When news got around that a new movie version of Sense and Sensibility was in the works, cries of dismay rang forth from Bath to Brooklyn.
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cries → get → Brooklyn
How could anyone dare try to top Ang Lee’s 1995 adaptation, penned by—and starring, alongside Kate Winslet— Emma Thompson?
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anyone → dare → Winslet
But the idea that fine adaptations of great books need to be stopping points, rather than springboards, is alarming by itself.
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adaptations → need → itself
And just as important, why shouldn’t another generation of actors have a crack at these roles?
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generation → have → roles
Our ability to stream anything we want, whenever we want, hasn’t necessarily made us more adventurous; sometimes it’s just a way of clinging to familiar favorites at the expense of welcoming anything new.
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it → stream → anything
Austen herself, with her aversion to sentimentality, would have disapproved.
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Austen → disapprove → sentimentality
Then what would she make of Georgia Oakley’s amiable, if occasionally a little sluggish, reading of her debut novel, published anonymously in 1811?
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she → make → 1811
It’s hard to say for sure, but there’s nothing that’s offensive about this new Sense and Sensibility, and plenty that’s lovely.
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that → ’ → Sense
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles play Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, sisters in a close-knit family whose temperamental differences temporarily drive them apart.
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differences → play → them
As the film opens, Elinor and Marianne, along with their mother (Caitríona Balfe) and younger sister Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), are just learning that they’ll soon have to vacate the airy, comfortable house they’ve called home for years.
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they → open → years
The girls’ father has just died; his property will not go to his daughters, but to his son from a previous marriage, John (Tom Brooke), who nevertheless hopes to do right by making sure his father's second family well provided for.
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provided → die → marriage
But his disagreeable wife Fanny (Stacy Martin), feels differently, and to maintain their pride, the Dashwood women choose to move into far more modest quarters, in an arrangement brokered by a family friend, Mrs. Jennings (a blissfully dithery Fiona Shaw).
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women → feel → friend
Mrs. Jennings is also an unrepentant meddler, and she believes she can easily marry off the two eldest Dashwood girls.
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she → believe → girls
Ever-sensible Elinor, who never asks for much, has already met, and fallen for, Edward Ferrars (George MacKay), Fanny’s brother, as kind and modest as Fanny is arrogant.
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Fanny → ask → much
And Marianne, a dreamer who lives for music and books, has her sights set on flirty, fun Mr. Willoughby (Frank Dillane): He loves to laugh and sing and dance, and Marianne is sure he’s perfect for her, though another potential suitor, the stalwart and rather dull Colonel Brandon (Herbert Nordrum), is also circling.
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suitor → live → her
If you’ve never read Austen’s lively and perceptive novel—or seen either Lee’s 1995 version or the 2008 BBC miniseries adaptation—you’re left to guess which men the sisters will end up with, which is just one of the story’s delights.
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which → read → delights
But as always with Austen, there’s more to love than romance: The economics of “making a good match” are always, by necessity, lurking somewhere in these characters’ minds.
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economics → ’ → minds
In the case of the sisters Marianne and Elinor—one too dreamy, the other perhaps not dreamy enough—the differences in what they look for in a partner are almost enough to pull them apart.
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they → look → them
Oakley, who previously directed the 2022 drama Blue Jean, has a deft touch with the material and a deep respect for the English countryside setting.
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who → direct → setting
There are drowsy closeups of wildflowers, and shots of placidly grazing deer; a country dance feels lively and lived-in, contrasted with a later ball, set in London, where the steps are more formal and regimented—Oakley leaves no doubt as to which is more fun.
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which → be → doubt
Shot by Arnaud Potier, the film has a handsome, genteel look.
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film → shoot → look
And if at times the movie comes off as a bit decorous and stiff, the actors, particularly Edgar-Jones and Creed-Miles, do their best to keep the proceedings whirring.
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actors → come → proceedings
Creed-Miles shows that there’s a slightly self-centered quality to Marianne’s romantic preoccupations—she takes pride in wearing her heart on her sleeve, though in some sense it’s also a means of getting her way.
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it → show → way
And yet as Creed-Miles plays her, it’s impossible to dislike her.
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it → play → her
When Marianne become truly hurt, we hurt for her, thanks to the bruised anguish in Creed-Miles’ eyes.
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we → become → eyes
And Edgar-Jones plays Elinor, the practical sister, with just the right amount of subdued fire.
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Jones → play → fire
Elinor is the one who always matches her expectations with reality, and as much as she loves Edward Ferrars, she doesn’t put up much of a fight when she learns she might have to give him up.
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she → match → him
Edgar-Jones gives us clues to Elinor’s submerged longing, but only in flashes.
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Jones → give → flashes
And in a pivotal scene, where Marianne accuses Elinor, angrily, of “always being right,” we can see how wounded she is, even as she recognizes that Marianne is onto something: Elinor would rather be correct than look foolish.
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Elinor → accuse → something
Edgar-Jones plays Elinor as reserved without making her recessive; we can see the ways in which she wants to want more.
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she → play → more
In an age of lowered expectations—for movies, for romance, for just about everything—maybe she’s the Austen heroine we need, ready to break out of the box she’s drawn around herself.
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she → lower → herself
Austen knew what she was talking about, and time hasn’t eroded her wisdom.
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time → know → wisdom
The Aporia
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