Seeking Persephone: It Doesn't Have To Be Shakespeare
- May 27
- 5 min read
A happy medium between Bridgeton and Jane Austen, Seeking Persephone is cheesy and slightly modern, but sincere in all the ways that count.
Synopsis: Adapted from the first installment of the Lancaster Book Series, Impoverished Persephone marries reclusive Duke, hoping his wealth rescues her family. She persists in connecting with the man beneath his scarred psyche and imposing estate. Grave peril forces him to risk vulnerability to protect her. @IMBD
Episode Count: 4
Where to Watch: Plex, Peacock, and Purchase
IMBD Rating: 7.5
The Theatrical Cut
Not to toot my own horn, but I saw this in theatre with my sister for a pre-screening and let me tell you, people were eating it up. First off, it completely sold out. People were sneaking in and sitting in the aisles to watch it and every time Adam came on screen, the girls would catcall. We all laughed and swooned and briefly thought there was an earthquake because the movie playing next door was so loud. It was genuinely such a fun time and reaffirmed my fervent belief that the people want regency romances that are sincere, even if they aren't literary masterpieces. But more on that later.
The theatrical cut was a good ol' time but after reflecting on it, I'm so glad they decided to cut it up into episodes. The transitions were choppy and it felt like an unfinished product as a film.
Drama When All Else Fails
This might be a hot take, but I prefer period tales as episodes of a drama, rather than a film. I saw Pride and Prejudice the movie (which is a masterpiece and better than the miniseries I have built my tombstone and I will die on this hill) in theaters for the anniversary and man is it fast paced lol. Most regency authors wrote their novels as serial installments and I prefer to consume them in pieces, rather than condensing the narrative. The only exception to this rule is the 1995 Sense and Sensibility but that's because Emma Thompson and Ang Lee are magical creatures. I haven't watched the drama version of Seeking Persephone yet as giving Jeff Bezos 19.99$ fills me with existential dread (don't worry, it will be overcome and I shall watch) so I can't speak to whether it enhanced the story, but reviews are overwhelmingly positive so I take that as a sign the studio gave the story breathing room.
Minor Critiques
I did have some somewhat minor critiques for the film in no particular order:
You could tell it had a low budget, but what can you do? It was independently funded and I will take "cheaper" productions over the expensive slop we've been served of late.
Persephone's hair color was inconsistent. In some scenes it was brown, in others black. And it didn't change chronologically lol
The dresses were kind of strange as the story went on but again the lack of budget thing.
The acting overall was kind of mid. Persephone slayed and Adam was fine, but everyone else could use some work. I do give points for new faces! Also, no offense but if they continue adapting the series, I hope they recast Athena. She is so pretty but didn't really fit the character and her hair was a very conspicuous bleached blonde.
When You Give A Girl A Bonnet: Sincerity Versus Sarcasm
The absolute joy felt in the theatre was something I have never experienced watching a period drama. It felt like the Avengers for Regency fans. I think what made Seeking Persephone so special is that it is so sincere. It wanted to tell a heartwarming Hades and Persephone inspired Regency Romance about good people who had been given a bad hand. The costumes weren't historically accurate (and sometimes downright confusing) but it was due to the lack of budget as this was independently funded. It wasn't trying to be Bridgeton, laughing in the face of bonnets and throwing sequins at decorum. It also wasn't trying to be Shakespeare with grandiose literary devices and lofty copy cat prose. It never tried to hide that it was written by a modern day author and scriptwriter, but you could feel the love and respect for the time period.
There's been a trend in recent years to portray the past with disdain. The color grading is dark and the streets and people are filthy, which wasn't the case. The past was super colorful. The Middle Ages had dark times but they were wearing practically neon colors. The modern view is that the past was dark and depressing and our romanization of it is overdone resulting in a solution fit for our times: sarcasm. The 2022 Persuasion is a great example of it. (Great and 2022 Persuasion are words I never thought I'd pair together shudders). That Frankenstein of a Jane Austen is totally the child of the mentality that the past was just silly and people were stupid, and why couldn't people have been like us back then? I know it was trying to do what Emma (2020) accomplished, but it ridiculed the source material and insulted the audience. You could feel that the director didn't think we had it in us to watch a straight adaptation and that if the characters didn't act like us, we couldn't relate. And then you have shows like Bridgeton that treats history like a fun joke it heard one time, and equate good romance to spice. But friends. Romance and on screen intimacy are not always the same thing. And Seeking Persephone recognized it. It have us a leading man who treated our girl with respect and and kept it TV-PG. And you know what, people around me visibly swooned. The love for regency romance comes from love for the time period, the values people had, the everydayness of it all, the dresses and ribbons, and of course, the discreet and modest romance. The world is so jaded right now and I don't think we need that mindset in our escapist media.
The Lancaster Series
Seeking Persephone is an adaptation of the 2008 book of the same name, clocking in at 288 pages. It's the first in a series of 5 books following each of the Lancaster siblings as they fall in love, but can be read as a standalone. The novel is a regency romance along the same vein as Edenbrooke and Secrets and Suitors. I read Seeking Persephone in 2020 and to be honest I remember enjoying it, but not much else. There were, uh, other concerns at the time. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads and the book has an average 4.13 rating, which is pretty good for this type of book. This gives me hope that one day there will be an adaptation of Emma M. Lion or Edenbrooke that takes the source material seriously.
More Please
I really hope we get a sequel to Seeking Persephone and I hope bigger streaming services take note of what really makes audiences swoon. And I hope more independently produced romances can follow the path of success! I read an article about Sarah M. Eden's journey to crowdfunding the adaptation and I just feel so proud. The show itself and the story of it's creation is certainly something to write about.
It's not every day a Utah filmmaker takes on a Regency romance (think Jane Austen), crowdfunds the whole thing, films part of it in England, part of it in Utah and then watches it climb to No. 1 on Amazon. Source
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