How Netflix’s Persuasion completely failed the assignment

It might be number one on the Netflix charts right now but one suspects a lot of those are hate-watchers.

Persuasion may be sitting in the top spot on Netflix’s most watched charts right now but that ranking has never been a measure of quality, merely curiosity.

The latest adaptation of what is regarded as Jane Austen’s most nuanced and considered novel, Persuasion stars American actor Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot, a young woman who reconnects with a former suitor years after she broke off their courtship.

She’s been pining for him for eight years, burdened with regret after being convinced by her family and friends to ditch him due to his lack of status and money.

Persuasion is a novel which explores the complexities of the heart, following a protagonist who is smart, thoughtful and mature.

Persuasion, the movie, is none of those things. It takes Austen’s story and turns it into a humourless treatise on modern dating, while still maintaining the Regency-era setting.

Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot in the unpersuasive Persuasion. Picture: Netflix

Anne is constantly breaking the fourth wall in some conspiratorial wink to the audience, aping a technique used to much, much better effect in Fleabag and The Office US. Here, it falls flat. You don’t want to be brought in on her thinking because the character is so thinly written there’s nothing to share in.

The Austen fandom’s hand-wringing started as soon as the trailer was released with director Carrie Cracknell’s style choices inspiring much consternation. When the film’s release only confirmed those anxieties, it was open season.

Persuasion is getting absolutely dragged from all quarters. Yes, the critics and fans are aligned and they have been very, very honest.

Vox writer Constance Grady didn’t hold back: “It’s hard to overstate just how bad Netflix’s Persuasion is, and in how many ways” and “As an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, it’s a disaster”.

Persuasion has been dragged by fans and critics. Picture: Nick Wall/Netflix

The Guardian’s Stuart Heritage took umbrage on behalf of Fleabag and its creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, “There’s something so aggressively obnoxious about the way that Persuasion cribs from Fleabag that it feels like the death of something. It feels as if Persuasion’s creative team made this film specifically to poison the earth where Fleabag once stood.”

Or how about this eviscerating takedown from Slate’s Dana Stevens? She called it “not only the worst Austen adaptation but one of the worst movies in recent memory”.

And Stevens touched on a point at the heart of most of the critiques, the clumsy attempt to modernise Austen’s work for young audiences and misfiring completely on that front.

She wrote: “Persuasion’s endless attempts to pander to young audiences presumed incapable of understanding any message not conveyed via Instagram hashtag have an effect exactly the opposite of the one intended: We feel not invited into Anne Elliot’s world but compelled to flee from it.”

It’s not that Persuasion dared to tread on consecrated ground – Austen and other literary classics are not sacrosanct. They’re frequently adapted and many of them successfully because as enduring as these stories are, attitudes and expectations do change. This isn’t about being a purist.

Modern adaptations, such as Romeo + Juliet, can be successful if done well. Picture: 20th Century Fox

And you don’t want to rehash the same thing over and over again without bringing a different or fresh perspective to it – what would be the point?

So what makes Persuasion such a specific case of utter derision? Most likely, its combination of trying to stay close to the source material in terms of its outline, setting and characters while changing up not only the tone but also the language. It’s the language aspect that really doomed it.

Adaptations are not word-for-word, changing the medium necessitates transformation but when you go too far in the other direction without bringing everything else in line, it creates a jarring effect.

Persuasion’s script is peppered with anachronisms such as “If you’re a five in London, you’re a 10 in Bath!” or references to “playlists” (a curated bundle of sheet music) and drinking sessions in one’s room. Perhaps with a different filmmaking team, there is a version of this movie where it would’ve all come together – but that’s not this one.

Think about the modern adaptations that have worked, they usually fall into two camps.

There’s either the radical update which takes the broad strokes of the original and transposes it onto an entirely contemporary setting, breathing fresh air into what could’ve been an otherwise staid repeat.

Clueless is the quintessential updated classic. Picture: Paramount

It’s what Amy Heckerling did with Austen’s Emma, using it as the basis for Clueless by turning a privileged and spoiled young woman with a penchant for meddling into a well-meaning rich kid from Beverly Hills who knows how to wield a credit card.

Bridget Jones’ Diary was Helen Fielding’s direct ode to Pride and Prejudice and The Lion King took more than a few points from Hamlet.

10 Things I Hate About You switched out Shakespeare’s Italy for an American high school while Fire Island converted Pride and Prejudice into a queer story.

These films paid homage to their inspiration but made the stories their own, with a perspective unique to them.

The other camp that veers from a straight adaptation are those that stay within the bounds of the time period and setting but changes up the vibe and energy. Most importantly, they retain the language, the playfulness of Austen or Charles Dickens.

The Personal History of David Copperfield has a modern energy but retains the playfulness of Charles Dickens. Picture: Roadshow

The 2020 adaptation of Emma, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, is a candy-coloured movie with modern sensibilities but it keeps faith with Austen’s words.

With The Personal History of David Copperfield, The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci heightens the chaotic comedy of Dickens’ sharp caricatures but he doesn’t try to make it “hip and now”.

Greta Gerwig’s Little Women drew on Louisa May Alcott’s emotionally rich novel and brought out its defiant spirit with compassion and reverence.

And then there’s Baz Luhrmann’s superb Romeo + Juliet, morphing Shakespeare’s timeless classic about doomed young love and violent tribalism into a modern, still theatrical setting but kept the playwright’s words.

Persuasion’s smug attempt to be more relevant to young modern audiences without understanding the core of Austen’s work, haphazardly changing the lexicon, slapping on some 21st century filming techniques and winking at the audience as if it had an eye twitch are among the reasons why it so spectacularly failed.