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Persuasion : Complete BBC Adaptation [1995] | ![Persuasion : Complete BBC Adaptation [1995]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417GW8585TL._SL75_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Roger Michell
Actors: Amanda Root, Ciaran Hinds, Susan Fleetwood, Corin Redgrave, Fiona Shaw
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £6.84
You Save: £13.15 (66%)
New (15) from £6.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 1239
Format: Pal
Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Original Language)
Rating: Universal, suitable for all
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 102
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014501004424
ASIN: B00004CZSD
Theatrical Release Date: September 27, 1995
Release Date: November 1, 1999
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: All of our items are brand new and take approx 4-6 working days (excluding weekends) from order to delivery. We only deliver to the UK.
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Amazon.co.uk Review
After a slow beginning, in which the complex tangle of relationships is initially confusing, this BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's last novel, Persuasion, develops into an elegant romantic comedy. Austin combines a subtle dissection of the folly of class with a slow-burning, intensely passionate love story. Anne Elliot (Amanda Root) has loved Captain Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds) ever since she was persuaded to reject him years before. Now he has returned from the Napoleonic wars, but will love be allowed to blossom? Especially when Anne is surrounded by the selfish, petty-minded Mary, misguided by Lady Russell, and burdened by a father obsessed with fairness of countenance above all other considerations. Excepting a basic booklet, on-screen character biographies and a Dolby Digital soundtrack, there is nothing to distinguish this DVD from the video version. The picture is very good, but showing some grain, not exceptional, so unless you have a large television there is little advantage over tape. In any format, what makes this adaptation work is the sharp screenplay by Nick Dear and the naturalistic style of director Roger Mitchell (who joined the A-list with Notting Hill, 1999), together eliciting fine performances from the ensemble cast. Less flamboyant than Pride and Prejudice (1995), this is a civilised treat. --Gary S Dalkin
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| Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...
 Brilliant sensitive version May 19, 2008
I read the reviews and picked this version and have to add my voice to the others! This is brilliantly cast - with an Anne who looks like her bloom has gone, but you can watch her magically blossom as she becomes more hopeful of regaining her lost love! The acting is excellent, although Elizabeth and father are rather overblown, but the book clearly hints that they are. All in all they have taken the mood and meaning of the book and subtly used their cinematic skills to interpret it very effectively, so all the info we lose from not having feelings explained, is acted or implied. Completely brilliant. Job well done. Look no further for a good Persuasion - this is IT!
The best by far December 28, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is absolutely my favourite T.V. adaptation of a Jane Austin novel. It is a real treat to watch from beginning to end: the whole thing is so well cast that every scene and every character have a charm of their own.
Comfort food for nostalgics that is well cast and crafted December 24, 2007
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Persuasion (1818) is often thought of as Jane Austen's most 'romantic' novel. Yet Austen's philosophy of love and romance might be quite different to what we understand as romantic today. She repeatedly counselled against a flighty over-indulgence of emotions (e.g. the characters of Marianne in Sense and Sensibility and Lydia in Pride and Prejudice), blessing her heroines with the prudence of rational love and controlled romanticism. Austen astutely recognised that women in the Georgian period, forbidden by custom and status to work beyond the home, were in danger of constructing and seeking to injudiciously act out wildly romantic fantasies. As Anne Elliott tells a naval officer in this brilliant adaptation, "We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us. You always have business of some sort or other to take you back into the world".
Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds excel as the leads and their on-screen chemistry is unmistakable as smouldering, unexpressed emotions threaten to penetrate the surface of their reserve. Root (who was originally sought by Emma Thompson to play the role of Marianne in Sense and Sensibility) has been frequently patronised on message boards - either consciously or unconciously - for her "plain" appearance, as if actresses must be classically beautiful before they can be considered good. I found that Root performed Anne with grace and intelligent sensitivity; she has the remarkable talent of letting her huge, searching eyes express what could often not be said in that era. Hinds makes for a Captain Wentworth as ruggedly handsome and virile as Firth in the role of Mr. Darcy; Wentworth is as morally principled as him and is a great deal tougher and more robust to boot. In his impassioned declaration to Anne - that "a man does not recover from such a devotion to such a woman, he ought not, he does not" - Hinds skillfully shows that Wentworth is thinking of his own strong, irrepressible feelings for Anne.
