My first principle with an Austen adaptation is that the longer I spend in her world the better -- e.g., 5 hours of P&P is better than 2, and 2 hours is the minimum to do the characters justice. Someone who commented over at www.austenblog.com worked on the film and said they filmed many more scenes than were included in the final product. I wish we had been given those too.
I had never heard of either of the leads so I had no expectations, and found them to be effective within the confines of a sketchy and shallow script, and the decision by PBS executives to cut the overly short film even more.
I didn't appreciate the filmmakers turning Anne Elliot into a weepy, stammering fool but Hawkins is a very talented actress and she did a good job of expressing Anne's emotions and her strength of will, and also how Anne accepted her existence as a drudge as her deserved fate. Unlike some other viewers I think she's a pretty woman, and would have been more so except for that headache-inducing hairdo.
A lot of people are complaining about Wentworth, but Penry-Jones showed me an angry, proud, wounded man. He was mad at Anne *and* at himself, and alternated between trying to ignore her (hence the attention to Louisa the Hoyden), watching her yearningly when she was unaware of his attention and retreating into his shell when she was, and then being relaxed, easygoing and warm with others.
Wentworth couldn't trust Anne or himself and kept everything shoved down so far he was choking. P-J's portrayal was mainly in his eyes, especially his burning gaze, and the tightening of his jaw, or twitch of the lips, or averted gaze. In P-J's portrayal Wentworth seemed to be a man who could not say what he felt and therefore forced himself to say next to nothing, but who couldn't stop his feelings for Anne from reviving. At times, such as when he watched Anne play Beethoven, his eyes seemed to devour her, and then when watching her got too painful he left the room.
Some complaints:
-- too little character exposition and too little demonstration of how intertwined the characters are.
-- the characters are introduced and then disappear before they can make an impression.
-- butchering Wentworth's letter. WT ...? As played, though, it was clear that Wentworth watched Anne and Benwick and was so pleased with her kindness to Benwick, specifically, and with the company, generally, that he relaxed and then was rattled when he toasted the Navy and saw Anne across from him.
-- I'm sure the filmmakers thought having Anne run around Bath and then INTO Wentworth would convey her desperation to not lose him again -- you know, for once she ignores duty and propriety, blah, blah, blah ... if Austen had wanted Anne to do that she'd have written it.
-- the Crofts tell Anne about Louisa's engagement without actually giving her the facts, as they would if they were actually imparting news, and Anne stands there gulping and gasping in the most cruelly exposed way while they watch her, with what seemed to be an ulterior motive.
-- I didn't buy the portrayal of Sir Walter -- he's a vain snobbish nonentity, not an enraged bully.
-- Anne parades around - unselfconsciously! - in an unfastened dressing gown and her underclothes. I don't care if every one was some kind of relative - it would never happen.
-- Mrs. Smith chasing Anne down the street ... laugh or cry? I can't decide.
I had never heard of either of the leads so I had no expectations, and found them to be effective within the confines of a sketchy and shallow script, and the decision by PBS executives to cut the overly short film even more.
I didn't appreciate the filmmakers turning Anne Elliot into a weepy, stammering fool but Hawkins is a very talented actress and she did a good job of expressing Anne's emotions and her strength of will, and also how Anne accepted her existence as a drudge as her deserved fate. Unlike some other viewers I think she's a pretty woman, and would have been more so except for that headache-inducing hairdo.
A lot of people are complaining about Wentworth, but Penry-Jones showed me an angry, proud, wounded man. He was mad at Anne *and* at himself, and alternated between trying to ignore her (hence the attention to Louisa the Hoyden), watching her yearningly when she was unaware of his attention and retreating into his shell when she was, and then being relaxed, easygoing and warm with others.
Wentworth couldn't trust Anne or himself and kept everything shoved down so far he was choking. P-J's portrayal was mainly in his eyes, especially his burning gaze, and the tightening of his jaw, or twitch of the lips, or averted gaze. In P-J's portrayal Wentworth seemed to be a man who could not say what he felt and therefore forced himself to say next to nothing, but who couldn't stop his feelings for Anne from reviving. At times, such as when he watched Anne play Beethoven, his eyes seemed to devour her, and then when watching her got too painful he left the room.
Some complaints:
-- too little character exposition and too little demonstration of how intertwined the characters are.
-- the characters are introduced and then disappear before they can make an impression.
-- butchering Wentworth's letter. WT ...? As played, though, it was clear that Wentworth watched Anne and Benwick and was so pleased with her kindness to Benwick, specifically, and with the company, generally, that he relaxed and then was rattled when he toasted the Navy and saw Anne across from him.
-- I'm sure the filmmakers thought having Anne run around Bath and then INTO Wentworth would convey her desperation to not lose him again -- you know, for once she ignores duty and propriety, blah, blah, blah ... if Austen had wanted Anne to do that she'd have written it.
-- the Crofts tell Anne about Louisa's engagement without actually giving her the facts, as they would if they were actually imparting news, and Anne stands there gulping and gasping in the most cruelly exposed way while they watch her, with what seemed to be an ulterior motive.
-- I didn't buy the portrayal of Sir Walter -- he's a vain snobbish nonentity, not an enraged bully.
-- Anne parades around - unselfconsciously! - in an unfastened dressing gown and her underclothes. I don't care if every one was some kind of relative - it would never happen.
-- Mrs. Smith chasing Anne down the street ... laugh or cry? I can't decide.