running around at the end about? Was the director a fan of Run Lola Run??!
I was less impressed with Rupert Penry Jones. Very pretty, but he didn't look like a sailor to me. He was rather wooden in his acting and I found the modern haircuts on the men distracting too. I disliked the changes too - the silly ending, but the way they changed the crucial scene with Wentworth over hearing Anne and writing her a letter was a real mess up.
I quite enjoyed the programme, largely due to Sally Hawkins, but I re watched that 1995 production afterwards to compare, and it is superior in almost every way - casting (Ciaran Hinds, Fiona Shaw, Sophie Thompson, Corin Redgrave, Phoebe Nicholls, John Woodvine, Catherine Schlesinger, Sam West, Simon Russell Beale - all much better than their counterparts) the atmospheric filming - loads of candlelight in the 1995 one, that lovely opera song. Only really the poorer picture quality and the 4:3 DVD picture were bettered in this new production.
However, both production had on the street kisses, which were quite inappropriate for the times, although I guess they can't resist having SOME action!!
I was less impressed with Rupert Penry Jones. Very pretty, but he didn't look like a sailor to me. He was rather wooden in his acting and I found the modern haircuts on the men distracting too. I disliked the changes too - the silly ending, but the way they changed the crucial scene with Wentworth over hearing Anne and writing her a letter was a real mess up.
I quite enjoyed the programme, largely due to Sally Hawkins, but I re watched that 1995 production afterwards to compare, and it is superior in almost every way - casting (Ciaran Hinds, Fiona Shaw, Sophie Thompson, Corin Redgrave, Phoebe Nicholls, John Woodvine, Catherine Schlesinger, Sam West, Simon Russell Beale - all much better than their counterparts) the atmospheric filming - loads of candlelight in the 1995 one, that lovely opera song. Only really the poorer picture quality and the 4:3 DVD picture were bettered in this new production.
However, both production had on the street kisses, which were quite inappropriate for the times, although I guess they can't resist having SOME action!!