So what if the Boston Globe isn't a great fan of "Persuasion," the first broadcast tonight--fans of Austen's novels will relish seeing her characters brought alive, will compare them to the novels, and either approve or not. At least we've got the enviable opportunity:
As if to squash viewer fears about the alterations in the series,
PBS is introducing the "Masterpiece" rebranding with "The Complete Jane
Austen," a months-long string of new and old adaptations of Austen
novels. Austen is like a beloved rock star on PBS. And the Austen
series will include an all-time favorite, the 1995 "Pride and
Prejudice" miniseries starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, as well
as an Austen biopic called "Miss Austen Regrets." The series begins
tomorrow night at 9 on Channel 2 with a new take on "Persuasion,"
Austen's last completed novel.
A fan of "Masterpiece" and its
efforts to endure in the changing TV landscape, I wish I had been more
enchanted with this "Persuasion." Not only does it pale in comparison
with the extraordinary 1995 version, but it fails to deliver in its own
right. The pace is too fast and, by the end, choppy; the writing, by
Simon Burke, is reductive; and the casting is misguided. Certainly the
sets and costumes are gorgeous, and the more satirical comedy involving
Sir Walter Elliot's desperate snobbery has its moments, but on the
whole the movie is hurried and forgettable.
Ah, well. One must needs remember that everyone believes oneself to be a critic.
From the New Yorker:
PBS’s Austen promotion is part of a rebranding campaign to raise the
worn-down profile of “Masterpiece Theatre,” which is thirty-seven years
old and no longer attracts corporate support. Lashing itself even more
tightly to the word “masterpiece,” the network is now using the word
alone as a rubric under which it will present “Masterpiece Classic”
(what used to be called “Masterpiece Theatre” and, as of this season,
is hosted by Gillian Anderson, late of “The X Files”), “Masterpiece
Mystery!” (formerly known as “Mystery!”), and, to show that there is
room at the PBS inn for programs that are set in the years since the
telephone was invented, a new category called “Masterpiece
Contemporary.” There’s something a little sad about the Austen hoopla,
though; two of the six offerings—the Beckinsale “Emma” and the
Ehle-Firth “Pride and Prejudice”—were on A&E more than a decade
ago, and both have been available for sale or rent for many years.
(They, and two of the four new adaptations, were by Andrew Davies.)
Still, the Austen logjam has many pleasing aspects—as well as aspects
that will vex Austen maniacs, but, as far as I can tell from the
various Web sites devoted to the author, being vexed is part of the joy
of being an Austen maniac.
Exactly my sentiment!
From The San Jose Mercury News:
Over the next three months,
"Masterpiece Theatre" will offer what it's calling "The Complete Jane
Austen" - made-for-television versions of all six of the author's works
airing at 9 p.m. Sundays (Ch. 9). There will also be a new
dramatization of her life and loves.
A quick rundown:
• "Persuasion" (tonight):
Sally Hawkins ("Little Britain") plays Anne Elliot to the Capt.
Wentworth of Rupert Penry-Jones ("MI-5"). While Hawkins is terrific,
Anthony Head ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") just about steals the film as
Elliot's father.
• "Northanger Abbey" (next Sunday):
Among Austen's novels, "Northanger Abbey" is a relative novelty: a
witty parody of Gothic fiction. Felicity Jones ("Meadowlands") plays
Catherine Morland, who is addicted to the genre.
• "Mansfield Park" (Jan.
27): The complex novel gets a fresh makeover with pop
singer-turned-actress Billie Piper ("Doctor Who") as Fanny Price, a
young woman trying to navigate the social mores of the time.
• "Miss Austen Regrets" (Feb.
3): "Masterpiece" is billing this as the "real" story of Jane Austen -
as opposed to last summer's theatrical film "Becoming Jane" with Anne
Hathaway. This time around, Olivia Williams ("Rushmore") portrays the
author.
• "Pride and Prejudice" (Feb. 10, 17 and 24):
This 1995 TV miniseries is considered the defining film version of the
novel by many Austen-ophiles. That may be, in part, because of the heat generated by Colin Firth ("Bridget Jones' Diary") as Darcy.
• "Emma" (March 23): A highly regarded 1997 take on the novel with Kate Beckinsale ("The Aviator") as matchmaker Emma Woodhouse.
• "Sense and Sensibility" (March
30 and April 6): Hattie Morahan ("The Golden Compass") and Charity
Wakefield ("Jane Eyre") play sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood - one
level-headed, one impulsive. The marvelous David Morrissey ("Viva
Blackpool") turns up as the dashing Col. Brandon.
- Charlie McCollum,
Mercury News
Detroit Free Press:
I think it only appropriate, nay necessary, that we do Ms. Austen and
PBS the honor of watching the rest of her repertoire. PBS's press
release promises that four of the seven programs are new productions --
including some new never-imagined thing called "Miss Austen Regrets,"
which is not one of her novels but something about her real life.
We owe her so large. She gave us Darcy. But she also gave us Captain
Wentworth from "Persuasion" (the first movie that PBS will air), he of
all that flash and dash. She gave us a peek into 19th-Century British
life as lived by the wealthy and charming, the sort-of-wealthy and
their kin, and the land-poor and levelheaded. She gave us proof, before
anyone really could believe such a thing, that a woman could write and
do it well. She gave us our first blush of literary desire. She gave us
women with spunk and brains and hormones. She gave us time away from
our teenage reality, and it was time well spent.
Amen! And, may I add, she also gives us time away from our grown up reality.
.Here's to finding our Mr. Darcy, girls!
THE MEN OF AUSTEN
Andrew Davies on his screenplay adaptations
Recent Comments