This conversation will contain spoilers for the movie, so if you haven’t seen it yet we suggest you watch it before reading over our thoughts. Further, we decided to present this blog post a little differently than usual by each writing out our thoughts separately about this movie adaptation.

Rose’s Thoughts:

I’m glad this movie adaptation starts off something like the beginning of the book! Interesting: they dramatise the gothic novels the story satirises, with Catherine as the heroine. It’s a good way to illustrate Catherine’s runaway imagination in movie form. The actor playing Henry Tilney has a cheeky grin. I like him. I don’t recall well enough if the introduction scene was the same as the book, but I enjoyed it.

I don’t think I got this impression from the book, but this movie portrays Eleanor Tilney as a bit older than Catherine. This makes some sense as Henry is a bit older as well; I just hadn’t thought about it before.

They went ahead and showed Thorpe’s duplicity in telling General Tilney that Catherine was an heiress from the start. That probably worked better in the flow of things than having the grand exposition at the end, though it does ruin some of the tension of the novel, knowing already.

The movie is a bit more risque than I would prefer, with Catherine being fully nude, though only shown from the back from the waist up, during one of her dream sequences. I don’t know if gothic novels were this blatant in Austen’s time, but I don’t like that the movie producers took it that direction for film.

I’m not sure why they decided to play up the Allens’ wealth and make it seem that Catherine or James might get an inheritance or help from them. I think the assumption that the Morlands were wealthy would have been sufficient.

This adaptation followed the book pretty faithfully, as much as a movie shorter than 2 hours can. Other than those moments noted above, I found it quite enjoyable. The casting and costumes were good, and it captured the spirit of the novel quite well.

Stacy’s Thoughts:

Well, that movie was certainly an experience! I laughed quite a bit throughout. Also, I was surprised that Hugh O’Conor, who played King Louis in the 1993 adaptation of The Three Musketeers with Kiefer Sutherland was James Morland! 

I think overall I enjoyed it, though I could have done without the dream sequences; they felt a bit too…improper, I suppose?, especially because there is the exploration of Catherine’s sexual awakening from reading ‘naughty’ books. Although it makes sense for the character to be thusly influenced by those works, I just don’t read Austen’s stories with that in mind, and Catherine seems to me to still be quite innocent, caring more for the adventure and mystery rather than the debauchery in the books she reads. However, I can understand why they chose to have them as they are an excellent way to explain Catherine’s overactive imagination and her growing up. It’s just, unfortunately, not an adaptation I could recommend the whole family watch. 

I appreciated how most of the characters were portrayed, other than Catherine, funnily enough; it felt like there was something missing when compared with her character in the book. Perhaps it was that I felt as though she was less innocent and more annoyed? I’m unsure what it was. Mr. Allen is one of my favourite characters in the book and, indeed, I enjoyed his portrayal in the film as well.

I was not a fan of the assumption that Captain Tilney slept with Isabella Thorpe. I suppose one could read the story that way but I didn’t; she just seems like a shameless flirt in the book who is after money, more similar to Mary Crawford as opposed to Lydia Bennet . 

I think most of the scenes from Northanger Abbey were really well thought out. I thought the way Henry was portrayed in the mother’s suite scene was excellent and I liked that they showed Catherine crying as she watched him leave. When Catherine is thrown out of the house at night Eleanor’s love for her is well shown.

I am uncertain about how Catherine’s mother’s character was portrayed. To me, in the book, she read much more demure and jovial and there was some of that but she also seemed in this adaptation to just not be sure what she was supposed to be. Not that I disliked it; it was just a sort of odd portrayal. 

Regarding the end of the movie in the book: we’re given no real indication that Eleanor loves someone and it’s very obvious in the movie. Also, in the book Henry and Catherine are to wait to marry until General Tilney agrees to it and in the movie it looks as though nobody really cares about him. I can understand why the adaptation did most of these things, but I’m still trying to figure out if I liked it. 

I think one of my favourite parts of the movie is Jane Austen’s voice at the beginning and end of the movie reading from the book and breaking the fourth wall. These made me laugh aloud!

I hope I don’t sound overly critical of this adaptation because, in all honesty, I didn’t mind it! There are some things I wasn’t a fan of with how they were portrayed or added to, but I think the overall feeling or vibe of the movie pretty well matched the book.

My goodness! There’s only one more complete Jane Austen novel book discussion to go; it’s hard to believe we’re already at this point. We’re planning on starting our discussion posts over Persuasion in January 2025, so if you haven’t read it yet you still have time!