Plot
The story begins seven years after Anne Elliot has broken off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, at the time a young and undistinguished naval officer. He was considered clever, confident and ambitious, but his low social status and lack of wealth made Anne's friends and family view him as an unsuitable partner. Furthermore, Lady Russell, a distant relative whom Anne considers to be a second mother to her after her own died, also saw the relationship as imprudent for one so young, so persuaded Anne to break off the engagement.
Sir Walter Elliot, his debts mounting, reluctantly decides to lease their family estate Kellynch Hall to Admiral Croft. Sir Walter and Anne’s sister Elizabeth, along with the widowed Ms Penelope Clay, go to Bath while Anne is instructed to care for her sister Mary, who has taken ill.
Admiral Croft and his wife arrive and reveal that Admiral Croft's wife is Wentworth's sister. While visiting Mary, the Admiral, his wife and Captain Wentworth are expected for dinner; Mary recovers from her illness for the dinner, and Anne volunteers to miss the dinner to sit with Mary's injured son. Unknowing of their previous attachment, one of Mary's sisters-in-law, Louisa, encourages Anne to pursue Captain Wentworth but ends up doing so herself.
The group, including Mary's family, Anne, Louisa, and Wentworth, travel to Lyme to enjoy a holiday by the sea and meet some of Captain Wentworth's naval friends, including Captains Benwick and Harville. Louisa's infatuation with Wentworth is obvious, and Anne tries to hide her feelings. Anne and Wentworth agree to be friends, and the group encounters a mysterious gentleman who seems to be interested in Anne. They discover his identity after he has departed to Bath: William Elliot, cousin to the family who stands to inherit everything.
Louisa, in a misguided attempt at flirtation, has Captain Wentworth catch her as she jumps down the last stairs of a staircase. She tries to repeat the gesture from a greater height, despite Wentworth's objections, and is seriously injured. Captain Benwick fetches a doctor, and Mary resolves to stay with her while Anne goes to Bath.
In Bath, Anne is reacquainted with William Elliot, who begins to pursue her. He also states that his intention in Bath is to ensure Anne's father does not marry Ms Penelope Clay, who could bear a son that would displace him as heir to the estate. Anne becomes distraught upon learning of Louisa's engagement following her recovery. Wentworth arrives and reveals that he has been made an offer of a ship and is decideding whether to take it. Upon seeing William Elliot's pursuit of Anne, he decides to accept the offer.
Wentworth overhears Anne and Harville discussing the relative faithfulness of men and women in love. Deeply moved by what Anne says about women not giving up their feelings of love even when all hope is lost, Wentworth writes her a note declaring his feelings for her and departs. Anne runs after Wentworth, along the way seeing William Elliot in a romantic embrace with Ms Penelope Clay. Anne and Captain Wentworth embrace themselves. William Elliot and Penelope Clay marry.
Later, Wentworth shows Anne how to use a sextant while the happy couple look out over the ocean as they talk of their impending naval voyage.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 31% of 129 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10.The website's consensus reads: "Despite Dakota Johnson's best efforts, the chaotically anachronistic Persuasion fails to convince as a worthwhile Austen adaptation." [8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews. [9]
Variety 's Peter Debruge found Carrie Cracknell to have "gone and done a strange thing with the book", by trying to "modernize it, borrowing heavily from Fleabag with its fourth-wall-breaking gimmicks", while "casting a free-spirited, fully liberated American star, Dakota Johnson, as Anne — all of which strips the novel of its core tension." [10] Christy Lemire from the Roger Ebert website found Dakota Johnson offering in the film "a taste of her under-appreciated comic timing", though she claims "it's impossible to care about whether Anne ends up with Frederick Wentworth because, as played by Cosmo Jarvis, he is so stiff and uncharismatic." [11] The Guardian's Stuart Heritage wrote that the "attempt to modernize the classic novel has led to a disaster of anachronistic dialogue and annoyingly wry glances at the camera," [12] while Vox critic Constance Grady found the film an "absolute disaster." [13] The Spectator went so far as to proclaim in its review that "everyone involved should be in prison." [14]
Vanity Fair cited Persuasion as a work that fails to utilize breaking the fourth wall successfully, writing that it "risk[s] structural damage" to itself due to breaking the fourth wall in an unnecessary and "narratively jarring" way. [15]
