Their happy relationship is a mirror to the life and family Anne could have had if she’d married the now successful and rich Captain Wentworth (a young Ciarán Hinds, who could have given Colin Firth a run for his money if the props department had handed him a bucket of water instead of an umbrella). The most memorable and important scene in the novel is Lyme Regis and Bath. The scenes in the film bring to life the places in the book. They deliver the characters with spot on accuracy. Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds are Anne Elliot and Capt. The arrival of the cheerful Admiral Croft and his wife compounds Anne’s grief. For me, this is the best adaptation of Austens novel Persuasion. Some characters are oblivious to how they treat her, others more sinister in their attentions (including her father’s heir). A faithful adaptation of Jane Austens bittersweet novel about a lonely woman (Amanda Root) who may get a second chance at love when she reconnects with a. Instead, she’s quiet, sensible, full of remorse at not having the courage of her convictions years ago, and surrounded by a bunch of oxygen thieves. Fine romantic period drama, skilfully adapted from Jane Austens novel, starring Amanda Root, Ciaran Hinds, Susan Fleetwood and Corin Redgrave.

Unlike Elizabeth Bennet, arguably the public’s favourite Austen heroine, Anne is not playful or witty. Instead, she’s left to do the end-of-lease clean on the family estate, before being packed off in a pig cart to manage her hypochondriac sister. Now 27 and considered a bit of an old maid, Anne isn’t relocating to fashionable Bath with the relatives. Not only is she about to lose her home, the new tenants are related to the man whose proposal she was persuaded to reject at age 19. Of course, this brings complications of the heart for Anne Elliot (Amanda Root), the baronet’s daughter. It’s clear which group is on the up, and the baronet is forced to rent his property to the admiral to pay his debts. The film opens with a navy admiral returning triumphant from the war his arrival is juxtaposed against an angry mob gathering around the estate of a pompous, spendthrift baronet. Persuasion was Austen’s last finished novel, written when the society she so eloquently satirised was beginning to significantly change.

Amanda root persuasion