SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Jane Austen's plots generally do not
appeal to me, but this adaptation is done with
style and quiet wit that livens the story. Emma
Thompson's script and Ang Lee's direction make this
the most pleasant excursion into the world of
Austen I have yet seen. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4)
Well, it is almost certain now. E. M. Forster, monarch of art house class film productions has been deposed. With so many of his major novels already adapted, it was only a matter of time before a new monarch had to be chosen. The new queen is Jane Austin. Emma Thompson, one of the two most popular art house actresses (the other being Helena Bonham-Carter) not only stars in this adaptation of Austen's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY but in this case she even tries her hand at writing it. Well, perhaps suggesting that a crown has been passed is overstating the matter, but in less than a year we have seen CLUELESS (inspired by EMMA) and PERSUASION, and we will shortly have a serious adaptation of EMMA and a BBC version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. The current SENSE AND SENSIBILITY certainly has the marks of being a prestige film. It is directed by Ang Lee of THE WEDDING BANQUET and EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN and it has a lush and luscious score by Patrick Doyle who has done so many of Kenneth Branagh's films, often featuring Branagh's wife Emma Thompson.
In Jane Austen's time "sensibility" was almost the opposite of today's meaning of "sense." The word meant following emotions rather than logic. Austen's novel is of two sisters who have very parallel sorts of stories, but one of whom approaches life with sense and the other with sensibility. In the story Mrs. Dashwood (Gemma Jones) and her three daughters find themselves reduced from having a comfortable existence to being homeless when Mrs. Dashwood's ex-husband dies. The widow discovers her home has been left to her step-son, John Dashwood and his wife, the aptly-named Fanny. John was left with the responsibility to take care of the women, but Fanny talks him out of the expensive duty. The family of four women eventually are invited by a cousin to move into a Devonshire cottage much smaller than their previous living arrangements and the daughters' prospects for finding good husbands are much diminished. Marianne, the middle daughter (played by Kate Winslet of HEAVENLY CREATURES), a women of great sensibility (in the Austen meaning) but little sense, is attracted to the handsome John Willoughby (Greg Wise), who seems to love her. The eldest daughter Elinor (Emma Thompson), a woman of strong sense but little emotional sensibility, is attracted to Fanny Dashwood's brother, the pleasant but oh-so-diffident Edward Ferres (Hugh Grant). But their plans will go awry when each man is called away unexpectedly to London.
I cannot claim to be much of a fan of Jane Austen and her stories of what seem often to me to be overwrought accounts of love and manners. But Ang Lee tells this story so well and with such warmth and wit that he overcomes the weaknesses in the plot. He manages to make Austen's characters far more interesting than what they do. And it is the minor characters who have the most interest. Yes, there is some depth to Elinor Dashwood as the logical spinster in the role Thompson wrote for herself; Thompson is always very good with body language. Also Winslet is good but not really memorable as the flighty, romantic sister. But the minor characters are the most engaging. Gemma Jones has a great air of sad dignity as Mrs. Dashwood. Elizabeth Spriggs, a freight train of a woman, is a popular busy-body. Much too rarely seen outside of British TV comedy is the rubber-faced Hugh Laurie who could read the phone book and make it funny. Here he has a small role, but a funny one. Alan Rickman is usually good actor and here as the patient, disappointed suitor he matches the sad dignity of Gemma Jones. Hugh Grant plays almost the same likable foul-up that he played in FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. The look of the film and especially the costumes give a real period feel, though at least the print I saw seemed to be faded and the film stock inconsistent from scene to scene.
After I did not greatly enjoy PERSUASION earlier this year I was not expecting to like SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. In fact it was the first film of Jane Austen that I can remember having enjoyed. Rate it a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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