Sense and Sensibility

Every Jane Austen adaptation lives in the shadow of another. For Pride and Prejudice, depending on your vintage, it’s either the 1995 BBC one (Colin Firth in a lake) or the 2005 Joe Wright one (Keira Knightley in the rain). For Sense and Sensibility, it’s the elegant, witty 1995 Ang Lee-directed, Emma Thompson scripted-and-starring classic. This new take, by Blue Jean director Georgia Oakley, does more than enough to start casting shadows of its own.

Following the bumpy path to true love are the Dashwood sisters, Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles) and Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones). Marianne feels deeply and can’t help but express it. Elinor feels equally deeply yet can hardly bear to reveal it. After the death of their father, the Dashwood sisters and their mother (Caitríona Balfe) are left near destitute, with all their father’s estate inherited by his son (Tom Brooke), whose fabulously vile wife (Stacy Martin) guards their fortune with Smaug-like ferocity. 

The Dashwoods move to a humble cottage in Devon, where the two eldest sisters yearn for love: Elinor for the jovial, gentle Edward Ferrars (George MacKay) and Marianne for the seemingly charming Mr Willoughby (Urchin’s Frank Dillane). 

This Sense and Sensibility is in its element out in the elements

Oakley’s version is more brooding than Lee’s, with wild, romantic landscapes playing a significant role in conveying all that stirs within the Dashwoods. Lots of Andrea Arnold-esque shots of sun-caressed faces, wafting grasses and muddied hems. Edgar-Jones and Creed-Miles play the sisters as opposite and complementary forces of nature: Marianne unfettered and changeable as the wind; Elinor stalwart and deeply rooted. The two actors don’t look like sisters but play the bond utterly convincingly. 

If the film is a touch more serious than is usual for Austen, it’s far from without humour. The supporting characters are all delightfully brought to life, most memorably by Fiona Shaw as the hooting Mrs Jennings, who peps up every scene she’s in with an abundance of enthusiasm and absence of tact. 

The only time the film mildly sags is, surprisingly, when the sisters sample the excitement of London. Though it’s full of parties and fancy houses, this section feels a bit drab. Confined indoors, it loses some personality and feels more generic Sunday-night-telly. But that doesn’t last long and it comes alive again in the country. This Sense and Sensibility is in its element out in the elements, untamed and free. 

In UK and Ireland cinemas Fri Sep 25. In US theaters Oct 16.