Persuasion reviews have not been kind — and understandably so. The film, which sports an impressive cast of Dakota Johnson, Richard E Grant, Henry Golding, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Cosmo Jarvis, has been slated by nearly everyone.
Quips include the hyperbolic 'everyone involved should be in prison' (The Spectator) to flat out 'awful' (The LA Times). Almost all of these reviews cite the Fleabag-ification of Austen's posthumously published work as one of the film's biggest flaws.
And it is to be sure that Johnson's constant winking at the camera does not invite you into her psychology because there is no psychology to these characters. Instead, it's as if someone made a Pride and Prejudice Instagram filter and flattened it onto the somehow strikingly modern-looking cast (a viral tweet at Persuasion's trailer release aptly claimed, "Dakota Johnson has the face of someone who knows what an iPhone is").
Because the characters have no depth, the breaking of the fourth wall is a cheap gimmick to appeal to a generation of (probably) women who discovered Fleabag and felt seen — felt their inner turmoil given real weight. But, unfortunately, Persuasion is full of paper dolls.
However, the most egregious error in the film's adaptation to this author is how it seeks to modernise themes that, in reality, only seem antiquated. It's hard to imagine, for the majority of us, our parents convincing us not to marry a man because he isn't 'distinguished' enough.
It isn't hard, however, to imagine a world in which inherited privilege, generational wealth, race, and the variety of other intersections of social, economic and political identity impact the choice of a partner. Yet, Netflix's need to stick to the aesthetically pleasing Regency get-up means it can't quite escape the dated confines of themes that could be easily transposed to modern times.
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In the introduction to a 1998 printing of the novel, literary scholar Gillian Beer explains that Persuasion was a novel that sought to explore the varying ways — both overt and covert — in which women were pressured into performing certain duties, particularly marriage, by society. The outcome may have changed from the 1800s when Austen first penned Persuasion, but the pressures haven't.
Women (trans women included) still have an imposed weight of expectation upon them that is impossible to carry. Be career women, be mothers, be mature, be demure, be devoted, be a girlboss – it is painful for any woman to simply be, to make her own choices as she navigates the world.
In some countries, that choice is wrenched away: the overturning of Roe v Wade continues to impact every facet of a woman's life, not just the choice to have an abortion. From getting chemotherapy to interstate travel, the world is shrinking at a drastic rate for women.
But none of this suffocating fear – a palpable sensation even as I write – is felt in Persuasion. Instead, Persuasion makes you feel nothing but the kind of annoying indigestion that comes from knowing something so much better could have been made.
In this way, Fire Island is a far more successful, arresting and deeply moving modern Austen tale. It transplants themes of otherness and cultural strictures from the rigidity of the Regency era to the contemporary homophobia that permeates culture (despite brands telling you otherwise during Pride month) and blooms a beautiful film.
By refusing to give up the easy symbolism of corsets and pageantry, Persuasion suffocates its resonant themes and the film withers and dies before the first scene (mercifully) comes to a close – only for you to remember there are two hours yet to go.
In Persuasion, Austen writes: "When pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure." Sadly, Netflix's adaptation renders this quote hollow.
Persuasion is now available to watch on Netflix
Netflix/Left Bank Pictures The Crown season 3 with Amazon exclusive box artwork
Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance film critic and journalist, with a focus on J-drama & film, and the Japanese production industry. She was previously Locations Editor at Screen International and Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. Her writing can also befound in Curzon, 1883, and more. A born and raised New Yorker, she loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.
