persuasion

January 13 movie: Persuasion. A new adaptation they showed on PBS' Masterpiece Theater. Except now it's called "Masterpiece Classics." Or maybe just "Masterpiece," it was hard to tell. It was introduced by Gillian Anderson, and what the hell happened to her face? Her mouth moved and the rest of her face looked like it was molded out of plastic. Was she just trying to look serious, or was it Botox run amok?

Anyway. This version doesn't replace the Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds version as my favorite, but it was well worth watching on its own merit. The acting was good, I especially liked Anthony Head as Sir Elliott, and the guy playing William Elliott was excellent. A little too good maybe, as Captain Wentworth tended to fade into the background when he was around. Nice sets as well, they made good use of the locations of Lyme and Bath.

I only have a few criticisms: first, I thought Anne was too emotionally demonstrative. It's tough to show the the character's emotional development because it's all so internal, but Amanda Root managed it. Sally Hawkins could have too. Also showing her writing snippets of the original book in her diary, that's kind of the easy way out.

Second, that scene near the end where Anne runs back and forth and back and forth, over and over? I guess they were trying to show her sense of urgency, but it went on way too long and ended up being unintentional comedy. I mean knee slapping. I laughed out loud, so loud the dog came out to see what I was on about. One lap fewer around Bath would have gotten the point across without being quite so ridiculous.

Last, I didn't much like the epilogue they tacked on where Wentworth buys Kellynch Hall for Anne as a wedding present. I don't mind added material that's true to the original source, but this bit rang false to me. I can't imagine Anne could enjoy living at Kellynch when it had been bought out from under her father and sister, knowing what a slap in the face that would be to them. That's the kind of thing they would do to her. And it's been firmly established that she's not like them.