There are library shelves full of books analyzing Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility down to the finest detail. Let me be crass and just say that a family consisting of the widow (second wife) and three daughters is set adrift, close to but not quite penniless, and this is their effort to survive in an England still very much bound by propriety. There is so much here about the class system, manners, urban vs rural, duty and honour, gender roles, and maybe most importantly, money.
But that sounds too sombre and stiff. Austen was anything but. Heck, the clue is in the title. Emma Thompson adapts Jane Austen's magnificent novel of manners, capturing and - as I understand it - augmenting Austen's words. It is, of course, romantic above all. It is, at times, heartbreaking. But crucially, the screenplay also loses nothing of Austen's humor.
Director Ang Lee is entirely up to the task. He paints the scenery around the words with such generosity that we're spoiled with a movie that hits all the right notes textually and visually. He draws remarkable performances from every single actor who appears here.
Emma Thompson as the eldest Dashwood daughter is the Sense of the title. Logical and reserved. Kate Winslet as the middle daughter is the Sensibility. Passionate and expressive. Watching it tonight for the first time in more than 20 years, I realized that, at the end, those roles are reversed.
For my money, Alan Rickman steals the show among the male actors. To that point, most people in North America would have known him as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, surely among the most memorable "can't help but like the bad guy" roles in cinema history. Here he gets to play the reliable, manly yet sensitive Colonel Brandon. Hugh Grant as Edward Ferras works because, at the time, audiences didn't realize "bumbler" was Grant's one-note shtick so here it seemed sincere. Greg Wise as shallow pretty-boy John Willoughby would reliably send any woman's heart fluttering. But let's not forget Hugh Laurie of "Black Adder" and "House" fame. His role as Mr. Palmer expands as the plot moves along; his character grounds the emotions at times when they threaten to spin out of control.
It would be easy to say the performances of Winslet and Thompson should have been rewarded with golden statuettes on Oscar night but 1995 (the late 90s, really) was a time when they were still making quality pictures. Let us be satisfied that those fine actresses (and many others I haven't mentioned) turned in such great work here. I dare say, note perfect work. OK, I'll say it, Ang Lee should have won for Best Director. Nothing against Mel Gibson, who is a lot smarter and talented than his more recent blacklisting would suggest, but Braveheart is a revenge picture. Anybody can play dressup and make a revenge picture.
I don't like giving away 10s on imdb. This might actually be my first. But to dock Sense and Sensibility I'd have to find a fault. Until then, I'm giving it a 10.
But that sounds too sombre and stiff. Austen was anything but. Heck, the clue is in the title. Emma Thompson adapts Jane Austen's magnificent novel of manners, capturing and - as I understand it - augmenting Austen's words. It is, of course, romantic above all. It is, at times, heartbreaking. But crucially, the screenplay also loses nothing of Austen's humor.
Director Ang Lee is entirely up to the task. He paints the scenery around the words with such generosity that we're spoiled with a movie that hits all the right notes textually and visually. He draws remarkable performances from every single actor who appears here.
Emma Thompson as the eldest Dashwood daughter is the Sense of the title. Logical and reserved. Kate Winslet as the middle daughter is the Sensibility. Passionate and expressive. Watching it tonight for the first time in more than 20 years, I realized that, at the end, those roles are reversed.
For my money, Alan Rickman steals the show among the male actors. To that point, most people in North America would have known him as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, surely among the most memorable "can't help but like the bad guy" roles in cinema history. Here he gets to play the reliable, manly yet sensitive Colonel Brandon. Hugh Grant as Edward Ferras works because, at the time, audiences didn't realize "bumbler" was Grant's one-note shtick so here it seemed sincere. Greg Wise as shallow pretty-boy John Willoughby would reliably send any woman's heart fluttering. But let's not forget Hugh Laurie of "Black Adder" and "House" fame. His role as Mr. Palmer expands as the plot moves along; his character grounds the emotions at times when they threaten to spin out of control.
It would be easy to say the performances of Winslet and Thompson should have been rewarded with golden statuettes on Oscar night but 1995 (the late 90s, really) was a time when they were still making quality pictures. Let us be satisfied that those fine actresses (and many others I haven't mentioned) turned in such great work here. I dare say, note perfect work. OK, I'll say it, Ang Lee should have won for Best Director. Nothing against Mel Gibson, who is a lot smarter and talented than his more recent blacklisting would suggest, but Braveheart is a revenge picture. Anybody can play dressup and make a revenge picture.
I don't like giving away 10s on imdb. This might actually be my first. But to dock Sense and Sensibility I'd have to find a fault. Until then, I'm giving it a 10.