Persuasion

The moment Dakota Johnson turned to the camera, wine glass in hand, and offered a knowing smirk, I knew we weren’t in Chawton anymore. For those of us who treat Jane Austen’s final completed novel like a sacred text, this was the cinematic equivalent of seeing a mustache drawn on the Mona Lisa. But here’s the thing about Netflix’s 2022 Persuasion: it isn't trying to be a dusty relic. It wants to be your best friend who just went through a messy breakup and is currently oversharing on Instagram Live.

I watched this on a Tuesday afternoon while my neighbor was power-washing their driveway with such rhythmic aggression that I started to synchronize my blinking to the spray. Somehow, that external chaos felt like the perfect accompaniment to a movie that treats 19th-century social mores with the same reverence a teenager treats a "Terms and Conditions" pop-up.

The Fleabag-ification of Somerset

Director Carrie Cracknell makes her feature debut here, and it’s clear she’s been drinking from the well of contemporary British dramedy. This version of Anne Elliot doesn't just pine; she wallows. She screams from windows, she pours gravy over her head to hide her face, and she treats the audience as her personal therapist. It’s a bold swing. In the streaming era, where "content" needs to be instantly meme-able to survive the weekend cycle, this Persuasion chooses to trade Austen’s devastatingly quiet yearning for a series of winks and "relatable" mishaps.

The screenplay by Ronald Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow is where the most friction occurs. We get lines like "Now we’re exes" and "I’m an empath," which landed on the internet like a lead balloon when the trailer first dropped. To be fair, the film is often quite funny, but it’s a specific kind of "Twitter-humor" that feels like it’s constantly checking its reflection. It’s a movie for people who find reading Jane Austen too much like homework and would rather just scroll through Pinterest.

A Cast in Search of a Tone

Dakota Johnson is an immensely charismatic screen presence. I’ve always found her to have a very "modern" face—she looks like she knows what an iPhone is—which makes her a strange fit for a Regency heroine who is supposed to be "faded" and "haggard" by twenty-seven. She plays Anne with a dry, sardonic wit that is undeniably charming, even if it feels like she’s visiting from a 2024 Rom-Com.

Then there is Cosmo Jarvis as Captain Frederick Wentworth. If Johnson is the sun, Jarvis is a very handsome, very confused raincloud. He mumbles his way through the role with a brooding intensity that suggests he might have wandered off the set of a gritty Napoleonic war drama. The chemistry between the two is... interesting. It’s less "star-crossed lovers" and more "the cool girl at the party who is weirdly obsessed with her high school boyfriend."

The real MVP, however, is Richard E. Grant as Sir Walter Elliot. Grant was born to play vain, narcissistic aristocrats, and he attacks the role with a predatory glee. Every time he’s on screen, the movie finds its footing as a sharp, satirical comedy. Henry Golding also shows up as the smarmy Mr. Elliot, leaning into his "hot villain" era with a performance that makes you wish the movie had just let him be the lead.

The Streaming Aesthetic

From a production standpoint, Persuasion looks like a high-end catalogue. The cinematography by Joe Anderson is crisp and bright, eschewing the moody, overcast tones of the 1995 version for something that looks great on an iPad screen at 30,000 feet. The costumes are "Regency-adjacent," featuring boots and waistlines that feel designed for a modern Coachella-goer who wants to look "vintage."

This is the quintessential post-Bridgerton production. It’s colorful, diverse in its casting (which is a welcome and necessary evolution in the genre), and deeply concerned with "vibes." But in chasing those vibes, it loses the very thing that makes Persuasion the most beloved of Austen’s works: the ache. The original story is about the slow, agonizing realization that you’ve thrown away your one chance at happiness. By making Anne a witty, wine-chugging girlboss, the stakes of her regret feel significantly lower. If she’s this clever and self-aware, you figure she’ll be just fine whether she gets the Captain or not.

If you can divorce yourself from the source material, Persuasion is a perfectly pleasant, occasionally hilarious way to spend two hours. It’s breezy, beautifully shot, and features some truly delightful supporting turns from Nikki Amuka-Bird and Mia McKenna-Bruce. However, as a contemporary adaptation, it feels like it’s trying too hard to sit at the "cool table" of modern television. It’s a movie that talks at you constantly but forgets to let you feel anything. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a brunch where the mimosas are great, but the conversation is a little too shallow to remember the next day.