SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
A film review by Michael Doyle
Copyright 1995 Michael Doyle
I don't want to see another movie for the rest of the year. To do so would be to spoil the joy I experienced in seeing SENSE AND SENSIBILITY.
I'm hard-pressed to find the words to praise this movie. Beautiful, funny, engaging. Well-performed, gently-directed, incisively written. (OK so I found some words.) I laughed a lot, I nearly cried and in some parts I did both at the same time.
Emma Thompson excels both in her role as Elinor and in the adaptation of the Jane Austen novel for the screen. As Elinor she is the embodiment of Sense, and she portrays perfectly the burden it puts upon her. There's one wonderful moment near the end of the movie where she goes from standing and speaking, to collapsed and crying within a heartbeat - you could almost hear the crack as the tensions built within her snapped and crumbled.
Kate Winslet is an utter delight. She became a favorite of mine in HEAVENLY CREATURES last year. And she transfers her translucent beauty and cunning acting skill perfectly to the role of Marianne. She too does a marvelous job of crying in parts. But better still was the way in which she demonstrated the growth of her character. As each development fell upon Marianne, she became a slightly different person - and Kate portrays this wonderfully.
Hugh Grant plays Edward Ferrars - a character outside of his typical range. Yet, he is still Hugh Grant, albeit slower - as if he were dissolved into a highly viscous solution. Take that as you will.
Equal praise must go to the rest of the cast - e.g. the actors who portrayed Col. Brandon, Willoughby and Mrs. Jennings. Every one of them turned in a smashing performance and this would not have been half the movie it is had they been lacking.
Ang Lee has crafted a beautiful film full of entrancing colors - azure, white, blush pink and deep mahogany. I don't know what film stock or lighting techniques he used, but the skin tones in this movie are breathtaking. He has filled accurate sets with beautiful costumes, lavished with detail. And his work with the cast speaks for itself.
In comparing this to other movies ... it doesn't have the same devastating emotional punch of HOWARDS END, but I think that may be because it is more upbeat overall. But it never gets 1/4 as sappy as LITTLE WOMEN. In fact, this movie is what LITTLE WOMEN should have been. And Hugh Grant fans might giggle to note that this movie depicts or implies four weddings and one funeral.
Anyway, let me exhort you ... SENSE AND SENSIBILITY - see it, see it, see it!
-- Michael Doyle maeldun@i-2000.com To join "Mike's Midnight Movie Reviews" send a message to listproc@vidkraft.com with no subject and the words "subscribe m3review" in the body.
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