Again, the ever-popular Jane Austen. 2025 saw 200 years since her death, but her novels are continuously read, studied. Film versions since the 1940s. Television versions since the 1990s. Television series about her and her family. Now, 21 years since the very lively, Oscar-winning version of Sense and Sensibility, a new interpretation.
What is immediately striking is the emphasis on the rustic setting, Surrey and Devonshire, the landscapes, the fields and farms, cattle, the Dashwood family, suddenly impoverished, having to move out of a comfortable mansion to a semi-isolated stone house. Also striking are the night sequences, dark as they would have been in those times, the reliance just on candlelight. Which means then that this version is more serious and, sometimes, more emotionally demanding.
The familiar characters are all present although Elinor and Marianne, the Dashwood sisters, seem to be closer in age than in the previous version, very lookalike, sometimes difficult to see and appreciate, immediately, which sister is at the centre of a sequence. They are played with great complementarity by Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor, with principles and integrity; and Esme Creed-Miles as Marianne, highly emotional and needy. And they resemble their mother, portrayed by Catriona Balfe, and their young sister, Margaret, played by Bodhi Rae Breathnach. Sense and Sensibility is very much a focus on women.
Very striking and amusingly entertaining is Fiona Shaw’s presence as Mrs Jennings, consciously optimistic, large and making her presence felt (she will be seen in the forthcoming television remake of Pride and Prejudice as Lady Catherine de Burgh). By contrast, Stacey Martin’s self-centred arrogance towards the impoverished family is pretty but sinister.
And, since the 18th century demanded that young women marry well, marriage arrangements and plans were a major preoccupation; and Jane Austen’s male characters are important. Frank Dillane has instant charm as the callow Willoughby; Marianne smitten, disappointed then desolated at his infidelity. On the other hand, Herbert Nordrum’s Captain Brandon is unsmiling, principled, but with an underlying generosity, quite a contrast. The main focus is on George MacKay as Edward, so easy and comfortable with Elinor, but trapped by his principles and honour; Elinor sharing his principles but dismayed at what this leads to.
There is a vast sequence at a London ball, crowds, lavish costumes and decor, a focus on dancing and style of the period.
Which means that there is so much to entertain the Jane Austen fans, to immerse them in the language and style and issues of the 18th century and to draw audiences unfamiliar with Jane Austen into her particular, quietly charming but emotional world.
Currently showing at Palace Cinemas, Balwyn
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