Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Director:

Ang Lee

Writers:

Jane Austen (novel)
Emma Thompson (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 December 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Lose your heart and come to your senses.

Plot:

Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. Two daughters are the titular opposites.

Plot Keywords:

Heartbreak | Love | Colonel | Inheritance | Sword Fighting

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 27 wins & 28 nominations

Cast

James Fleet	...	John Dashwood
Tom Wilkinson	...	Mr. Dashwood
Harriet Walter	...	Fanny Ferrars Dashwood
Kate Winslet	...	Marianne Dashwood
Emma Thompson	...	Elinor Dashwood
Gemma Jones	...	Mrs. Dashwood
Hugh Grant	...	Edward Ferrars
Emilie François	...	Margaret Dashwood
Elizabeth Spriggs	...	Mrs. Jennings
Robert Hardy	...	Sir John Middleton
Ian Brimble	...	Thomas
Isabelle Amyes	...	Betsy
Alan Rickman	...	Col. Christopher Brandon
Greg Wise	...	John Willoughby
Alexander John	...	Curate

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild thematic elements.

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | French

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

Australia:G | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Taiwan:GP | Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Chile:TE | Denmark:A | Finland:S | Germany:6 (w) | Netherlands:AL | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Berry Pomeroy Church, Berry Pomeroy, Devon, England, UK

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

In the DVD extras, Emma Thompson relates how Patrick Doyle was challenged to set Ben Jonson's The Dreame to music. The result is the piece Col. Brandon requests Marianne to play on the pianoforte and the end title music.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In asking, "is love a fancy, or a feeling?" Marianne quotes the first line of a sonnet by Hartley Coleridge (son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge). This poem was written/published in the 1830s, two decades after the setting and publication of Sense & Sensibility.

Quotes:

[after Marianne has first met Willougby]
Elinor Dashwood: Marianne, you must change or you will catch a cold.
Marianne: What care I for colds when there is such a man.
Elinor Dashwood: You will care very much when your nose swells up.
Marianne: You are right. Help me, Elinor.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield (1997) (VG)

Soundtrack:

The Dreame

Very good adaptation.

This is one of the best of the recent Jane Austen films, from one of her weaker books. Emma Thompson has done a fine job of the script, not slavishly remaining faithful to the book but not abandoning it either.

The cast are uniformally excellent. I especially liked Kate Winslet's Marianne and Alan Rickman's Brandon. Emma Thompson's performance is almost good enough to make you forget that she is far to old for the part. The supporting cast are all excellent.

Ang Lee's direction shows the same skill that it did in the excellent Eat Drink Man Woman and the scenery and costumes are beautiful (perhaps too beautiful).

This is more romantic and less comic than say Emma, and Thompson's script wisely stays away from the kind of set-piece gags seen in the recent film of Emma. All in all, this is excellent.