Pass the Popcorn: Movies from where I Sit

There are so many Jane Austen films I'm pretty burnt out.  Most people like the Colin Firth, Jennifer Elye BBC marathon, and I adore it myself, but it's hardly fair, since the luxurious length gives us so much more of the book.  "Pride and Prejudice" is my favorite of Austen's novels, but my prize for best adaptation goes to "Persuasion" with Ciaran Hinds as Captain Wentworth and Amanda Root as Anne Eliot.  It is true to the tone and story, and is artistically perfect, with a cast that is utterly delightful, including Sofie Thompson as Anne's hypocondrical sister, Mary, and Corin Redgrave as her obnoxious dad and a lot of the greatest British character actors on hand to keep the satire fresh and meaningful, especially the delightful Fiona Shaw as Mrs. Croft, the exception of a happy wife, and the ultimate example for Anne.

The metaphor of the sea works beautifully to represent the rocky nature of courtship and marriage.  Anne's sisters are fellow victims.  Anne's heartbreak was young and advised by her godmother, but her older sister is a spinster, and her younger, Mary,  in a mismatched marriage.  By implication, Anne's parents' marriage has been a horrible mismatch, and true love seems nowhere to be found.  Along comes her young love back from the sea and now a success, and Anne's suffering includes watching everyone assume he will marry one of Mary's sister-in-laws, either Louisa or Henrietta.  Complications, confusions and breathless understanding at last make this a happy ending, but dark in so many ways.  The satire is brilliant, but what it shows us is a society of snobs, hypocrites and syncopants.  Anne is lucky, but we know in our hearts that life does not immitate fiction.

The scenes set at the seaside in Lyme and at Bath bring the seventeenth century alive.  The final view on Captain Wentworth's vessel smoothly takes us from suffocating home and hearth to the expanse and adventures of sailing the world. Women desire adventures and change of scene, and lucky Anne will have them, unlike her dear creator.