Persuasion 2007 [DVD] : Sally Hawkins, Alice Krige, Rupert Penry-Jones, Anthony Head, Julia Davis, Michael Fenton Stevens, Mary Stockley, Peter Wight, Marion Bailey, Amanda Hale, Jennifer Higham, Rosamund Stephen, Adrian Shergold, Jane Austen, Simon Burke

Amazon.com Jane Austen fans will delight in the sumptuous production design and first-rate acting in the 2007 Masterpiece Theatre version of Persuasion.

Sally Hawkins is controlled and moving as Anne Elliot, the quietly heartbroken but sensible heroine who was "persuaded" (read: forced) to turn away her true love but still carries an unseen torch for him.

Hawkins' performance is genteel yet steely, and the quiet strength of the entire production.

Hawkins looks alternately quietly lovely and sadly pinched--as one might expect the long frustrated Anne to look.

Other highlights include a post-Buffy Anthony Head, as Anne's clueless, blustery father, Sir Walter.

Head gets to turn on his deft comic talent here in ways most American audiences have not yet seen him; he's clearly enjoying himself immensely, blustering about "my shrubberies" and other trivial affairs.

The cinematography is lush (several breathtaking tracking shots are used, especially early on), as are the period costumes.

The production was filmed exclusively on location, and the reality of the sets enforces the story.