Persuasion

April 13th, 2009

On the hopeless romantic front, I started re-reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion last week, which put me in the mood to watch the 1995 Ciaran Hinds/Amanda Root film version this weekend. And then I rewatched the last 20 minutes again today.

I think that as I age mature I am almost coming to have more of an affinity for this novel than I do for Pride and Prejudice. I know, say it ain’t so. But I think it might be so.

There’s something about the characters of Anne and Frederick that seems more familiar to me. Maybe because now I understand more about loves that are long lost, and the way that your family and friends play their own parts in relationships. It really is impossible to love in a vacuum, and the way that the people you love respond to each other, and the way that influences the decisions you make, affects every relationship.

Or maybe it’s just because I want to go back to Bath. Maybe I don’t even know why – I am just in a Persuasion kind of mood. Maybe it’s just because Ciaran Hinds plays the part of Frederick so very hotly, and Amanda Root’s wide-eyed vulnerability as Anne touches my heart.

The way the film is made is so understated, just as the novel was written. So much is left unsaid, but is still perfectly shown through the character’s expressions and subtle movements. The scene at the end where Anne’s hand is engulfed in Frederick’s gigantic paw is so laden with meaning that your TV screen practically melts.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen the film, you should.

“All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one; you need not covet it), is that of loving longest, when all hope is gone.” - Anne Elliot, in Persusion