This is sculptured piece of cinema which scores big on romantic magic, beautifully adapted by direction of Georgia Oakley with her screenwriter, Diana Reid elevating sisterhood to the core of the story, resulting in a product that snaps-up the magical gems of love, loss, heartbreak and romantic resurrection.
At its heart, the film covers the relationship between the Dashwood sisters, Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones), Marianne (Esme Creed- Miles) and Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) whose lives are thrown into turmoil when their father dies and the rich life they had been living is ripped away by a scheming relative and his horrible wife, forcing them to move to a smaller and more rustic lifestyle. The movie doesn’t adhere to the strict letter of Jane Austen’s work but catches much of the spirit. The Dashwood gals are binary opposites , Elinor is crisp and rational representing Sense, while Marianne practically trembles with emotion, embodying Sensibility. Reid’s script, leans instead into the overlap between the two sisters, forging a connection thats complicated and real.
The bond is tested when Elinor and Marianne relocate with their somewhat hapless mother (Caitriona Balfe) and younger sister Margaret to a smaller coastal cottage in Devonshire. Here Elinor is comforted by a new friendship with Edward Ferrrars (George Mackay) a quiet, diffident sort of a bloke who is oddly reluctant to declare his feelings. Marianne, meanwhile is distracted by Willoughby (Frank Dillante) who is only too ready to pay his pronounced attentions, while the besotted Colonel Brandon ( Herbert Nordrum) pines silently nearby. The sisters’ constrained position is conveyed through both Elinor’s quiet, poignant pragmatism and Marianne’s loudly expressed outrage ‘that so many women are expected to settle for so little’.
The minor characters never quite spark with the exception of the wonderful Fiona Shaw as the jolly and generous Mrs Jennings. Its a handsome production with the blokes an odd casting choice given they struggle with their underwritten parts. I love the way this version of Sense and Sensibility honours the essence of the 19th century source material while bringing in modern energy and emotional accessibility for a new generation. The film features sweeping cinematography of the English countryside with a memorable musical score by Roger Goula. To be honest, I wondered if this new take on Jane Austen’s novel, could jump the high hurdle of the 1995 Oscar-nominated Ang Lee adaptation. To my relief, this production has created a more preferable one, even flouting the loose hair and bare feet shibbolets, so unromantically not of the period. It perfectly highlights Austen’s views on unfair laws around sons inheriting, but not daughters, while retaining all the heartstring tugs inherent in the brace of love stories.
How can this new version not become the standard, considering director Georgia Oakley And cinematographer Arnaud Potier’s earthy look, with caterpillars on the grass, bees on flowers, rugged mooreland’s bleak skies, windswept beaches and tree branches blowing in the breeze all adding to the dirt-under-the-fingernails feeling. Interior scenes appear naturally lit with candles perhaps borrowed from the sumptuous Barry Lyndon. I dare say, some will pick historical accuracy over things like hairstyles, but who cares, especially those whose snobby cinema tastes run to enjoying filmmaking that’s bleak, existential misery-porn. Sense and Sensibility is a well made, well acted, witty, romantic, heartwarming, and atmospheric movie. I loved the authenticity of the cold, grey colour palette and its perfect 132 minute-run.
Let’s remember to give credit to the originator of the novel whose satire is razor-sharp and incredibly perceptive, a story that picks up momentum as it unfolds. Its quite a coup to hold the contemporary and the classical hand-in-hand without tipping the balance too aggressively in either direction. This Sense and Sensibility will have an audience long after its 2026 release.
