Netflix’s Persuasion: 9 Big Differences Between Jane Austen’s Book and the Movie

Warning: Spoilers follow for the Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen conviction!

Netflix has been a top destination for Regency-era romance since the premiere of Bridgeton back in 2020, and the readjustment of conviction promised to bring one of Jane Austen’s most popular heroines (and iconic love stories) to streaming. Not quite in this novel as well known as Austens pride and prejudice or as frequently adapted as Emmathe new conviction The film can introduce Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth to a whole new audience.

Written by Ron Bass of My best friend’s wedding and Alice Victoria Winslow, the feature film directed by Carrie Cracknell Stars fifty shades of gray Alum Dakota Johnson as 27-year-old Anne Elliot, who gave up the man she loved after being persuaded not to marry him, with Cosmo Jarvis as the dumped Captain Wentworth, who still carries a torch for the woman who gave him that heart broke. The film features most of the major book characters, but there are always cuts and changes in any book-to-screen adaptation, so let’s dive right into the nine biggest differences.

The book is not in the first person

conviction is an incredibly introspective novel that is not told in first person and does not rely heavily on dialogue, which poses some challenges for a film adaptation. The Netflix film opted for narration rather than just showing, with Anne frequently pointing the audience directly at the camera. This method helps tell the story in under two hours, but is a huge difference from the way Jane Austen tells Anne’s story in the book.

The film used anachronistic language

Jane Austens conviction was released in 1817, and the film is set in the same period rather than a modern version of the book, such as clueless as a variant of Emma. A major departure was incredibly anachronistic language. Referring to herself as “single and successful”, Anne said that she and Wentworth are “exes” and announced that Mr Elliot was “a ten”. You definitely won’t find that kind of language on the pages of convictionhow Viewers were quick to point this out after the film’s debut.

Jane Austen’s Anne Elliot was introverted

One of Jane Austen’s most introverted heroines, Anne Elliot was often overlooked and underestimated. She is far from a boring character, however, as readers discover the story, regret, and desire for her not to speak out loud. The film deviated from that with Dakota Johnson breaking the fourth wall with cheeky comments, as well as moments like Anne drunkenly shouting “Frederick!” to her lost love and flirtation with Mr. Elliot. She’s a difficult character to bring to film because she keeps so much to herself, and the Netflix adaptation’s version is far more outgoing than Austen’s.

The book is much more serious

Jane Austens conviction may be a romance, but it’s definitely not a rom-com. Dakota Johnson’s Anne dropped one-liners and served enough straight-to-the-camera looks where Jim Halpert might have welcomed them The office. Scenes like Anne spilling sauce all over herself while reaching for wine and smearing jam on her face just in time for Wentworth to arrive would fit right into a rom-com … or at least straight into the 2020 adaptation of Emma with the leading lady’s ill-timed nosebleed. That conviction Film often gave way to comedy starring Anne Elliot where the book was not.

Mr. Elliot was a true (but charming) villain in the book

Although both the novel and film give Anne and Mr. Elliot more or less the Regency version of a cute meeting, his story unfolds very differently. In the film, he’s a charming flirt who’s more of an obstacle than a real villain, but that’s not the case in the book. After cruelly taunting the Elliot family for years before sneaking into their lives, he helped bankrupt a friend financially and then refused to help that friend’s widow access her late husband’s fortune. As in the film, his aim in Bath was to prevent Mrs Clay from marrying Sir Walter in order to protect his inheritance, but Austen’s Mr Elliot was far from any comic relief.

The film cut Anne’s friend from Bath

The film cut out a character that was pivotal to the novel in the absence of Mrs. Smith, who had been Anne’s close friend when they were at school. Anne reconnected with her friend in Bath, even though Mrs Smith’s health had deteriorated and she needed nursing assistance to get around. However, for Anne, Mrs. Smith was not just a nice separation from her father and sister, but actually the person who told Anne the truth about Mr. Elliot. She wasn’t essential to the film if it was going to cut out most of Elliot’s backstory, but she was a huge loss nonetheless.

Anne never really considered marrying Mr. Elliot

In the film, Anne seemed to form a small bond with Mr. Elliot, saying that “there’s something” between them. She did not turn down the idea of ​​marrying him when Lady Russell brought it up, and regularly flirted and joked with him. In the book, Anne was perfectly clear that she had no intention of marrying him and never wavered from it. She truly believed, to almost the end, that women love the longest, and to her it was Captain Wentworth or nobody, not Captain Wentworth or Mr Elliot.

Captain Wentworth’s letter

If there’s a truly iconic passage from the conviction Roman, it’s the letter Captain Wentworth writes to Anne after hearing her claim that men fall out of love faster than women. The much shorter version of the letter in the film had Wentworth write that he believed she would marry Mr. Elliot (thanks to his manipulation). In the book, Wentworth admitted in his letter that he was “unfair” and “resentful” toward her, but “never fickle.” Mr. Elliot was not mentioned, and the written version was more desperate (and longer) in his response to what she said.

The book didn’t give everyone a happy ending