\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Filming Romance: Persuasion<\/I>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nTara Ghoshal Wallace
\nFrom Jane Austen on Screen<\/u>
\nA Summary by Mary-Carolyn<\/p>\n
The last of [Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s] novels is especially tough to handle because it deals with a romance that ends before the story begins and has it resumption just before the story ends. This is novelistic, not film, material. Nick Dear\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s screenplay understands the dilemma but can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t solve it\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201cStanley Kauffmann<\/I><\/p>\n
In her article, Wallace looks at the strategies a filmmaker uses to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153transpose Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s narrative about two romances (one between hero and heroine, the other between nation and navy) on to the screen; and what kind of audience is implied by the choices made by the filmmaker\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (127). She begins her discussion looking at Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s narrative voice, saying how difficult it is to translate it onto the screen, as it is not straightforwardly omniscient. Wallace looks specifically at Roger Michell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s adaptation of Persuasion<\/I> when she looks at the way these narrative subtleties are translated to film in the form of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153more easily decoded visual cues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (128). Michell has received criticism on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dumbing down\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s subtleties, but Wallace claims \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it is not to the discredit of the either the film or the medium itself that its depictions of issues like class relations are more easily decoded and discerned than they are in Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s text\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (129). In fact, Wallace points out that, while Michell has interpreted Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s text, the view must still interpret and read the film. In fact, she claims the film is, in its own way, complex, citing several instances of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153visual intertextuality [which]\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6deepen its depiction of class and family relations\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (129). One such is example are the different modes of transportation Anne and her father and oldest sister use. Sir. Walter and Elizabeth employ a carriage, while Anne is conveyed in a farm-cart. Another example is the use of food: what people eat and how the eat it delineate their character and social status. <\/p>\n
Wallace moves on to an examination of the character of Anne, and the way actress Amanda Root portrays her. One of the difficulties Wallace sees in adapting Persuasion<\/I> is of depicting Anne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inner turmoil, which \u00e2\u20ac\u0153much be represented through the bodies of the actors, through facial expression and physical gestures\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (130). What Michell has done, Wallace says, is show this by taking away Anne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s control of her body. Rather than having her react when she is alone, Michell shows Anne running across the room when she learns of Wentworth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s return. However, she appreciates Michell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s choices in showing the viewer Anne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gentle swoon and need to support herself with a chair on her first encounter with Wentworth. But Wallace still thinks Michell and Root fail in their interpretation of Anne, as nowhere in the film is there any evidence of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Anne beginning \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcto reason with herself and try to be feelingless\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (131). She also criticizes the depiction of Elizabeth as someone who only bullies and belittles Anne. Yet Wallace defends Michell and Dear, saying what they may be trying to highlight here is Anne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lack of a supportive group of women. Wallace points out \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Anne is silenced, over and over, by the selfishness of her sisters and the dominant ego of Lady Russell\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (134). Wallace goes so far to posit that the film might depict a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153trap and an escape\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in which Anne finds freedom from the constraints placed on her by the society of her father and sisters \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not only be finding personal romance, but by joining his world of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcthat profession which is, if possible, more distinguished in its domestic virtues than in its national importance\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (135). <\/p>\n
Wallace then examines the role of the navy in Michell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s adaptation of Persuasion<\/I>. She praises Michell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s choice to have the film open and close with images of boats, emphasizing the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153centrality of the Royal Navy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (136). She also points to the sailor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tendency to always wear their uniforms, referring especially to the scene in Lyme where Harville and Benwick both change into their uniform before walking along the beach, in effect claiming \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a public identity conferred by that uniform\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (137). But, she criticizes this adaptation for deglamorizing the soldiers to a much larger degree than Austen does, showing more than a gentle rift between the friends Austen shows. She thinks particularly of the Uppercross party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first visit to the Harville\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, which dissolves into hilarity for no apparent reason. Wallace says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it is as if, confronted with the poverty of a retired naval officer, aware of the differences in status and wealth, the country gentry can respond only with nervous hilarity\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (138). Wallace then points to the film\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opening which both units and points out the disparities between the country gentry and the naval officers. The film opens with a montage, alternating between images of naval laborers and country laborers and images of Admiral Croft and Sir Walter. The first message this montage sends is that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153labor is labor\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6the underclass, whether on board ship or on estate, are overworked, possibly mistreated, and probably discontented\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (139). The other, Admiral Croft\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s declaration that they are going home and Sir Walter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comment he will not have a naval officer in his home, highlights \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the irony\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6[of] national ingratitude\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (139). Despite the shortcomings of Michell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Persuasion<\/I>, Wallace concludes her article saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it achieve both a gratifying degree of fidelity and its very own authenticity as text\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (141). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Filming Romance: Persuasion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tara Ghoshal Wallace From Jane Austen on Screen A Summary by Mary-Carolyn The last of [Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s] novels is especially tough to handle because it deals with a romance that ends before the story begins and has it resumption just before the story ends. This is novelistic, not film, material. Nick Dear\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s screenplay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}