Every Jane Austen Adaptation Ranked from Worst to Best



It’s time to rank the Jane Austen adaptations from worst to best. For this list, we’ll be looking at some of our favorite on-screen versions of Jane Austen’s novels – and also the adaptations that made us cringe the hardest. Our countdown includes “Persuasion,” “Emma,” “Sense and Sensibility,” and more! What do YOU think are the best and worst Jane Austen adaptations? Let us know in the comments!

Watch more great Jane Austen videos here:
Top 10 Jane Austen Adaptations in Movies and TV – https://youtu.be/cyhmom_SQtw
Top 10 Greatest Romantic Period Films – https://youtu.be/g7jTTnIM-aw
Top 10 Best Period Drama Dance Scenes – https://youtu.be/HOad1MJ4RzU

Test your Trivia Power!
https://www.watchmojo.com/play/id/55539

Have Your Idea Become A Video!
https://wmojo.com/msmojo-suggest

Subscribe for more great content!
https://wmojo.com/msmojo-subscribe

MsMojo is a leading producer of reference online video content of Top 10 Lists, Origins, Biographies, Commentary and more on Pop Culture, Celebrity, Movies, Music, TV, Film, Video Games, Politics, News, Comics, Superheroes. Your trusted authority on ranking Pop Culture.

#JaneAusten #Adaptations #Persuasion #Books #Movies

source

Related posts

Harris’s Debate Smackdown | Trump’s Bizarre Pet Rumor | A Hidden Message In Taylor’s Endorsement?

8600 असलम सिंगर न्यू मेवाती सॉन्ग //8500 Aslam Singer New Mewati Video song //4k 2024 // 8585 Song

Dance Moms: Maddie, Mackenzie and Abby Answer Fan Questions (Season 6 Flashback) | Lifetime

29 comments

@MsMojo March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
What do YOU think are the best and worst Jane Austen adaptations? Let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Greatest Romantic Period Films - https://youtu.be/g7jTTnIM-aw
@CassTheStinkyChicken March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
15:00 HATE this P&P version it is not faithful to the writing at all. 17:26 A&E IS THE BEST and DESERVES the #1 spot!!!!
16:00 S&S was great, the actors are SOOOO good. ALAN RICKMAN <3
@lesyasinayuk7853 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
Emma with Anya Teylor Johns
@chaconce March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
I'd shuffle the top five by switching the Emma's around but the rest of it I agree.
@chaconce March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
I'd r
@lindalarson1948 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
Kate Beckinsale's Emma is the best ever. I haven't seen the Romula Garai version, but Gwyneth Paltrow? No, never.
@veronicaseverino6373 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
I hated the 2022 the Persuasion adaptation. It was vey disappointing for those who have read the book.
@elizabeths4371 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
This is the first time I’ve ever agreed with your list 🎉
@nelled6240 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
1995 Pride and Prejudice is the worst especially Colin Firth and Jennifer Elhe. 2005 is the best.
@angharadswansea9343 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
I loved Sally Hawkins in persuasion. I thought that was an excellent version.
@andreagv3 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
For once, I agree with msMojo (who screw it up plenty when it comes to cinema, owing to their proto-feminist-modernist take on everything), very well done.
Maybe I would just put Persuasion at number 3 (even at number 2) above the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. The casting and characterization is so perfect, they don't try to play it up. Anne is truly stoic, delicate, and passionate, she is Austen's most mature and purely "good" heroine, and Amanda Root doesn't feel the needs to be beautiful or show-off, she inherently knows that what makes Anne so special is what is within not the outward facade. The movie simmers with unspoken desire and anguish and the ciaran hinds really conveys all his pain and desire, while remaining within the confines of proper manners that the society of the times requires. That is why the slow burn of the whole movie leads to the beautiful quiet resolution in those magnificent close-up shots of the 2 hands meeting, and the reading of the letter. It's about the details, it's about the unspoken and it is magic. The novel is underrated because the heroine is not as flashy (when they try to sex it up, it's ridiculous, see the 2022 version, horrible) it's a mistake, you should go read it, and discover this small gem o a book and a film.
The 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie goes a step down in my opinion because the characterizations are off. The father is a hippie-like doofus instead of the world-weary wit and cynic, I love Keira Knightley, but she knows she is pretty and she plays for cute and feisty instead of sharp and smart, which is what Elizabeth is. Instead of rigid and just, Darcy goes for shy and ackward. It's one way to read it, but it's too a modern take which I guess Gen-X loves. Also the other characters are reduced to cameos and snapshots because the runtime is short and the pace frenetic. I like the chemistry, but pacing, characterization, and some framing decisions are off compared to the superb mini-series.

