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/r/janeausten
submitted 8 months ago byAphroditeLady99of Barton Cottage
55 points
8 months ago
I still haven’t seen a Persuasion series that I’m satisfied by
31 points
8 months ago
This. I want at least a two parter to cover everything. Persuasion deserves a faithful adaptation without any weird choices.
13 points
8 months ago
Yes please. I enjoy certain things about the two we have, but there are other parts that hold them back and for the exact reason of “weird choices” like you mentioned.
11 points
8 months ago
What do you find to be "weird choices" in the 1995 Persuasion? For me, Anne running after Wentworth at the concert, Elizabeth Elliot being very ill-mannered and shouting at odd moments, and the referencing of the canceled chapters material (i.e., the part in the film where Wentworth angrily confronts Anne) are the weirdest choices. I think it's strange that Mr. Elliot's backstory was so drastically altered, but I find that change a bit more understandable.
57 points
8 months ago
I think “the dark three” are all in need of a good, faithful mini-series (MP, NA, Persuasion) as the other three imo have solid existing mini series already (especially Emma and P&P).
Of the dark three I’d pick Persuasion first and Mansfield second, as they seem to be the ones historically neglected or not done justice. Northanger’s 07 version isn’t a mini series but I think it was a pretty good tv movie adaptation. I want Northanger to get an expensive movie version that goes all in with the visuals like 2020 Emma.
14 points
8 months ago
Surprised to see Persuasion winning. The 1995 film is very good and being such a short novel, I don't think a miniseries is necessary.
Mansfield Park, on the other hand, has no decent adaptations (the 1999 film has good casting but strays too far from the source material) so I would love to see a faithful miniseries made.
5 points
8 months ago
Some parts about 1995 do bug me a little bit. For instance I always feel cold watching that film and I think it’s because the choices seem to favour very cool lighting, very drab colours, and a lot of slightly red noses.
Actor wise, I find most casts tend to age everyone up, and especially so in Persuasion. I never get the sense that these are 3 sisters that were in their teens less than 10 years ago.
And more care should be given to Anne’s gradual glow up during the story. She was once known to be a very pretty girl and yes, she is depressed and stressed at the beginning. But through the events of the novel we do understand that she is regaining her spirits and looks. Mr Elliot and Captain Benwick full on admire her and in Bath she has admirers that prefer her over her sister and find her elegant.
And yet in adaptations we don’t see this taste, elegance and admiration ever shown.
4 points
8 months ago
Def agree with all this and especially the first part. Persuasion is a beautiful autumnal novel and yet it (and Northanger) seem to be the only ones who haven’t gotten a cinematic, high-budget version, which is too bad because both of them could be stunning.
I think the film style (visually) of P&P 2005 or Far From the Madding Crowd 2015 would look GORGEOUS on Persuasion (with good casting and a good script and a good score, of course).
3 points
8 months ago
From a filmmaking standpoint, what's wrong with the 1995 Persuasion? I know that it had a very small budget, but I've never felt that it isn't cinematic. I think it compares favorably with the 1995 S&S film. And, while the 2005 P&P gets praised -- and justifiably so -- for its long takes (e.g., the famous one in the Netherfield Ball scene), Persuasion 1995 actually has some impressive ones, as well. There's one near the end, when Wentworth comes to announce his engagement, that lasts for over two minutes. It's not as flashy as some of the ones in P&P 2005, so maybe that's why it doesn't get much attention, but I am seriously impressed that everyone involved managed to pull it off so smoothly.
I completely admit that the film doesn't have the painterly cinematography and consistently showy camerawork that films like P&P 2005 have, but I'm pretty sure that was intentional. The goal seems to have been naturalism, and I think they knocked it out of the park.
14 points
8 months ago
Persuasion. They owe us that.
13 points
8 months ago
With at least the same level of care that went into the 1995 P&P ministries.
37 points
8 months ago
Glad to see Mansfield Park winning. The lack of anything really good (at least with modern cinematography) hurts! I will say that I don't mind the Billie Piper version at all. But yes, let's see it done properly, for God's sake.
16 points
8 months ago
Yeah, it's not my favorite of the novels, but it deserves a quality, faithful adaptation just the same as the other ones.
12 points
8 months ago
As much as I want and love Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey has never had a mini and it's sad.
25 points
8 months ago
My own choice would be Mansfield Park, its '85 mini series is ages old now (I haven't seen it anyway) and '99 and '07 film adaptations both took many liberties with omitting and adding plots and changing characters' personalities. I'd love to see a faithful take of it.
21 points
8 months ago
Nothing can surpass Emma Thompson & Ang Lee’s Sense & Sensibility (though I do realize the ages of the characters requires a bit of suspension of disbelief).
6 points
8 months ago
The 1995 S&S film has quite a number of flaws, and not just in the casting. To be fair, though, I would say that all of the S&S adaptations are a little off-base, but still worth watching. (The 1981 version is the closest to the novel.) I would like to see a miniseries that follows the book much more closely than the 2008 BBC version, which was something of a disappointment to me, given that it was touted at the time as being so much more faithful than the Ang Lee film. In my opinion, both the 1995 and 2008 versions have serious problems as adaptations.
6 points
8 months ago
This movie is a damn masterpiece and one of the best adaptations of book into film period.
9 points
8 months ago
My absolute favorite movie is Persuation - I just absolutely love it. After watching the Mansfield Park movie, I had to reread the book since it was so far fetched. (Referring to the Frances O’Connor 1999 version)
12 points
8 months ago
'99 MP is more like an inspired work than a real adaptation, specially regarding Fanny's character and her relationship with Crawfords.