The leads are helped by an admirable supporting cast: Simon Russell Beale (as Charles Musgrove), Sophie Thompson (as his hypochondriac wife Mary) and Corin Redgrave (as the snobbish, spendthrift Sir Walter) do especially well, although I found that Mrs Croft (Fiona Shaw) and Lady Russell (played by Susan Fleetwood who died the year in which the film aired) sometimes look too similar to be clearly distinguished from each other.
Persuasion is quieter and more subdued than Austen's more famous novels. Appropriately the musical score is subtle and unobtrusive, complementing rather than overwhelming the dramatic moments of the narrative. Anne, too, makes for a less vivacious and lively heroine than, for example, the much-loved Lizzy Bennet. But this is not a fault: her development into self-conviction and in learning not only to trust her instincts and feelings, but more importantly to act upon them too, make her a paragon in a Georgian society which often sought to repress individual thought and feeling in women. She painfully experiences the pitfalls of letting oneself be guided or influenced by others. As Jane Austen counselled in an earlier novel, "We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be." (Mansfield Park, 1814).
Absolutely love it November 4, 2007
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
"Persuasion" is my favourite JA novel and I love this adaptation of it. I have watched it over and over again and simply can't get enough of it! Amanda Root is an excellent Anne Elliot - you really want her to get her man at the end of it, after all that she endures - and Ciaran Hinds is a fantastic Captain Wentworth (and mighty nice to look at too, I might add!). The many glances and the limited conversation with meaningful comments they share is so well done and you really get a sense of the chemistry between them. The rest of the cast was also very well chosen in my opinion; of special note, Sophie Thompson does a wonderful job as Mary and I particularly like Fiona Shaw as Mrs Croft. A very enthusiastic two-thumbs-up from me!
Just wonderful September 16, 2007
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Jane Austen's `Persuasion' is one of my favourite novels and certainly my favourite Austen book. Due to this I'm naturally sceptical to any film/TV adaptation of this book, fearing that the writers will hack away large sections of the story and water down the dialogue. However the BBC adaptation of `Persuasion' starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds is a wonderful film adaptation of this novel.
The story concerns Anne Elliott, the second of three daughters of the pompous Sir Walter Elliott of Kellynch Hall. Years prior to when the film starts Anne had falling in love with a young naval officer, Frederick Wentworth. She was persuaded to reject him and they both parted. Now years later, circumstances arise that means Captain Wentworth comes back into her life, although this time he is far wealthier, they are both more mature and he does not appear to wish to renew their relationship. Simultaneously the mature and reflective Anne is forced to move from her family seat of Kellynch Hall to fashionable Bath, as Sir Walter, and his like minded daughter Elizabeth are unable to maintain a realistic income and their debts result in the family having to lease out their country home. Anne not only faces such changes but she is forced to see Wentworth's growing relationship with another woman and she too receives the attentions of another; her cousin Mr William Elliott.
The film manages to capture the poignancy and beauty of the novel and, surprisingly, stays rather faithful to the book. Bath is used well as a filming location and throughout the film there is some wonderful piano music that accompanies the story so well. On the whole the cast is excellent, particularly the performances by Hinds and Root, Corin Redgrave as Sir Walter and Sophie Thompson, who plays Mary Musgrove brilliantly. The only minor problem I have is that I feel Amanda Root is slightly too mature to play Anne, but she is such a good actress and I wasn't too distracted by this.
Overall this is a fantastic film that manages to entertain yet simultaneously stay true to the book. If you are a fan of the novel, or just generally a fan of period dramas, then I really recommend this film.
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