Mumbai: Much like Jeffrey Archer’s novels, there is a comfort in inhabiting Jane Austen’s world of bonnets and manners. While there may be wicked people and heartache, things usually come right in the end.
Sense and Sensibility, Austen’s first novel, published in 1811, has been viewed as a book of good conduct, a feminist critique of patriarchy, and an early example of eco-criticism. It is also a swoon-worthy rom-com.
The Adaptation
Daisy Ried’s screenplay follows the beats of Austen’s novel with minor changes to the timing of the duel and the age gap between Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles) and Colonel Brandon (Herbert Nordrum).
Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility (1995), with a screenplay by Emma Thompson (who also plays Elinor), has long been held as the definitive adaptation. Georgia Oakley’s adaptation gets full marks for its feel-good vibe.
The Story
The story of love, loss and learning of the Dashwood sisters — the restrained Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and the impetuous Marianne — is heartfelt. Incidentally, the “sense” in the title refers to good judgment, which Elinor has in spades, while “sensibility” describes Marianne’s intense passions.
The beaus — the upright Colonel Brandon, the bounder John Willoughby (Frank Dillane) and the earnest Edward Ferrars (George MacKay) — provide the tension.
The Men and the Women
The men are mainly weak and ineffectual in choosing the path of least resistance — look at John Dashwood (Tom Brooke), who would like to do right by his step-sisters but does not wish to stand up to his wife.
There are wicked women in Austen’s world too. Lucy (Ceara Coveney) is not above petty jealousy, and John’s wife Fanny (Stacy Martin) is a snob who does not wish him to help his stepmother (Caitríona Balfe) or his step-sisters.
The youngest Dashwood sister, Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), laid the template for all younger sisters in rom-coms, from Chutki in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to Kitty in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
The Humour
What one is not prepared for in Austen is the humour — and Sense and Sensibility provokes quite some laughs, most of them thanks to Fiona Shaw’s Mrs. Jennings.
There have been mutterings against the characters not sporting period-appropriate hairstyles. Well, then there are Highland cattle instead of a Devon breed, but they do look sweet, as do the shaggy dogs.
The Craft
The countryside looks beautiful, the cast is lovely, and the ball features some cool dance moves. The score, with a folk-music soul and tinkling strings, is an apt accompaniment to the movie of manners.
The Verdict
If all the blood, gore and cursed artifacts of Halloween get too much, Sense and Sensibility offers a chance to escape into a world of tea, sandwiches and longing glances thrown across a beautifully lit room or dramatic moor.
You could also giggle with Rowan Atkinson in Blackadder the Third, which is set in a somewhat Regency England with episode titles such as ‘Ink and Incapability’ and ‘Sense and Senility’.
Sense and Sensibility is currently running in theatres.