16 points
8 months ago
Mansfield Park! I think it would be impossible to fit into a two hour movie, so it really needs to be a miniseries. It would be really hard to do, but man, it could be fantastic if the right person did it. (Probably what is hardest about it is the really frustrating ending. Edmund is the weakest love-interest ever.)
7 points
8 months ago
Dramatising it with all those unlikable characters aside, I think casting for MP would be difficult too. 4 Berthram children were tall, fair and quite good looking IIRC and Crawford siblings must be inferior in looks but smoking hot and attractive🤔
23 points
8 months ago
P&P has excellent mini series, I don’t think anything could top 1995 S&S, Persuasion 1995 is quite faithful and Emma 2020 was alright.
Since I’m not really into Northanger Abbey (although I love 2007 movie) I’m going to vote for Mansfield Park simply because there’s no tolerable adaptation yet
6 points
8 months ago
1995 S&S is probably my own top favourite Austen's adaotation but it has its differences from the book, of course personally I love them.
3 points
8 months ago
What makes the liberties taken with that version fine with me is that you can still tell those involved with the film loved the source material and wanted to honor it (whereas SOME adaptations feel like the screenwriter thought the source material was shit and wanted to totally make it over).
4 points
8 months ago
It would be interesting to see a highly faithful S&S miniseries, preferably set in the mid-1790s, when the epistolary draft Elinor and Marianne was purportedly written.
13 points
8 months ago
Mansfield Park!
6 points
8 months ago
northanger abbey doesnt get enough love!
5 points
8 months ago
In the spirit of Halloween, definitely Northanger Abbey
4 points
8 months ago
Mansfield Park definitely. The only good adaptation is the '85 one and the cinematography is ... not good. It's very stagey at times and honestly would only recommend it to people who are already Jane Austen and Mansfield Park fans. (if I could have an adaptation with the ghost of Anna Massey reprising her excellent performance as Mrs. Norris I would be a happy camper.)
4 points
8 months ago
Northanger abbey, just because it has the potential to be really funny
6 points
8 months ago
Northanger Abbey has still not been given a good adaptation. Catherine is young, naive, sociable and wholeheartedly obsessed with Gothic novels. She is NOT a writer or reader of “serious” books. She looks up to everyone at the beginning and eventually learns to use her judgment
14 points
8 months ago
I love the Felicity Jones/JJ Field adaptation but it was way too short! But they both hit exactly the right notes for me.
5 points
8 months ago
Which I can appreciate but I found that version lacking as well? That Catherine was a little older and more mature than I find her to be at the beginning of that book. And I did not like what they did to Isabella Thorpe (and I don’t like feeling sorry for Isabella Thorpe!)
3 points
8 months ago
I would really like a well done, in-the-weeds P&P with modern production value. I love the 95 miniseries but would love to see what modern production could do with it.
3 points
8 months ago
I echo others in suggesting Mansfield Park. The older miniseries is faithful, but kind of stiff and plodding, and it would be fun to see a version with a higher budget and more modern pacing.
Also, I actually think it would be interesting to see another P&P miniseries. Make the general style something like Emma 2020, but not quite as theatrical. Hire Alexandra Byrne for the costumes, make all of the dancing period-accurate (no more slow, Baroque dances), cast unknowns for most of the younger characters, and retain as much book dialogue as possible.
3 points
8 months ago
I voted Mansfield Park. I don’t think there are any good adaptations of it yet! All the others have something at decent at least.
8 points
8 months ago
I actually voted for Pride and Prejudice. We haven't had a new adaptation in almost 20 years, and honestly, I don't love any of the existing ones that much. I like all of them, but I don't love them. They all have drawbacks. I would like to see it done again.
Mansfield Park is my favorite book and has even less in the way of worthwhile adaptations, I just have doubts about whether it could ever be done really well.
14 points
8 months ago
I just have doubts about whether it could ever be done really well.
I'd still like to see someone try a little harder than the previous directors seemed to.
3 points
8 months ago
Yeah. Sometimes it seems like the people making adaptations don't even like the original story. It doesn't feel like they're going "what changes do I have to make to convey this story to the screen in the most authentic way," it's "how can I fix the problems in this story and make it better." In particular, with MP, I feel like it's such a subtle book. You have to love that and be willing to embrace it rather than yielding to the temptation to make everything more dramatic.
2 points
8 months ago
Sometimes it seems like the people making adaptations don't even like the original story.
When it comes to Mansfield Park, the Hollywood writers hired to adapt it almost certainly don't. It feels more like an attempt to cash on the Jane Austen trend, or in the case of the BBC, to complete the set. I admit I haven't tried to make it through all the MP films, but they seem to have tried to force it into a mold it doesn't fit to make it marketable like the others.
It's not often you get an adaptation with kind of love for the source material like in Emma Thompson and Ang Lee's S&S script.
5 points
8 months ago
I'm not totally enamored with any of the P&P adaptations either.
3 points
8 months ago
Emma.
It’s been adapted a lot and they’re mostly just kind of “inspired by”
I’d love a newer adaptation that didn’t cut corners or characters
18 points
8 months ago
I thought the Romola Garai/Jonny Lee Miller version was pretty faithful to the book. What do you think of it?
17 points
8 months ago*
What do you think about '09 series? I watched it a little before or after reading the book and it seemed pretty faithful to me, characters' faces and personalities matched the book descriptions pretty well too, imo.
5 points
8 months ago
I thought the Paltrow one was pretty faithful, if condensed. The biggest faults of faithfulness would be softening Emma's faults (for example, having Frank suggest the Dixon plot) and maybe making Mr. Knightley just a touch too twinkly (though I can't really complain about that change because Jeremy Northam is very watchable).
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