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This New Period Drama Is Already No. 5 on Netflix (and It’s Giving Major ‘Bridgerton’ Vibes)

Move over, Bridgerton. There's a new period drama in town, and it's already climbing up the Netflix charts.

It's very likely that' you've already come across at least two (or a dozen) headlines about Persuasion, a modernized take on Jane Austen’s final novel. Countless fans and critics have already shared their two cents about the new film, which now sits at number five on Netflix's top ten list of movies, surpassing titles likeToo Old for Fairy Tales, The Man From Toronto and 12 Strong. According to the streaming platform, Persuasion has also landed in the top ten in 91 countries, with over 29 million hours viewed.

In case you're unfamiliar with the plot, Persuasion is a love story that follows a young woman named Anne Elliot (Dakota Johnson) as she reunites with an old flame named Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis), whose proposal she rejected eight years ago. But when they spend more time together, sparks fly, and this prompts her to seriously consider giving him a second chance.

So far, viewers appear to be divided on how they feel about this movie because it deviates from the source material, but there's been some positive feedback. For instance, critic Christy Lemire praised Johnson’s "thoroughly charming portrayal of Anne Elliot," even comparing her to the character Bridget Jones. And one fan, Anna Samata, argued in her Google review that the modernized dialogue actually added to the film. She wrote, "The words used in the movie, made the plot and the characters less unhomely to the audience, which, instead of listening to endless sentences with complex words, they could easily follow the plot and sympathize or criticize the characters who, exactly by their way of speaking, seem a lot more humane than in other adaptations."

In addition to Johnson and Jarvis, Persuasion stars Henry Golding, Suki Waterhouse, Richard E. Grant, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ben Bailey Smith and Izuka Hoyle. Carrie Cracknell served as director, while the screenplay was written by Ron Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow.

Looks like we'll be watching Persuasion tonight!

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