Product Details

• Actors: Amanda Root, Ciarán Hinds, Susan Fleetwood, Corin Redgrave, Fiona Shaw
• Directors: Roger Michell
• Writers: Jane Austen, Nick Dear
• Producers: Fiona Finlay, George Faber, Margot Hayhoe, Rebecca Eaton
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: November 12, 1996
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (515 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303965415
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,560 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Movie adaptations of Jane Austen's classic novels were all the rage (relatively speaking) in the mid-1990s. Clueless updated Austen's Emma, which was more conventionally adapted in another version (Emma) starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Emma was produced yet again, this time for British television, as were a celebrated miniseries of Pride and Prejudice and this splendid film of Austen's Persuasion. Persuasion is the story of a love that survives eight years of dormancy and the frustrating obstacles of class prejudice in 19th century England. Anne (Amanda Root) is captivated when she meets the dignified naval officer Capt. Wentworth (Ciarán Hinds), but she is advised to discourage his romantic overtures because he has no fortune. They meet again eight years later, but now Capt. Wentworth has become wealthy while Anne's father is in reduced circumstances in the wake of reckless extravagance. A series of circumstances ensue which prevent Anne and Wentworth from expressing their mutual and inevitable love. The film's success depends entirely on the subtle, superb performances of Root and Hinds. The film builds slowly, occasionally leaving you wondering if anything at all is going to happen. When it does, you realize how carefully crafted a film this is, and the final result is grandly rewarding. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

The young British director Roger Michell has done what always seemed impossible. He has made a Jane Austen movie that is never pretty and only occasionally charming; instead, it is troubled, astringent, and touched with melancholy-not unlike the novel. Amanda Root, almost out-mousing Isabelle Huppert in reticence, plays Anne Elliot, who once turned down Frederick Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds, who has the profile of a Regency miniature) and has regretted it ever since. They come together again-in the country, by the sea, and on the streets of Bath-and you can guess the outcome. But Michell somehow tenses a simple narrative into suspense; the camera catches every glance between the former lovers and probes every scene for signs of hope. Anyone expecting verbal Ping-Pong and unspotted elegance will be disappointed: Anne's dress gets caught in the mud, and her sister, Mary (a fine turn from Sophie Thompson), talks through a mouthful of pie. With Corin Redgrave as Anne's monstrous father, and Fiona Shaw as the worldly wife of an admiral. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

599 of 614 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "-Loving Longest When All Hope Is Gone-", April 25, 2003

By 

A. Casalino "V^^^^^V" (Downers Grove, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Persuasion (DVD)

Jane Austen wrote PERSUASION towards the end of her life, while in her final illness. Thus an atmosphere of bending weariness and quiet resignation pervades this tender romance, infused within provincial life in Regency England, swaying against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. I could not help but love this BBC film version unconditionally, so deftly are the gentle qualities of the novel brought forth.

As with her earlier novel, MANSFIELD PARK, Austen filled this story with subdued satire - intertwining a comedy of genteel manners with the unassailable decrees of the human heart. This is the story of Anne Elliot (Amanda Root): a single woman in her late 20's who, eight years previous, on the counsel of her patroness and late mother's friend, Lady Russell (Susan Fleetwood-who sadly died of cancer shortly after this film was made), had refused an offer of marriage from her true love, Captain Frederick Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds) on the grounds of his poor financial prospects.

Captain Wentworth returns to Anne's rather confined realm of society when his sister, Mrs. Croft, and her husband, an Admiral in the Navy (John Woodvine, of 1992's WUTHERING HEIGHTS) lease Anne's baronet father's estate, Kellynch Hall. Before she can join her father and elder sister Elizabeth (Phoebe Nicholls) in Bath, she must first spend a few weeks with her hypochondriac younger sister Mary, whose husband Charles' family, the Musgroves - parents Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove, and two younger sisters, Henrietta and Louisa - reside nearby. It is here that Anne becomes re-acquainted with her long-lost love, who's by now an advantageous match for any young woman, having made his prize fortune during the war. Wentworth initially fancies himself "a lost man" to the first attractive young lady who bestows upon him her "compliments to the Navy." To all appearances, Louisa Musgrove is that very lady...

Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, even though they lack the physical beauty distinctive in other Austen adaptations, express the gamut of suppressed emotions most flawlessly here. Ms. Root conjures all the feelings of empathy and affection with every delicate expression she makes. Mr. Hinds, whom I've seen in a number of other roles -including that of an overwrought Mr. Rochester in a 1997 adaptation of JANE EYRE - gives here what's quite likely the best performance of his career. His Wentworth's subtle yet barely suppressed anger hits Anne like a bombshell. The emotion is slow paced and very flowing - but it's nonetheless quite palpable.

The entire cast, in fact, gives every cause for high praise -- most notably Corin Redgrave (brother of Lynn and Vanessa) as Anne's vain and spendthrift father, Sir Walter Elliot, Sophie Thompson (sister of Emma Thompson) as Anne's self-centered younger sister Mary Musgrove, and Fiona Shaw (Mrs. Reed in 1996's JANE EYRE) as the indomitable Mrs. Croft - each are absolutely perfect in their respective roles.

Many a time, upon a weekend afternoon, I've placed this tape into my VCR and played it while occupied with various household chores. As ever and as always, this film offers up its many beauties, and they never fail to enchant me: the long walks through the pristine and stately New Forest - the excursions with the Navel men striding proudly along jetties of the shores at Lyme - the atmospheric turns about the drizzly sidewalks, the pump rooms, and the concert halls of Bath. Such are the scenes that eternally soothe a spirit ~

344 of 350 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, September 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Persuasion [VHS] (VHS Tape)

For my money, this is absolutely the best Jane Austen adaptation ever done. Unlike some other recent adaptations ("Emma") where the aim seems to be to show beautiful people in lovely costumes surrounded by lovely things, this movie actually wants to portray real people with real emotions, whose clothes get dirty and hair gets windblown when they go for long walks.

I loved that the director didn't cast "Hollywood" types. Amanda Root is perfect as Anne Elliot -- at the beginning faded, tired and resigned to her fate as a spinster aunt who is everyone's confidante, but who cannot confess her own feelings to anyone. There is such a wealth of expressions in her eyes and her subtle gestures. And Ciaran Hinds makes a dashing and handsome Captain Wentworth -- no wonder all the ladies are in love with him! The minor characters too are priceless -- especially Sophie Thompson as Anne's hypochondriac sister, Mary, and Corin Redgrave as the monstrously snobbish Sir Walter Elliott, who has some of the funniest lines in the movie.

Highly recommended to all true Jane Austen fans!

126 of 128 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As memorable as the book, January 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Persuasion [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As a lifelong fan of the works of Austen I am always leary of film adaptations, for fear they are glorified costume pieces. This film was so remarkably well done, the characterizations complete and fleshed out, it was as "clinging" as the book. It truly stays with you. Cirian Hinds and Amanda Root are wonderful of course, but the rest of the cast is just as ideal. I would recommend it to all but the most cynical non romantics.