SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

SnoopyStyle Anne Elliot (Sally Hawkins) is engaged to naval officer Frederick Wentworth (Rupert Penry-Jones). Her father Sir Walter Elliot (Anthony Head) is dismissive despite himself going through financial troubles. Her godmother Lady Russell (Alice Krige) talks her out of the engagement for his lack of station in life. Years later in 1815, Wentworth has become a highly sought-after bachelor successful Captain. He returns to visit his sister and her husband Admiral Croft who has rented the Elliot estate. Anne has to endure her regrets as she is passed her prime.Sally Hawkins is great as the reserved Anne who is so easily swayed and has basically blended into the furniture. This TV movie doesn't have much in the way of cinematic style although they use obvious big locations. Anne's passivity does make it hard to watch. It's one note and then, a bunch of stuff happens, she runs a lot and it ends. It's not the most satisfying but I do love Hawkins.

maddelise This is the first adaption of Jane Austen's Persuasion that I have watched, so I am judging it solely off its representation of the book, with no reference to any other film interpretations. There are not any particular spoilers below, I just wanted to be on the safe side.I was really disappointed on the whole when I watched it. In fact, I started making note every time something happened in the film that did not happen in the book. I am very familiar with the book, having read it many times, as it is a favourite of mine. Anne's character was distorted in an unflattering way, Captain Wentworth was not explored enough in depth. His relationship with Anne, both past, and current was distorted. The section of the film that took place in Bath was really quite terrible. There were a number of events that were distorted in an impractical, unrealistic way, and quite unnecessarily. I did not like the way the characters were given lines in the film that took the place of the narrator in the book. This was obviously a tool used to impart the information shared by the narrator in the book, but it was just another distortion.Sir Walter was really the redeeming feature of this film, I thought Anthony Head portrayed him very well. I found Sally Hawkins as Anne to be not likable enough, and not accurate of Austen's Anne. Anne was sweet, and gentle, with a hint of faded prettiness. Hawkins' Anne merely came across as awkward, spinsterly and dumpy. I could not see anything in her that would have made a young Captain Wentworth fall in love with her, for she was supposed to have been quite pretty when she 'bloomed' when she was younger. Rupert Penry-Jones was fair enough as Captain Wentworth, but not overwhelming or compelling.The viewing was not a complete waste of time, but I won't be watching it again, or recommending to anyone, if they want an accurate representation of the book. It does not measure up to other film interpretations of Austen's other works, by far.

Derek Smith I agree with those reviewers who suggest that it is pointless comparing the film adaptations with source novels. I would add that they do not live and die in comparison to previous adaptations either.The acting of the two leads has been criticised for lacking chemistry but I thought that the repression, surely a better title, is a vital part of the story. Here are two people who are afraid of expressing their true feelings.The scene near the end where Anne goes running is her expressing herself. The letter from Wentworth was the same for him. It is a love story of the time and should be viewed as such I think.I enjoyed it. Against my better judgement I agreed to see the BBC adaptation the following evening and will accept that it was better overall. But that doesn't take away the enjoyment that the ITV version can bring.It is a difficult to accept some of the mores from 200 years ago. I felt like kicking Wentworth's beam ends and telling him to act like a man. But then, nice though Anne is, I have to say that she's not the most exciting of heroines. I can accept that part of the story is how a brave and fearless sea captain, fresh from battles with the Spanish and French, can be put onto the back foot by love for a women, and the accepted norms of society, but even so one does feel like shaking him at times. My wife reckons he's the best looking Wentworth ever (a bit like a younger me she said but modesty forbids me to repeat it.) The camera-work was intrusive. In the opening scenes, with Anne running around, reflected at the end of the adaptation, I could see the point of hand held but it did get in the way at other times. And long lingering looks do not do it for me unless there is some deep need for them.An interesting take on a well established favourite so a brave attempt.The adaptation is well worth the few pounds the DVD costs. The only advice I'd give is to see it before the BBC one.6 stars might be seen as a little harsh but it is not a classic.

Zen-2-Zen I'm sure that staunch lovers of the "good old" but actually stale Austen will protest a lot, but this direction and screenplay achieved rather unimaginable thing. They brought entirely new life to stale and terribly clichéd Austen. If this was a full feature production (instead of TV) it would have been an Oscar worthy achievement.I started watching this pro-forma, just to see yet another Austen adaptation and be able to say "I saw it". Little did I know what kind of good surprise was awaiting around the corner.Screenplay is judiciously tight and direction is quite modern and dynamic, occasionally reaching the mastery one would expect from a director on the level of Christopher Nolan rather than a TV production. One notable aspect of the modern direction is the use of physical acting and even revolving camera for the finale to make the lead character come out as a live person with juices flowing.The sole aspect in which this film still wasn't able to break away is casting. It succumbed to the pressure of traditional English "plain is good" casting style which might have been OK 50 years ago but is a poison pill for a moder production, depriving it of the top talent available.