Saturday, September 5, 2015

Sense and Sensibility (1995, PG)

It’s hard to find a perfect Jane Austen movie/miniseries; that careful balance of topnotch acting, adapting, directing, and cinematic entertainment doesn’t come along as often as it should.  As such, every adaptation has some quibbles, but that doesn’t stop me from liking virtually all of them and loving most of them.  Although there’s a lot to love about the various Sense and Sensibilities, this one, for me, is the quintessential version.

Assuming I’ll get around to reviewing lots of Austen adaptations eventually, I think I may reuse this paragraph later as standard Sense and Sensibility summary.  After the death of their father, estate law forces the Dashwood sisters Elinor and Marianne (along with their mother and younger sister) into severely reduced means.  Elinor is steady, practical, and self-denying, while Marianne is passionate and impulsive with a lust for the romantic.  As they adjust to their new circumstances, the sisters approach life and love through the particular views of their wildly different temperaments. 

The adaptation is penned by Emma Thompson, doing double duty as Elinor, and even though it takes some dramatic license, it feels Austen throughout, so much so that I’ve seen other adaptations of this story do their own variations of scenes that Thompson invented wholesale.  Indeed, some of her revisions are very welcome, like giving youngest sister Margaret a separate personality distinct from Marianne’s and adding in some nice exchanges that really show why Elinor would fall for Edward.  Ang Lee’s direction maintains that fine Austenian tug between arch satire and earnest romantic drama, and the period backdrop never feels staid or stuffy.

There are some similarly fabulous casting knockouts.  First off, I know that Thompson is too old for Elinor here, and the steep age difference between Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman makes it hard to consider Col. Brandon as a serious contender for Marianne’s heart.  That said, all of them are so wonderful in their roles that I wilfully ignore these logistical issues.  Thompson in particular is just stunning – her big something’s-gotta-give moment in the second half of the film is gorgeous.  Winslet’s Marianne is an immature but ardent firecracker, and Rickman brings such gentle care to Brandon.  Meanwhile, Hugh Grant is reliably awkward-in-a-cute-way as Edward, and Greg Wise might be my favorite onscreen Willoughby ever.  The supporting cast sparkles with humor.  Particularly noteworthy are Harriet Walter as greedy, snobbish stepsister-in-law Fanny and the hilarious one-two punch of Imelda Staunton and Hugh Laurie as the Palmers.

Some especially well-realized scenes include, as already mentioned, Elinor’s confrontation with Marianne, along with Fanny and John’s discussion about “helping” his stepsisters, Col. Brandon’s first sight of Marianne at the piano, and Willoughby’s entrance and introduction to the Dashwoods.  Despite some departures from the source material and some technicality problems in the casting, this movie is just Sense and Sensibility all the way, and every time I watch it, I wonder why that book isn’t higher on my list of favorite Austen novels (the answer is that there’s simply too many good ones, and in this case, even being fourth of six is still incredibly good.)

Warnings

References to sexual content (out-of-wedlock children, that kind of thing.)

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