At 27, Anne Elliot is over the hill—at least, that’s what her father thinks. The heroine of Persuasion “had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early,” the narrator tells us, by way of introduction to Sir Walter Elliot’s middle daughter. But that description, though it masquerades as impartial, actually channels Sir Walter’s perception, and by the end of the novel, having spent much time in Anne’s excellent company, we are not surprised to discover that her charms are in full effect.
To play Anne Elliot is to play a woman who possesses confidence, intelligence, and, yes, beauty, but who has no one around her discerning enough to reliably appreciate those qualities. Dakota Johnson, in this summer’s new adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, brilliantly channels that sense…
