Persuasion 2007 to be broadcast on Canal 22 in Mexico
Alert Janeite Cinthia from JACastellano, the Spanish language Jane Austen discussion list, let us know that Persuasion (2007) will be broadcast on Canal 22 tonight, Sunday, January 6, 2008, at 22:00 Mexico City time. (Central Time in the U.S.) Don’t forget to come back and let us know what you thought of it!
January 8th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Persuasion 2007 was broadcast in English with Spanish subtitles on one of Mexico’s cultural channels. The translation seemed a bit curt. Whole ideas seemed to be translated into brief sentences.
Rupert Penry-Jones was very believable as Captain Wentworth as was Sally Hawkins in the role of Anne Elliot. Anthony Head was a convincing Walter Elliot. However, the whole film was choppy and the transitions were abrupt. Some of the background music was inappropriate and jarring. (My daughter felt that some of the music was even “Northanger Abbey-ish”! My son felt that the filming was similiar to Mr. Bean’s videotape of his vacation!) It was very disconcerting. The climax of the story should have been Louisa’s fall but this was extremely brief. A first time viewer may not have realized the significance of this event. The second climax should have been Anne’s reading of Wentworth’s oh-so-romantic letter- but the viewer is distracted by Anne’s strange race around Bath. Most of my other observations were mentioned by the English viewers last spring. I will probably buy my own copy, but I will continue to pull out the tender and very beloved 95 version when I need a “Persuasion fix”.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Better late than never, a week later, here is finally my review.
Before embarking on a review of the 2007 Persuasion film, I think I have to mention some circumstances that weight in my assessment of it.
Persuasion is the first novel I read by Jane Austen, I did it when I was only 12 years old and it turned to be a life changing experience, because it immediately ignited my devotion for anything Austen :). I will not deny that the love story was what first captured my attention, only later I was able to appreciate the other many qualities of Jane Austen’s prose. Coming from a non-English speaking country, where our writer is not as widely known as in the English speaking world, I hope you can imagine how difficult it was to find at the time (before the internet era) her other novels, but the impression had been made and for the following years I was on the hunt for the other five. Of course another problem was that back then my command of English was very limited to have access to the original texts, I had to wait a few more years to finally made it :). Nowadays, Persuasion remains my favourite, only Pride and Prejudice and Emma were able to share the spot in my heart with it. These circumstances weight in how I would assess any Persuasion adaptation.
Secondly of course my perception is also influenced by the beautiful 1995 film, which is also one of my favourites films of all. Unlike with the novel, it was not love at first sight. It took me a few viewings to finally adore it. I would not argue that it is perfect, because there are some details that could have been better and others that I dislike, but on the whole, I believe it manages to capture what I call the spirit of the novel, and also its mood, its tone and its subtle intensity.
I have also seen the 1971 miniserie a couple of times, but it is not an experience as satisfying as it is reading the novel or watching the 1995 film.
Plainly, this new adaptation had a lot to bear in comparison and unfortunately it does not suceed.
Persuasion 2007 was broadcast in English with Spanish subtitles on one of Mexico’s cultural channels.
Yes, it was the second time it has been broadcasted by Canal 22, the second cultural channel in the country.
The translation seemed a bit curt. Whole ideas seemed to be translated into brief sentences.
Having worked translating and subtitling films, I know how difficult is to try to convey a closer translation when sometimes the speech speed does not allow time enough for an average audience to read the subtitles (the subtitling software indicates the time and forces to change to shorter sentences when the translation is considered too long to be read), thus the translator has to shorten the lines, choose a briefer sentence. I think this is one of the reasons when sometimes the translations in general seemed so rushed and incomplete. That is probably why at times in this instance the translation seems faulty, but at others, there was time enough for longer sentences and I suspect the problem was that the translator did not understand some of the speeches included in the film. That I’m afraid is also a common problem not only among adaptations, but also translations of the novels themselves. There are some words and some expressions in Austen prose that do not have an equivalent in other languages. For example, think only about “living” referring to the clerical living. I have seen worse translations for the Austen adaptations.
One of the complaints I found in the Mexican broadcast was the quality image, it was the first time I had seen in the tv screen and either, Canal 22 was given a very poor copy of it or the film’s cinematography is itself poor and the fact had been shadowed by the small screen where I first saw this adaptation. The answer will come when my DVD arrives and according to Amazon, it and NA2 are on the way.
Rupert Penry-Jones was very believable as Captain Wentworth as was Sally Hawkins in the role of Anne Elliot.
