I took the Facebook quiz “Which Austen heroine are you?” and my result was Anne Elliot. Having never read the book (and I am determined to read them all!), I was anxious to check out Persuasion. Turns out Facebook thinks I’m a constantly put-upon, snobby-relatived, soon-to-be old maid. But I’ll take it if it means Facebook thinks I should one day have an overly-dramatic, searching-lipped kiss with Rupert Penry-Jones.
Speaking of Penry-Jones, let’s take a moment to get inside some of my thoughts while I watched Persuasion:
“Hey, it’s that guy from MI-5 who’s going to be on The 39 Steps!”
“Hey, it’s the Borg Queen from Star Trek!”
“Hey, it’s Brutus from Rome!”
“Hey, it’s Giles from Buffy!”
“Hey, did Anne Elliot just look at me?”
Yes, after my double-take, I realized that indeed Sally Hawkins does look at the camera a few times. And I have to say the looks worked for me. They said, “Yep, this is my life.” Except for the last look with the smile. That one said, “I got me some Wentworth.”
Just like Northanger Abbey, this is another 90 minute Cliff Notes-like Jane Austen. And I was disappointed by the lack of balls and fancy parties. There was one but it was offscreen because Anne stayed home from it in order to watch over her nephew. You see, Anne is one of those “I’ll do it. No, really. I want to do it” women. Her snooty father told her that Captain Wentworth (Penry-Jones) wasn’t good enough for the family so she said, “OK. I’ll turn him down.” So now she’s written off as too old and will most likely never marry. Now she’s just Dependable Ole Anne.
But then Captain Wentworth comes back into her life. And an hour and twenty minutes later, Anne is running all over Bath looking for him. After a few, “You just missed him!” and “He went looking for you!” she finds him in what has to be my favorite shot: Anne, out of breath but giddy with just Wentworth’s shoulder in frame. Then the heavy handed kiss. My least favorite shot.
Oh, and one more for the Austen Drinking Game: take a swig whenever the heroine makes the assumption that her true love is marrying or has married someone else only to be corrected with a “you are mistaken I was speaking of (fill in blank).”
What did I learn from Persuasion? When life treats you unfairly, do a take to the camera…even if one isn’t there. And if there’s a ball, tell your sister to watch her own kid. Go!
