Persuasion (1995)

Director:

Roger Michell

Writers:

Jane Austen (novel)
Nick Dear (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 September 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Drama

Plot:

Eight years earlier, Anne Elliot, the daughter of a financially troubled aristocratic family, was persuaded...

Plot Keywords:

Captain | England | Old Flame | Unmarried | British Navy

Awards:

6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Amanda Root	...	Anne Elliot
Ciarán Hinds	...	Captain Frederick Wentworth
Susan Fleetwood	...	Lady Russell
Corin Redgrave	...	Sir Walter Elliot
Fiona Shaw	...	Mrs. Croft
John Woodvine	...	Admiral Croft
Phoebe Nicholls	...	Elizabeth Elliot
Samuel West	...	Mr. Elliot
Sophie Thompson	...	Mary Musgrove
Judy Cornwell	...	Mrs. Musgrove
Simon Russell Beale	...	Charles Musgrove
Felicity Dean	...	Mrs. Clay
Roger Hammond	...	Mr. Musgrove
Emma Roberts	...	Louisa Musgrove
Victoria Hamilton	...	Henrietta Musgrove
Robert Glenister	...	Captain Harvile
Richard McCabe	...	Captain Benwick
Helen Schlesinger	...	Mrs. Smith
Jane Wood	...	Nurse Rooke
David Collings	...	Mr. Shepherd
Darlene Johnson	...	Lady Dalrymple
Cinnamon Faye	...	Miss Carteret
Isaac Maxwell-Hunt	...	Henry Hayter
Roger Llewellyn	...	Sir Henry Willoughby
Sally George	...	Mrs. Harville
David Acton	...	Naval Officer
Justin Avoth	...	Naval Officer
Lonnie James	...	Jemima
Roger Watkins	...	Landlord
David Plummer	...	Apothecary
Richard Brenner	...	Coachman
Bill McGuirk	...	Tradesman
Niall Refoy	...	Tradesman
Ken Shorter	...	Lady Dalrymple's Butler
Dermot Kerrigan	...	Footman
Tom Rigby	...	Little Charles
Alex Wilman	...	Little Walter
Rosa Mannion	...	Concert Opera Singer

Directed by
Roger Michell

Writing credits
Jane Austen		(novel)
Nick Dear		(screenplay)

Produced by
Rebecca Eaton	....	executive producer: WGBH
George Faber	....	executive producer
George Faber	....	producer: BBC
Fiona Finlay	....	producer
Margot Hayhoe	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Jeremy Sams

Cinematography by
John Daly

Film Editing by
Kate Evans

Production Design by
William Dudley

Art Direction by
Linda Ward

Costume Design by
Alexandra Byrne

Makeup Department
Kay Bilk	....	makeup artist
Joanna Casserly	....	makeup artist
Sally Collins	....	makeup artist
Jean Speak	....	makeup designer

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nicki Ballantyne	....	second assistant director
Julie Edwards	....	first assistant director
Roger Goldby	....	third assistant director
Jo Harden	....	second assistant director
Donald Taylor	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Graham Bishop	....	set dresser
Dave Channon	....	construction manager
John Durrant	....	graphic designer
Laurie Griffiths	....	stand-by carpenter
Laurie Miller	....	property master
Denise Slattery	....	scenic artist
Brian Sykes	....	assistant production designer

Sound Department
Lee Crichlow	....	dubbing editor
Terry Elms	....	sound
Mik Gough	....	boom operator
Michael Narduzzo	....	dubbing mixer
Ben Norrington	....	dubbing editor

Special Effects by
Chris Reynolds	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Colin Gorry	....	visual effects designer
Paul McGuinness	....	visual effects assistant

Stunts
Helen Caldwell	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Hugh Adams	....	second assistant camera
John Arnold	....	grip
Chris Capstick	....	still photographer
Carlo Chinca	....	still photographer
Stephen Foote	....	underwater camera operator
Bob Hunt	....	electrician
Jan Pester	....	Steadicam operator
Dick Reed	....	gaffer
Andrew Taylor	....	electrician
Mark Taylor	....	electrician
Steve Wallace	....	first assistant camera

