New Sense and Sensibility movie delves deep into the sisterly bond at the heart of Austen's classic
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles star in the latest adaptation of Jane Austen's classic
It is the eternal question of the prestige drama.
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It → delve → drama
Do we really need another period piece?
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we → need → piece
Do we really need another Jane Austen adaptation?
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we → need → adaptation
More specifically, do we need another version of Sense and Sensibility?
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we → need → Sense
For audiences familiar with director Ang Lee's 1995 Sense and Sensibility, the question might feel pointed.
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question → feel → Sense
All of Austen's works have been adapted for the screen, and Sense and Sensibility alone has had at least five earlier adaptations.
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Sense → adapt → adaptations
Now comes director Georgia Oakley's Sense and Sensibility, which hits theatres Oct. 16.
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which → come → theatres
Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor Dashwood and Esmé Creed-Miles as her sister, Marianne, and written by Diana Reid, this version doesn't try to out-romance the 1995 film.
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version → star → film
Instead, it delves deeper into their sisterly bond and the financial insecurity that limits their choices.
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that → delve → choices
After their father's death, the Dashwood estate passes to their half-brother, leaving the women with limited financial security and forcing them to move to a more modest home.
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estate → pass → home
In Austen's time, women's prospects depended heavily on the goodwill of male relatives or the security of marriage, making this sudden loss of status and stability especially precarious.
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loss → depend → status
The film's visual world moves with them: away from the controlled elegance of the drawing room and out into the open countryside, amid weather, mud and unkempt fields.
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world → move → weather
They garden, go on long walks, run on the beach and wade through ponds.
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While Elinor finds peace in sketching and skipping rocks, Marianne is often seen lying in fields, watching the clouds.
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Marianne → find → clouds
Esmé Creed-Miles as Marianne Dashwood, left, and Daisy Edgar-Jones as her older sister Elinor sort through their belongings as they prepare to leave their family home.
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they → sort → home
That rougher setting makes their vulnerability physical as well as financial — and brings their shared experience into view.
Elinor's restraint can conceal how deeply she feels and Marianne's openness leaves her more exposed to heartbreak.
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openness → make → heartbreak
Throughout the film, circumstances bring each of them to see the other's perspective.
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circumstances → bring → perspective
"They really wanted to centralize the love story as being the two girls," Edgar-Jones said of Oakley and Reid's approach.
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Jones → want → approach
She also told CBC News that working with her longtime friend Creed-Miles felt effortless.
"
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working → tell → friend
I had an idea of who I thought Elinor was, but it wasn't until I really started acting those scenes with Esmé's Marianne that I really understood her," she said.
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she → have → her
Creed-Miles says their friendship quickly helped them find a "familial, sisterly, best friend sort of energy."
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them → say → energy
She says she "couldn't have gotten through the project" without Edgar-Jones's support.
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she → say → support
Canadian author Natalie Jenner, whose novel, The Jane Austen Society, draws on Austen's work and life, sees that connection as one reason the book continues to resonate.
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book → draw → reason
"If your family relationships are strong, you feel emboldened to take on anything," Jenner said.
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And that sense of constancy and a North Star is something that you can always go back to.
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I think that taps into a modern need for community and stability," she told CBC News.
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The new film's male characters offer a departure from the archetypes established in Ang Lee's 1995 adaptation.
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characters → offer → adaptation
In an interview with CBC News, Herbert Nordrum explains that he played Colonel Brandon as awkward and difficult to read, focusing on the character's internal struggle to express his feelings.
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he → explain → feelings
This contrasts with Alan Rickman’s 1995 performance, which gave Brandon a sense of gravitas and a devotion to Marianne expressed through quiet, powerful gestures.
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which → contrast → gestures
In the 1995 adaptation, Greg Wise portrays Willoughby as a dashing romantic hero, making his betrayal all the more shocking.
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betrayal → portray → hero
In the 2026 version, Frank Dillane told CBC News he wanted to emphasize Willoughby’s sweeter qualities — "his joy, his exuberance, his lust for life, poetry and romance" — while still letting his questionable actions speak for themselves.
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actions → tell → themselves
He aimed to portray him as a rounded young man who makes mistakes and falls in love.
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who → aim → love
He jokes that Willoughby's grand romantic gestures would now be called "love bombing," while his habit of ignoring Marianne's letters is the period-drama equivalent of "ghosting."
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habit → joke → ghosting
In Ang Lee’s 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman) carries Marianne Dashwood (Kate Winslet) through the rain after finding her gravely ill.
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her → carry → rain
What Austen means to audiences now
While Lee's film is lush and sweeping, Oakley's is quieter and more grounded.
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Oakley → mean → audiences
It doesn't try to replace the older version; it's asking what these stories can mean to audiences now.
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stories → try → audiences
Jenner says Austen's characters endure because they're trying to find happiness without losing themselves.
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they → say → themselves
"You've got to know what makes you happy," she told CBC News, "and stay true to that.
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she → get → that
- Audio
The everpresent influence of Jane Austen
- Fact List
70 facts you might not know about iconic British novelist Jane Austen
She introduced her own daughter to Austen's books and films when she was seven or eight.
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she → know → books
Jenner wanted her to meet characters who were "strong-spirited" and full of "intellect, brightness, vivacity, kindness, curiosity."
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who → want → curiosity
…and 7 more, not listed.
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