The film, which stars Dakota Johnson in the title role and modernises the character for the age of the girl boss. It is based on the premise that you must wait for the appropriate moment to be with someone you love and admire. The story follows Anne, the brightest and most reserved member of the Elliot family, as she is made to turn down Frederick Wentworth as a potential spouse. Years later, when Frederick reappears in her life and the family patriarch is facing crippling debt and the estate is on the verge of being sold, she is forced to consider the possibility of marriage.
In the historical love story “Persuasion,” directed by Carrie Cracknell, Jane Austen’s well-known novel of the same name is adapted for Netflix. See the list of period love stories and other notable Austen adaptations below.
Table of Contents
1. Sense And Sensibility (1995)
Director- Ang Lee
Mr. Dashwood’s second wife and his three children, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, find themselves in difficult circumstances after he passes away. Since he must leave the majority of his assets to the son from his first marriage. Although a generous relative takes them in, their lack of resources makes Elinor and Marianne. They are both sensible and romantic, less likely to be married. When Elinor develops feelings for affluent Edward Ferrars, his family disapproves and splits the couple apart. And despite Mrs. Jennings’ attempts to pair her with the honourable and wealthy Colonel Brandon, Marianne prefers the dashing and feisty John Willoughby. Both partnerships have been put to the test.
2. Mansfield Park (TV Movie, 1999)
Director- Patricia Rozema
At age 10, Fanny Price, a distant relative, moves in with her aunt’s husband, Sir Thomas, at Mansfield Park. She develops a special bond with Edmund, Thomas’s younger son. He is smart, diligent, and a writer with a sarcastic imagination and strong moral principles. Fanny soon attracts the attention of a neighbour, Henry Crawford, who notices her attractiveness and sharp mind. Thomas encourages this connection, but to his dismay, Fanny has her own ideas and demands that Henry establish his worthiness. Fanny must judge Henry’s character and show both her heart and her wit as Edmund pursues Henry’s sister. Along with the evidence of the connection between Thomas’ wealth and New World enslavement emerges.
3. Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Director- Joe Wright
In Georgian England, Mrs. Bennet educates her five daughters—Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia—in so that they will marry a wealthy man who would provide for the family. They come from a lower social stratum, and if Mr. Bennet passes away, a distant cousin will receive their home in Hertfordshire. The shy and lovely Jane falls in love with the wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley when he and his best friend Mr. Darcy come to town to spend the summer in a house close to their land, while Elizabeth considers Mr. Darcy to be a haughty and pompous man and pledges to hate him forever. Their enchanting love story begins with this.
4. Metropolitan (1990)
Director- Whit Stillman
Four friends from the upper class of New York meet virtually every night in an apartment on Manhattan to chat about social mobility, play bridge, and debate Fourier’s socialism: the cynic Nick, the philosophical Charlie, the party girl Sally, and the austerian Audrey. Tom comes to join them. He is critical of their manner of life and comes from a much simpler background. But Audrey, who unknowingly falls in love with him, is his soul mate.
5. Northanger Abbey (TV Movies, 2007)
Director- Jon Jones
When Catherine Morland is granted the chance to stay with the childless Allen family in Bath, she expects an adventure similar to the ones she has been reading about in books. Her brother James’ close friend Isabella Thorpe and her brother John are among the first people she meets after being introduced to society. A good-looking young man named Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor are among people she meets. When Northanger Abbey, a Tilney estate, is invited to visit, she has romantic feelings, but she quickly realises that rank, class, and wealth are all equally significant when it comes to issues of the heart.
6. Emma (2020)
Director- Autumn de Wilde
This is a reimagining of the cherished comedy by Jane Austen about meeting your equal and gaining your happy ending. Emma Woodhouse is a restless queen bee with no rivals in her sleepy small town since she is handsome, intelligent, and wealthy. Emma must journey through wrong relationships and romantic blunders in this sparkling satire of social class and the anguish of growing up to find the love that has always been there.
7. Becoming Jane (2007)
Director- Julian Jarrold
The year is 1795, and the young Jane Austen is a fiery twenty-year-old writer who already envisions a world beyond class and trade, above pride and prejudice, and who dreams of doing what at the time was almost unthinkable: marrying for love. To ensure their daughter’s future social standing, her parents are understandably looking for a wealthy, well-off husband. They are considering Mr. Wisley as a potential match. He is the nephew of the powerful and wealthy local aristocrat Lady Gresham. Sparks start to fly as well as the sassy banter when Tom Lefroy, a roguish and distinctly non-aristocratic character, meets Jane. She becomes enraged by his intelligence and conceit, which subsequently send her reeling. The couple is now in a horrible predicament because their flirting defies age-appropriate logic and sensibility. They will put everything that matters—family, friends, and money—at danger if they try to be married.
8. Jane Eyre (2011)
Director- Cary Joji Fukunaga
Jane Eyre, an orphan, is first horribly mistreated by her aunt before being expelled and enrolled in a charity school. She endures more abuse, but she also gets an education and finally accepts a position as a governess at Edward Rochester’s house. Rochester and Jane start to get along, but she finds his gloomy moods troubling. Jane flees and temporarily seeks safety at St. John Rivers’ house after learning the dreadful secret Rochester has been keeping.
9. Far From The Madding Crowd (2015)
Director- Thomas Vinterberg
Bathsheba Everdene is an independent, attractive, and headstrong woman who attracts three very different suitors: William Boldwood, a wealthy and experienced bachelor; Frank Troy, a handsome and reckless Sergeant; and Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer who is mesmerised by her alluring stubbornness. This classic tale of Bathsheba’s decisions and pursuits discusses the nature of relationships and love as well as people’s capacity for endurance and resilience in the face of adversity.
10. Austenland (2013)
Director(s)- Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess
A social outcast Jane Hayes has an obsession with Jane Austen’s writings and has fantasies about Mr. Darcy. She gathers what little cash she can and travels to Austenland, a British theme park where visitors can lose themselves in a romantic fantasy fit for Jane Austen. However, Jane’s opportunity to have a liaison with her very own Mr. Darcy may also be constrained because her meagre resources do not grant her the same privileges as other visitors.