Casting Department
Siobhan Bracke	....	casting advisor

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Maggie Bone	....	dresser
George Brent	....	dresser
Sharon Long	....	dresser
Debbie Scott	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Sally Brocklehurst	....	post-production coordinator

Music Department
Nicholas Bucknall	....	musician (as Nick Bucknall)
Michael Haslam	....	piano tutor
Howard Jones	....	music recordist
Rebecca Jones	....	harp tutor
Pierre Jubert	....	musician
Neil McLaren	....	musician: Assembly Room Music
Danielle Perrett	....	musician: Assembly Rooms Music
Tony Philpot	....	music recordist
Jeremy Sams	....	composer: Assembly Rooms Music
Jeremy Sams	....	conductor
Susan Tomes	....	musician: Pianist for Chopin music

Other crew
Paul Almond	....	unit publicist
Charlotte Blair	....	script advisor
Debbie Brodie	....	food stylist
Margaret Confoy	....	production secretary
Jane Hawley	....	production executive
Julian Holmes	....	location manager
Alf Potter	....	design rigger
Monica Rodger	....	production associate
Jayne Selwyn-Roberts	....	location manager
Geraldine Stephenson	....	choreographer
Catherine Wearing	....	script editor

Production Companies

• BBC Films (present)
• Millésime Productions (present)
• WGBH (co-production) (as WGBH Boston)
• France 2 (FR2) (co-production)

Distributors

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (1995) (UK) (TV)
• Sony Pictures Classics (1995) (USA) (theatrical)
• BBC Video (1999) (UK) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Films de España (1997) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1996) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2001) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar (Brazil) (VHS)
• Krause & Schneider Multimedia (KSM) (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1997) (USA) (TV)
• RCV Home Entertainment (199?) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Video (1997) (Japan) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1996) (Sweden) (VHS)

Other Companies

• The Music Studio  music recorded at
• Wood Hall Catering  casting
• Cine-Europe  camera equipment supplied by
• ARRI Lighting Rental  light equipment (as Arri Bell Lighting)
• General Screen Enterprises  titles and opticals
• Exxon Mobil  thanks: Masterpiece Theatre is made possible on PBS by a grant from (as Mobil Corporation)

MPAA:

Rated PG for brief mild language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

UK | USA | France

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:G | Finland:S | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Abbey Green, Bath, Somerset, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

The orange long-sleeved gown with accordion-pleat trim on the over-sleeves worn by Lady Willoughby when she meets Lady Russell in the Pump Room is the same costume worn by an extra in the Pump Room when Anne talks with Mr. Elliot in Persuasion (2007) (TV). The same costume is also worn by the dance teacher during the fan-language lesson in "The Regency House Party" (2004), and by an extra in the square at the end of Goya's Ghosts (2006).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: After Louisa jumps off the steps, a blue car is seen driving up the Cob behind Captain Wentworth.

Quotes:

Elizabeth Elliot: When Captain Wentworth arrives you must not monopolise him. That's a very bad habit of yours.

Movie Connections:

Features The Bounty (1984)

Soundtrack:

The Dusky Night

Beautifully observed portrayal of Jane Austen's mature tale of devotion

Following in the BBC's fine tradition of producing outstanding costume dramas through the 1970's and 1980's, including versions of Jane Austen's novels, this Bafta award-winning co-production, with WGBH and Sony amongst others, of `Persuasion' (her final complete work published mid rewrite in 1818, the year after her death), was made in 1995 with a stellar cast of British stage actors, many from the Royal Shakespeare Company with numerous TV credits.

