Sense & Sensibility

[osprey_archer]

I saw Sense & Sensibility today (the 1995 version; I have been informed that the more recent variation is subpar). Minor spoilers for both below.

I may have liked the movie more than the book, which is embarrassing. Sense & Sensibility is one of my least favorite Austen novels (I don’t much like Persuasion either); there are large tracts of the book that involve waiting around in a misery of anticipation, desperate for a smattering of information that could be gained by the expedient of actually communicating with the other characters.

I’m being unfair, I realize; there are good reasons why no one in Sense & Sensibility talks to anyone else; but that doesn’t make it feel less grimly oppressive. The movie skates over the great waiting sequences, which is a plus.

All the Dashwood girls are wonderful. Kate Winslet is brilliant and very lovely as Marianne (I should get more of her movies; she’s wonderful in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Heavenly Creatures too, so it can’t be a fluke). Emma Thompson seems a bit old to be Elinor, who’s supposed to be nineteen, not thirty, but her acting is good. The girl who plays Margaret (imdb.com tells me she’s Emelie Francois) is excellent too. And she has a tree house.

Speaking of Margaret: I really like the scene where Elinor and Edward Ferrars lure her out from under the table by speaking geographical nonsense. It’s a charming scene and it shows why they fall in love. I always felt a bit cheated because it happened off-stage in the book.

Willoughby is marvelous. I love the part where he spins Marianne around while explaining all the reasons he dislikes Colonel Brandon; he’s charming and lively and handsome (no wonder she’s in love) and just unkind enough that his perfidies seem entirely in character when they’re revealed.

The costumes and cinematography are beautiful, too. There are a smattering of shots where the camera seems to be peering down from the chandelier, which is odd yet works, and the landscape shots are lovely and short. (I've never liked long, lingering landscape shots. I recall film reviews of Brokeback Mountain, all eerily parroting each other about how Ang Lee had made the Wyoming landscape a character in the film with his incredible mountain shots, when in fact he had just bulked the thing up with boring useless footage.)



I’m also reading Mansfield Park, which seems good so far. It’s the last Austen book I haven’t read (the unfinished novels don’t count) so I feel very pleased and complete.

Comments

[vivien-sivvus.livejournal.com]

I like that version, too. I agree that Elinor seems too old for the part- at the end when she starts crying it seems ludicrous, because it's a reaction I always thought of as rather immature and over-emotional for a character who's been logical throughout the story... anyway.

Have you seen the newish film version of Mansfield Park? I was watching it on Sunday and I forgot how good it is. It's not as good as Sense and Sensibility, but it's very well done.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I try not to watch the movies until I've read the books (it's bad enough that I keep running across essays about them), so I haven't seen any versions of Mansfield Park. I've heard that filmmakers tend to make Fanny a lot more forceful than she is in the books--is that so?

I thought the crying made sense--she has just had her entire world overturned--but it did seem over-hysterical, given how calm she always was before. In the book she ran out of the room before she lost it, which makes more sense than her breaking down in front of everyone, although I can see why the filmmakers staged it that way.

[vivien-sivvus.livejournal.com]

I admit that I've only read S&S through once- I should have given Austen more credit, to be honest, but her opening descriptions of the two heroines annoyed me for some reason. They were just too... cleanly cut. I liked the fact that the film DIDN'T divide the two that obviously from the start.

Yeah, running out of the room makes more sense-- it sort of felt like the actress was told that this was THE moment in the film to show she could emote, but I can't watch it without laughing to be honest!

This version of Mansfield Park: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178737/
(I got it in a box set along with Emma, so I didn't know what to expect.)

Fanny (Frances O Conner) isn't as outgoing and forceful as other people have played her. There's a lot of emphasis on her silence rather than her actions- the film *really* explores the ludicrous actions of the people around her rather than Fanny herself, which is refreshing. And it's playful enough that the controversial elements aren't as shocking as they would be otherwise.

[vivien-sivvus.livejournal.com]

I should say that it's not actually a close adaptation ;)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The problem with Sense and Sensibility is that you know five pages in who is Sense and who Sensibility and it's pretty easy to guess which one is going to get totally thwacked; that's part of the reason I don't like it very much either.

The thing about that last moment being Elinor's emotive moment--she had one earlier in the film, the one where Marianne realizes that Edward is engaged to Lucy and is all, how could you not tell me?, and Elinor (with just a touch of bitterness and tears) says that if she hadn't been bound by her promise she could have cried enough even to make Marianne see the depth of her feelings.

It's subtle and gracefully done and I wish the filmmakers would have taken a similarly light touch to the end scene instead of having her bawl.

[vivien-sivvus.livejournal.com]

^This. I totally agree!

[troublems03.livejournal.com]

I have to say I love this film. Shamefully, I have never read the novel itself but I find something endearing about the film. I must admit that most Austen heroines annoy me to no end and it is rather the overall story that I enjoy. Colonel Brandon (especially when played by the delicious Alan Rickman) is a favourite of mine.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I always felt so bad for Colonel Brandon; Marianne is so mean to him. Like when he brings her flowers and she's just like "Oh, thanks, you can go away now," and then Willoughby brings his flowers and she's in raptures...

I always feel like saying "Colonel Brandon, I'm sure if you work at it you can find a girl just as vivacious, clever, and pretty as Marianne who adores you." Because he deserves that.

[troublems03.livejournal.com]

As did I - the Colonel was wonderful and so completely in love with Marianne. But Marianne made me so angry - I just found her completely vapid and it was kind of like..."Oh! Willoughby's not a nice guy now. Moving on then. O hai thar Colonel Brandon." Or something like that.

[silksieve.livejournal.com]

yay, I'm glad you liked this movie! I frequently cite it as my favorite movie of all time. Every character is spot on, and you're right, even when you're looking at a 30 year old Elinor, you completely buy into it, because it's just so great!

Incidentally, Emma Thompson's long-term partner is Greg Wise (Willoughby)--they met during S&S!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Somehow it doesn't surprise me that they met during S&S; he looks absolutely smashing in the movie, it would be hard not to notice him.

Are any of the other movies adapting Austen novels any good? I've watched the recent P&P (and the miniseries of the same) but I haven't seen any of the others and I'm always a bit leery of adaptations of books because sometimes horrible things happen, like Ella Enchanted.

[silksieve.livejournal.com]

Let us not speak of Ella Enchanted. Ever. (Actually I've not seen the movie, because the trailer was atrocious enough. But I've heard the reports. Which is sad, because the book is one of the best ever.)

Ahem. Yes! There are other excellent Austen adaptations! The newest Northanger Abbey is a must-see. The 1995 Persuasion is also quite good. And I find the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Emma to be very fun.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

I love the sense and sensibility film! And the map scene is pretty much my favorite part. The only problem I had with the whole film (and this is silly...) is Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon. He's a wonderful actor and everything, I just didn't love them together.

Mansfield Park is probably my least favorite Austen, honestly, but Fanny is a really sweet character. One word of advice- if you haven't yet, don't see the movie adaption with Billie Piper. Not worth your time.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Wait, isn't Billie Piper a pop star? Doesn't she play Rose on Doctor Who?

....she played quiet, mousy Fanny Price of Mansfield Park?

That sounds like a bad idea from the get-go. I will steer very, very clear.

Colonel Brandon/Marianne is a problem pairing, given that it starts so late in the game. I think the filmmakers were banking on the fact that many people think Rickman is very, very attractive to help them get over the difficulties.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

YES. to all the questions, and your decision to stear clear.

(the other movie version, though, is very good, just not at all the same thing as the book. i have to see them as two different fanny prices...)

you know that makes a lot of sense...