(1996) Director Roger Michell's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, from Nick Dear's screenplay, opens with a nautical scene as England's war against Napoleon has ended.

At first the imperious Sir Walter Elliot (Corin Redgrave), a widower baronet, declares he will not have "a sailor" on his premises; but after being informed of his predicament of having excessive debts, requiring immediate economizing to avoid an impecunious future, he agrees to removing himself, his profligate eldest daughter Elizabeth (Phoebe Nicholls), and the indigent widow Mrs Clay (Felicity Dean), from his country estate to Bath, leaving his youngest daughter Anne (Amanda Root) behind to receive the tenants, Rear Admiral Croft (John Woodvine) and his wife (Fiona Shaw).

Afterward Anne goes to stay with her married, hypochondriac sister Mary (Sophie Thompson), Mary's husband Charles Musgrove (Simon Russell Beale), and the couple's two young boys. Repeatedly self-effacing Anne volunteers or accepts responsibilities (such as caring for a child with a broken collarbone), allowing her sister more freedom.

Eight years earlier when she was 19, Anne had refused an offer of marriage from Frederick Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds); he has returned from service at sea as a captain to visit the Crofts, his sister and her husband. At first polite but curt toward Anne, Capt Wentworth learns from Louisa (Emma Roberts), Charles's sister, that Mary had persuaded Anne not to accept "a suitor's" offer of marriage many years ago.

To Lyme on the coast go the Musgroves and Anne with Capt Wentworth to call upon his friend Capt Harville and wife; there as well they meet Capt Benwick (Richard McCabe), who yet grieves for having lost his love Phoebe before they could wed. A handsome, young cousin, Mr Elliot (Samuel West), heir presumptive of Sir Walter but estranged for past conduct, appears on the scene. Louisa, who has attracted Capt Wentworth's attentions, foolishly leaps from the quay above her intended but lands unconscious at his feet.

Anne goes to see her father and sister in Bath where Mr Elliot with his good manners and correct opinions comes to call on her: "In my heart I know you intimately." In her decision to pay a visit to her widowed friend Mrs Smith (who will later impart vital information to Anne concerning Mr Elliot's ulterior motives) instead of accompanying her father and Elizabeth to see Lady Dalrymple, Anne reaps fresh disdain for her choice of society.

Brain-rattled Louisa recovers and unexpectedly marries Capt Benwick. Freed from his obligation to the young Musgrove maid, Capt Wentworth encounters Anne, the peerless heroine, in Bath where everyone assumes she will wed Mr Elliot, leaving her a note: "Tell me not that I'm too late."

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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