A stylish, witty and substantial adaptation of Jane Austen's novel.
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
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Reviews Counted: 49
Fresh: 48
Rotten:1
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Consensus: Sense and Sensibility is an uncommonly deft, very funny Jane Austen adaptation, marked by Emma Thompson's finely tuned performance.
Runtime: 2 hrs 17 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Actress Emma Thompson both wrote and stars in this adaptation of Jane Austen's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY--a novel that perceptively examines the social manners and laws of early-19th-century Britain.... Actress Emma Thompson both wrote and stars in this adaptation of Jane Austen's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY--a novel that perceptively examines the social manners and laws of early-19th-century Britain. Set in the English countryside, the film follows the loves and heartaches of sisters Elinor (Thompson) and Marianne Dashwood (Kate Winslet). The two have extremely divergent approaches to life: Elinor represents "sense" and believes in behaving with propriety and thoughtfulness, while Marianne represents "sensibility" and basks in her own emotions. Both women, however, experience confusion when their lovers, seemingly on the verge of proposing marriage, spurn them. For director Ang Lee, the film marks a break from his Father Knows Best trilogy, which examined the problems of the contemporary Taiwanese family. Many people questioned whether an Asian director could handle an English period film. Lee answered those questions with a gorgeous film that both captures the nuances of Austen's novel and proves that Lee is a first-rate director capable of tackling any material. Featuring Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman, among others, the stellar cast inspired Lee to flatteringly exclaim, "Can everyone in England act?" [More]
Starring: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant
Starring: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones, Harriet Walter, Imogen Stubbs, Greg Wise
Director: Ang Lee
Director: Ang Lee
Screenwriter: Emma Thompson
Producer: Lindsay Doran
Composer: Patrick Doyle
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Reviews for Sense and Sensibility
For once, Thompson turns in a gimmick-free performance, and the rest of the actors range from fine to fabulous.
Thompson's script manages the neat trick of preserving the necessary niceties and decorum of civilized behavior of the time while still cutting to the dramatic quick.
I can't say I remembered this 1995 feature too clearly a couple of days later; but I certainly had a good time as I watched it.
Thompson and Winslet give fine performances ably supported by the rest of the ensemble.
Unlike most of the usual rolling hills, costume period drama, Merchant-Ivory type, century-old novel movies, Sense and Sensibility succeeds quite handily.
Enduring love, heartbreak, undying passion and bitter betrayal. What more could you ask from Jane Austen, and for that matter, from a film?
Seeing a world that seems kinder, gentler, nobler and simpler to our own can have its own theraputic value.
A host of fine performances support the great screenplay, photography and editing of the film.
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