Ang Lee’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is a quiet triumph. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay and stars as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays her younger sister Marianne. Together they anchor a story about two women whose lives are upended by sudden poverty and whose hearts are tested by men who cannot see beyond money.
The film tracks the Dashwood sisters as they lose their home, their fortune, and their prospects of marriage. When Henry Dashwood dies, his wife and three daughters are left with only £500 a year. His son, John, inherits the family estate, Norland Park, while his greedy wife Fanny installs herself there. John’s cousin Sir John Middleton offers the widow and her daughters a small cottage at Barton Park in Devonshire, and they move in.
Trailer, via Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Elinor and Marianne
Elinor is sensible, careful, and guarded. Marianne is passionate, open, and quick to fall in love. Thompson plays Elinor as a woman who hides her feelings behind reserve, while Winslet plays Marianne as a girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. The contrast between them drives the entire film.
Hugh Grant plays Edward Ferrars, the man Elinor loves but cannot marry. Alan Rickman plays Colonel Brandon, who falls in love with Marianne at first sight. Greg Wise plays John Willoughby, the dashing suitor who captures Marianne’s heart and breaks it. Gemma Jones plays Mrs. Dashwood, the mother who tries to keep her daughters together through hardship.
Writing the Script
Thompson spent five years writing the script, revising it constantly between other films and during production itself. She exaggerated the Dashwood family’s wealth to make their later scenes of poverty more apparent to modern audiences. She also altered the traits of the male leads to make them more appealing to contemporary viewers.
The result is a version of the story that feels intimate and immediate. Lee directs with restraint, letting the performances breathe. His selection was driven by his work in the 1993 film The Wedding Banquet, and producer Lindsay Doran believed he would help the film appeal to a wide audience.
The Cast Decisions
Thompson’s casting of herself as Elinor was a gamble. She was a “big-deal movie star” after her role in Howards End, and she worried she was too old for the nineteen-year-old character. Lee suggested changing Elinor’s age to twenty-seven, which made the difficulty of spinsterhood easier to understand. Thompson agreed, calling it “desperate to get into a corset and act it and stop thinking about it as a script.”
Grant agreed to receive a lower salary to fit the budget. He called the screenplay “genius,” saying “I’ve always been a philistine about Jane Austen herself, and I think Emma’s script is miles better than the book and much more amusing.” That assessment holds up. Thompson wrote the part of Edward Ferrars with Grant in mind.
Winslet’s Marianne is a force of nature. She runs through the fields, weeps openly, and falls in love with Willoughby at once. Her performance anchors the film’s emotional core.
Rickman’s Colonel Brandon is a revelation. He is older, wounded, and honorable, and his love for Marianne is genuine even when she rejects him. His scene where he reveals the story of his ward Beth is one of the film’s best.
Wise’s Willoughby is the film’s villain, and he plays him with charm that makes his betrayal sting more. He leaves Marianne for the wealthy Miss Grey.
The Film’s Critical Reception
Some critics found Grant’s casting a stretch, and the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) criticized the casting. Those criticisms are valid, but they miss the point. This is a film about two sisters finding their way in a cruel world, and it does that with intelligence and feeling.
It is a film about love, money, and the choices women make when society tells them they have none. It is a film about the difference between sense and sensibility, and it understands that difference better than most adaptations of Austen’s work.
| Character | Actor |
|---|---|
| Elinor Dashwood | Emma Thompson |
| Marianne Dashwood | Kate Winslet |
| Edward Ferrars | Hugh Grant |
| Colonel Brandon | Alan Rickman |
| John Willoughby | Greg Wise |
- Emma Thompson as Elinor Dashwood
- Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood
- Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars
- Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon
- Greg Wise as John Willoughby
The film is not perfect. The casting debate is real, and JASNA’s criticism of the casting stands. But the film itself is a different matter entirely.
It is a film about two sisters finding their way in a cruel world, and it does that with intelligence and feeling.
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