‘Sanditon’ is a Better Version of ‘Persuasion’ Than Netflix’s Film

The new Netflix film Persuasion is a strange perversion of Jane Austen‘s beloved novel about regret. Instead of stoically suppressing an ocean’s worth of heartache, Dakota Johnson‘s Anne Elliot mopes about her room, gets consistently wine drunk, and winks at the camera. Characters consistently explain how they’re feeling instead of conveying these suppressed emotions through glances or body language. It’s a truly strange interpretation of a text hyper-focused on the agony of love unspoken and the silent hope of second chances.

Persuasion certainly doesn’t understand what makes Jane Austen’s masterpiece tick, but another bold Austen adaptation does. Masterpiece on PBS’s ongoing Sanditon series pulls from all sorts of Austen tropes to bring the author’s final unfinished manuscript to life, but the book that has inspired the show the most is Persuasion. Unlike Dakota Johnson’s version of Anne Elliot, Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) gracefully contains her heartbreak.

Sanditon is doing Persuasion better than Netflix’s Persuasion is.

Persuasion tells the story of Anne Elliot, who was persuaded not to marry her one true love by her snobby family and cautious mentor. Seven years later, Anne is still brokenhearted over the decision and her formerly undistinguished suitor is now the rich and popular Captain Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis). Anne and Wentworth’s paths cross once more and it is unclear if Wentworth still cares for Anne as much as she does for him. Persuasion is as much a story about second chances as it is about learning to live with the fallout of your choices. It’s a meditation on how people’s minds can be changed and how hearts can stay true. It’s a gorgeous, mature work from an older, more cynical Austen.

Netflix’s new film version, however, tries to give Persuasion an unneeded millennial makeover. Anne breaks the fourth wall, explaining her emotions to the audience, and chugs wine. The film is more concerned with adding laugh lines to this romantic story than combing the depths of its characters’ souls. It’s a truly disappointing Austen adaptation. Not because it tries something different, but because it misses the point of Austen’s work entirely. In a world defined by etiquette and decorum, where unmarried women were either chattel for purchase or spinsters-made-cyphers, what mattered the most was what was unspoken. The understanding in a glance or the harmony of souls. You don’t need to jazz that up with jokes. You just need to let it simmer on screen.

Persuasion might not get this, but Sanditon does.

Sanditon‘s main heroine Charlotte Heywood is the daughter of a farmer who gets swept up into the drama of a burgeoning seaside resort town. She stays with the Parkers and eventually falls in love with her host’s brooding brother Sidney (Theo James). The two characters have a meeting of the souls, but by the end of Season 1, there’s a hiccup. To save his family from financial ruin, Sidney must marry a former flame who is now a wealthy widow. Charlotte is devastated and leaves Sanditon heartbroken.

Originally the plan was to have Sidney and Charlotte reunite in a potential Sanditon Season 2, but because of production hiccups, Theo James departed the series, happy with the artistry of the heartbreak. The show killed Sidney off and introduced two new suitors for Charlotte. So the Charlotte we meet in Sanditon Season 2 isn’t just grieving over lost love, but the death of Sidney. She does so with similar grace as Anne Elliot, and like Anne, begins to blossom into a stronger, wiser, more confident version of herself.

This isn’t a coincidence. When I interviewed Sanditon Season 2’s showrunner Justin Young, he specifically called out Persuasion as a key influence on the series. “Persuasion, I think for all of us on the team, is kind of our favorite Austen novel in some respects. Rose [Williams] and I talked about Anne Elliot as a kind of interesting mature heroine,” Young said. “We loved the idea of Charlotte as Anne Elliot, the kind of mature, slightly heartbroken protagonist.”

To wit, Sanditon Season 2 ends with Charlotte once more dealing with disappointed affections. Her growing bond with Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) ends in disaster. She returns home, puts her romantic ideals aside, and becomes engaged to a local farmer. Sanditon Season 3 will explore if there’s any hope for Charlotte and Colbourne to articulate their love before it’s too late, much like Persuasion examines Anne and Wentworth’s struggle to reconnect.

Netflix’s Persuasion isn’t frustrating because it attempts “something different” with Austen, but because it fundamentally misunderstands what its source material is about. Persuasion is about two heartbroken lovers who can’t voice their love. They are constrained by the rules of society, the fear of rejection, and false assumptions about the other person’s feelings. Netflix’s film turns that tension into a farce, full of unfunny jokes and bizarrely self-aware speeches. So much so, that when Anne finally reads Wentworth’s letter, it feels anti-climactic instead of explosive. Persuasion doesn’t get this, but Sanditon does.