It is our witnessing of their personal growth and maturing that is so rewarding.Īng Lee was hired to direct, and his deep connection to the material is palpable. Their dual fates will have plenty of twists and turns – and discoveries on their ways to romance and fulfillment. In fact her romantic prejudices have the unfortunate tendency to set propriety at naught,” says Elinor about her sibling. “Marianne does not approve of hiding her emotions.

The younger sister (embodied by an exuberant pre-“Titanic” Kate Winslet) falls quickly for the dashing John Willoughby – throwing caution to the wind. The most important is the contrast between the two main sisters’ philosophies – Elinor representing restraint and Marianne – spontaneity and joie de vivre. Those hopes are squelched by Fanny suggesting that John’s inheritance would be jeopardized if he marries someone of no importance and no money.Īctress Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay-won the Oscar for her adaptation, in fact-and it’s a lively – very funny, and touching adaptation. Before their departure, Fanny’s brother – Edgar – pays a visit, and Elinor is quite taken with him and sees the possibility of an arrangement that might remedy her situation. They get an offer of a cottage on the property of their cousin Sir John Middleton. She installs her husband and herself in the large home – forcing the Dashwoods to find more modest accommodations. The greedy wife of the new heir, Fanny makes him reduce the financial compensation his father-in-law had requested before he died. There’s a big change in the Dashwood family’s class status. I find a kinship to their assessment of love – and the need of family to get you through ambiguous times. A good marriage is the only solution to having some control over their lives back again – to regaining a sense of purpose and to have the means to travel. They’re displaced from their home – and placed in a form of limbo – having to deal with the consequences of sudden insolvency. This means that the lives of his second wife and three daughters - Elinor, Marianne and Margaret - are abruptly in upheaval. In “Sense and Sensibility” (1995), there’s the death of Henry Dashwood, and as required by law, he leaves his property to his son, John, by the first marriage. I have found great consolation and sustenance in them, and recently I started to understand my fascination. I’ve been caught in this gravitational pull watching Jane Austin film adaptations during our current privation. “I’ve had this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature,” exclaims Elinor Dashwood.

Emma thompson jane austen