Review of Sense & Sensibility

Jane Austen sells well these days, which goes a long way towards explaining the appalling number of film adaptations let loose upon us over the past years. This miniseries, part of this and last years' (2007-2008) batch that includes a lousy Mansfield Park, an adequate Northanger Abbey and an uneven Persuasion, dwells in the long shadows of the 1995 adaptation. On the one hand, it goes to considerable lengths in trying to avoid any resemblance: it does this by including scenes that were absent there (most notably the last encounter between Elinor and Willoughby, where he explains his conduct) and excluding, where possible, scenes that were present there; by having the film begin with a steamy sex scene for which there is no reason other than the hope of whetting the appetite of the viewers; by casting as Elinor an actress as unlike the brilliant Emma Thompson as possible (and whose idea of conveying dramatic tension seems to be to open her eyes very wide and sometimes also her mouth, slightly). On the other hand though, the adaptation has been taking over ideas that occur in the 1995 film and not in the book: like turning Margaret into a well rounded and likable character, which in the book she is not (this is understandable; everybody loves cute little girls with lots of curly hair), like Edward's proposal to Elinor being received with a crying fit (which was not a very good idea to begin with). Talented actors, loving attention to period details and National Trust mansions do not by themselves a good film make. This miniseries has chosen to show Marianne falling rather early in love with Colonel Brandon. This is not only not true to the book (where it is at no point implied that Marianne holds feelings for him other than esteem and gratitude), it also waters down and distorts the core message of the story. If Marianne can overcome her feelings for Willoughby so quickly and easily, then they were not the deep love we had been hitherto led to believe, but just the trifling infatuation one (especially parents) would ordinarily expect from most seventeen-year-olds. Then, her deep distress and the illness that almost cost her life are but the tantrum of a spoiled child denied a treat. Accordingly, there is no lesson to be learned of the story, no proper appreciation of Elinor's self-control, no triumph of sense over sensibility. Admittedly, most people these days expect to be entertained, not educated by books and films (unless it were about sex), but Jane Austen deserves better treatment than this. Andrew Davies has certainly come a long way since his celebrated 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and not all of it seems to have been good to him.