Sense and Sensibility is a great adaptation and the first film I saw at the cinema, but I fundamentally disagree with the material, it's a very underdeveloped novel by Austen, her first to be published, and she focused a lot more on the wit and the humous (which is great) than on the actual development of the characters and the story. It's still a bit rough, maybe too realistic, and I dislike it's ending and it's principles in general (elinor and marianne aren't really to root for, the pairs are mismatched and the colonel is creepy as f)
That's why in terms of pure romance, faithfulness to the source material, interpretation by the actors, setting and the actual nobility of the characters, Pride and Prejudice (1995) and Persuasion (1995), what a year, are the two most faithful and beautiful Austen adaptations. Sense and Sensibility comes third for the screenplay and production values which are great, but characters and story is just ok, and 4th Pride and Prejudice 2005 4th for lively if somewhat reductive and off-characterized performance.
Now I know why msMojo put Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice 2005 at numbers 2 and 3.
Because they are hollywood productions with famous actors and Emma Thompson wrote the script and bla bla bla, they have to pay lip service to US cinema..... ecc ecc.
I forgive them this time, most of the time they don't know what they have done.
@Notintimidated2013 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
1981 and 2005 Pride & Prejudice.🏆❤️ 1999 Persuasion.⭐️ Sense & Sensibility 2008. 🏆❤️ Emma 1996 (Paltrow) & 2009 & 2020.🏆❤️
@user-bz2nd8sq7h March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
I definitely love "Sense and Sensibility," though I personally think that Emma Thompson looks old for the character, I love her just the same; she is such a great actress. I saw Hugh Grant differently, and started looking for more of his movies. However, I prefer "Pride and Prejudice" starring Keira Knightley. I just feel that the cast is more beautiful. I loved listening to Keira as Lizzie. I thoroughly enjoyed Donald Sutherland as Lizzie's father. But, to each his/her own. I love Jane Austen's novels.
@DeeVanDorn March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
yeahhhh! My favorite P&P at the top. The chemistry between Firth and Ehle was real (for a few years)
@ketothis9759 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
Persuasion 2022 was the best adaptation of that story. 1995 was good but not as good as 2022.
Mansfield Park 1999 was the best adaptation of that story.
Northanger Abby 2007 was the best adaptation of that story.
I also liked Love and Friendship- dont know any other adaptation to compare it to.
Emma 1996 was the best adaptation of that story
Sense and sensibility 1995 was the best adaptation of that story
Pride and Prejudice 2005 was a great disappointment. Too much cinema, not enough story, and they talked too fast without any character. It was like they were trying to get through the script as fast as they could.
Pride and Prejudice 1995 was not only the best Pride and Prejudice adaptation, it is the absolute best of all adaptations of any of Jane Austens books.
All the characters were perfectly picked, and acting was fantastic. I watch this version at least three times a year, probably more. Love that movie.
@heatherninneman558 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
Sorry but you're completely wrong about persuasion 2007. It's the best version ever made and a lot of people believe that. So your list is crap
@rebekahbordeaux580 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
Absolutely right, there is no other contender for #1! 1995 P&P will always be the best. Newest adaptation of Persuasion is abhorrent. I will say that I would have rated the newest adaptation of Emma lower. It was loud, vulgar and all around ghastly. Mr. Knightley is tolerable I suppose. The director is from New York. I feel as though there was no true understanding of brittish culture at that time. Emma was portrayed as an outright snooty bitch. Of course Emma is snooty, but not in such a forward manner. Also felt scandalized by seeing Mr. Knightley naked 30 seconds into his introduction.
@nothingbutquiet6224 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
I would say sense and sense ability as 2nd and pride and prejudice 2005 in first only because the cinematography of 2005 is superior
@melanieevans5597 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
Your number 3 should be number 1 by far I don't agree with you .
@alinaelenapurice2171 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
I loved Persuasion (2007) adaptation!
@b.m.t.h.3961 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
As long as they are not woke, Im happy.
@jh-rg9dc March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
Oh dear, you completely ignored the 1980 version of P&P. Faye Weldon's script was the best, and pointed the way for all the modern adaptations.
@mikesandra3140 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
i have seen pried and prejudice 2005 and sense and sensibility 1995
@EditLivy March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
I could tell even before I started watching what your No. 1 would be. Only it's not. This clearly is an US taste based ranking.
@clementine6760 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
The 2022 one was truly dire. Clumsy, hideous attempt to put modern sensibilities and language into a period context. If we wanted that we'd watch something modern!! The fascination with this era is because of the social norms of the age, both the beguiling aspects and the unappealing ones ( the challenge of being female/poor etc). Couldn't stomach it. Sense and Sensibility/ Pride and Prejudice Emma Thompson/ Colin Firth era have never been topped.
@tonyzane4945 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
British TV adaptation with Jennifer Erle and Colin Firth was the best...
@vanillapop21 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
I guess I’m one of the few people who actually liked Persuasion (2022). I found it utterly hilarious. I loved when she spoke to the audience. Maybe the fact that an extremely difficult person in my life is exactly like her sister in this movie is what made it work for me. The person I have had to deal with is the epitome of her sister, right down to the sister declaring that she is an empath, when she is in fact a classic narcissist. Spot on! I guess the movie, and seeing how she didn’t let her sister’s behavior get to her, was therapeutic for me.
@Ann0171 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
2005 pride and prejudice is my favorite, not sure how many times I’ve rewatched it 😝
@mearbear88 March 29, 2024 - 6:04 am
Agree with this wholeheartedly. 1995 P&P is my favorite adaptation. ❤️❤️❤️

Comments are closed.

Add Comment