With its internal voice-overs and Fleabag-styled fourth-wall breaking (which surprisingly works in context but is way overused here), this self-conscious adaptation of the Jane Austen favourite tries to be the best of both worlds, and does not quite pull it off. The film sticks resolutely to typical period settings but with a modern sensibility and inflections, including Downton Abbey stylings and Bridgerton-style colour-blind casting. Dialogue flits between period and modern inflections, the relentlessly whimsical score becomes irritating, and by the time the film reaches a concluding anachronistic wispy-voiced emo-ballad all hope is lost. In spite of these tensions, Dakota Johnson and Cosmo Jarvis are watchable as Anne and Wentworth, with Mia McKenna-Bruce good fun as the self-absorbed Mary Musgrove and Nikki Amuka-Bird excellent as the imperious Lady Russell. The film does manage to nail a breezy lightness of tone which make it a moderately enjoyable if insubstantial and uneven confection to watch.
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