I beg to differ. My objections against both main protagonists had begun when we first knew who had been cast for the roles, and unfortunately, their performances do not change my opinion.
RPJ though handsome by general standards, I found him unbelievable as a Navy captain who has spent quite a few years at sea. He seems to bland for the part. Here goes again the comparison against CH, who though I would not call handsome as Captain Wentworth should be, however he oozes more command, strength, manhood and passion. For me, neither of them is the Captain Wentworth I imagine from the novel, but the point remains that the handsome man does not convince me as much as the not quite handsome one.
As for SH, I do not see her bloom as she is supposed to do and as I think Amanda Root does. By comparison, IMHO, SH looks less delicate and refined as I imagine Anne. I know the fault is in the script, but I do not like how she looks directly to the camera, nor her crying moments. Though I believe there where Anne, being alone might have indulged in tears, Hawkins’s performance of tha moments it is what I do not find believable, I think it lacks to convey a moving emotion.
Anthony Head was a convincing Walter Elliot.
I agree, he is one of the few among the cast who were able to hold their heads above the disaster.
Tobias Menzies as Mr. Elliot also deserves praise in my opinion, is among the few among the supporting cast who manages to shine in the role assigned, and also he is more closer to the image I have of Mr. Elliot from the novel.
The complaint prevails, though the physical looks of the cast in this new adaptation could be more appealing to a general audience and their ages are closer to what JA described in the novel, unfortunately, their performances in general do not surpass what the cast of Persuasion 1995, which though less physically attractive is definitely more talented, achieved. Among the supporting cast I miss Sophie Thompson as Mary Musgrove, Fiona Shaw as Mrs. Croft and Simon Russell Beale as Charles Musgrove most.
I had hoped for a more to the letter Elizabeth Elliot, and unfortunately nothing came of it. The explanation about Mr. Elliot’s real character, which is one of the flaws of the previous adaptation, unfortunately have not been improved, it is perhaps worse because not only is rushed, but because the sick Mrs. Smith has been miraculously cured by the waters of Bath.
As about what were to be the more moving moments of the story. Unfortunately IMHO, the re-encounter scene is not as powerful as the one in P2. Neither the walk to and returning to Winthrop, in this new adaptation, when Wentworth places Anne in the Crofts’ carriage is like he is putting a sack of potatoes, not that powerful scene that appears in the novel and the 1995 version. But the quality of the adaptation deteriorates the moment when the important dialogue between Anne and Captain Harville was moved terribly from Bath to Lyme, given instead to Benwick and without Wentworth hearing it. IMHO there the new adaptation declines and is never able to recover. The Bath marathon not only is laughable but erases all the force of THE LETTER, as others have complained before, also the
And the kiss, do not get me started with the kiss. I know people have objected to the kiss in P2 for not being considered historically accurate, but it is such a kiss, which conveys all the longing and love of the main protagonist. By contrast, this new kiss is dreadful. Many people by know have compared it like a fish out of water and I agree.
Also laughable is how capable Anne here settles her nephew’s clavicle.
I do not like how, like in P1, here we have Anne and Lady Russell discussing the past.
The climax of the story should have been Louisa’s fall but this was extremely brief. A first time viewer may not have realized the significance of this event. The second climax should have been Anne’s reading of Wentworth’s oh-so-romantic letter- but the viewer is distracted by Anne’s strange race around Bath.
I’m in complete agreement. Too true for contradiction.
In general, it is a pity that what could have been a good production should be so disappoiting and ridiculous. It is not that JA puts bits of comic moments, but here one does not laught with, but at it.
However, the whole film was choppy and the transitions were abrupt… My daughter felt that some of the music was even “Northanger Abbey-ish”! My son felt that the filming was similiar to Mr. Bean’s videotape of his vacation!) It was very disconcerting.
Good for to mention the reactions of other members of your family. My mother and aunts, who have read P and watched P2 would not manage to finish watching the new one. it bored them, at least what they saw, without the romantic tension in the first half, they did not manage to wait to laugh at what was done with the remaining half.
I was particularly interested to have my brother’s opinion, who I must say has not yet read any of the novels (I still have faith that someday he will) but he has seen some adaptations of the other novels, but he has never seen any of Persuasion and he does not know what the story is about, he only knows that, according to the female members of his family, it is a great love story. He also gave up watching it but because he was not understanding it, who was who, what was going on or why. So I guess that for a newcomer, this was absolutely nonsense.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Hola Cinthia! Thank you for your insights into the world of film translation. That was very helpful. I will remember this the next time that I watch a film with subtitles-I won’t be so critical. I had no idea that there are so many restrictions!