The film's events converge on the time Napoleon has been banished to Elba and the Battle of Waterloo of 1815 is still a year away. Among the servicemen returning home is Captain Frederick Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds) who has been at sea for eight years since Anne Elliot's (Amanda Root) rejection of his marriage proposal. The Captain is now a man of prosperity and social rank while his former nineteen-year-old love interest has matured into a ‘faded and thin' old maid of twenty-seven in service to her family. Anne has lived to regret her mistake in being persuaded by her friend and patroness, Lady Russell (Susan Fleetwood, `Heat and Dust', who sadly died the year `Persuasion' was released), to refuse Wentworth as a man of unsuitable temperament. Whilst his affection would now seem to be directed towards her brother-in-law's sister, Louisa Musgrove (Emma Roberts), Anne's only romantic hope lies in the dubious and underhand attentions of her cousin William Elliot (an obsequious Samuel West, who was memorably the ill-fated Leonard Bast in `Howards End'). However, the accident on the Cobb at Lyme Regis requires Anne's sensible advice on how to handle the crisis and eventually leads to a second chance for her. Incidentally the Cobb was to play another starring role in John Fowles' `The French Lieutenant's Woman', with Karel Reisz' 1981 dramatic movie version embellishing it with a strikingly cloaked Meryl Streep braving the elements, ensuring that it will remain a tourist attraction in perpetuity.

Ostensibly with concern over the intellectual inequality of Captain Benwick's sudden attachment to Louisa after the accident, Captain Wentworth makes the impassioned declaration to Anne regarding his friend's broken hearted loss of his fiancee: `A man does not recover from such a devotion to such a woman, he ought not, he does not', but is patently reflecting on his own lasting strong feelings for Anne. Surely it is wiser to recognise when adoration for one person is no longer appropriate and a chance may lie with someone else. The supposed difference between the sexes regarding fidelity is discussed with Jane Austen adding the comment to her argument that the authors who view women as more fickle, have all been men. This last remark in the film is rather improbably but modernly given to Anne, who also makes the bold claim for her sex that it is capable of `loving longest when all hope is gone.' It is not a question of gender but of genetic makeup and whether you are truly monogamous, as Western religions and society would decree us to be, or true to yourself.

Although comfortable, life must have been dreadfully dull at times for the women in this world who could not relieve their tedium as their menfolk would by going off to war. This observation is endorsed by the couple of scenes depicting a concert and an evening of card playing, tinged with amber candle light infusing gentle nostalgic warmth to the proceedings which is at odds with the atmosphere of bored ritualistic entertainment. The different levels of lighting are used to subtle effect here and contrast with the cold glare of Ang Lee's brilliantly lit interiors in his working of Austen's first novel `Sense and Sensibility', also produced in the same year.

Amanda Root (`Mortimer's Law', and as Fanny Price, another of Austen's independent women, in `Mansfield Park' for BBC Radio 4) is brilliant as the quiet understated heroine with luminosity to her face that beautifully transcribes the full gamut of emotions she experiences from servitude to the blossoming of love. Her co-star, Ciaran Hinds (`The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover') is equally gifted of expression, with a barely repressed anger and resentment towards Anne, under the guise of curt civility that eventually he is forced to recognise masks his continuing passion for her. Interestingly over the next two years both leads went onto appear in different versions of Jane Eyre, with Amanda Root well cast as the kindly schoolteacher Miss Temple in Franco Zeffirelli's 1996 version and Ciaran Hinds as a suitably anguished Mr Rochester in Robert Young's 1997 TV adaptation.

Jane Austen's fable may be recognised as the classic fairy tale of Cinderella, of a good hearted and dutiful daughter put upon by her foolish and snobbish father and cruel sisters, but who is eventually saved by her true prince. With great effect, the author adds to the romance her wit and sense of humour to explore the characteristics of the genteel world she lived in with all its human frailties. Nick Dear's screenplay, together with Roger Michell's necessarily less frantic direction than in `Notting Hill', adroitly captures the essence of Austen's narrative to provide one of the finest visual interpretations of her work. Strong supporting performances are also given by the ensemble of Corin Redgrave (`Enigma') as the supercilious father; Sophie Thompson (`Emma') and Phoebe Nicholls (`The Elephant Man') as the far from ugly sisters of hypochondriac Mary and haughty Elizabeth; and Fiona Shaw (`Jane Eyre') and John Woodvine (`Wuthering Heights') as the companionable Crofts.

Obviously complying with its `Beautiful People' culture the original cover of the American video version replaced the demure leads with two glamorous models, as a spokeswoman for Columbia Tristar in California has said, `I guess to make it a little more seductive to us over here'. Nonetheless, it is pleasing to read that this film was well received in the States especially as it remained true to its British identity, and therefore set an exemplary standard in not pandering to an anticipated overseas market by using well-known international stars.