Žanr: Drama
Format: DVD
Poreklo: Strani

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 British-American period drama film directed by Ang Lee and based on Jane Austen`s 1811 novel of the same name. Actress Emma Thompson wrote the script and stars as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays Elinor`s younger sister Marianne. The story follows the Dashwood sisters – though they are members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry, circumstances result in their sudden destitution, forcing them to seek financial security through marriage. Actors Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman play their respective suitors. It was released on 13 December 1995 in the United States and on 23 February 1996 in the United Kingdom.

Producer Lindsay Doran, a longtime admirer of Austen`s novel, hired Thompson to write the screenplay. The actress spent five years penning numerous revisions, continually working on the script between other films as well as into production of the film itself. Studios were nervous that Thompson – a first-time screenwriter – was the credited writer, but Columbia Pictures agreed to distribute the film. Though she initially intended another actress to portray Elinor, Thompson was persuaded to undertake the part herself, despite the wide disparity with her character`s age.

Thompson`s screenplay exaggerated the Dashwood family wealth to make their later scenes of poverty more apparent to modern audiences. It also altered the traits of the male leads to make them more appealing to contemporary viewers. Elinor and Marianne`s different characteristics were emphasised through imagery and invented scenes. Ang Lee was selected as director, both due to his work in the 1993 film The Wedding Banquet and because Doran felt he would help the film appeal to a wider audience. Given a budget of $16 million, Lee approached filming from different perspectives than his cast and crew before the actors grew to trust his instincts.

A commercial success, the film garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews upon release and received many accolades, including three awards and eleven nominations at the 1995 British Academy Film Awards. It earned seven Academy Awards nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Actress (for Thompson). The actress received the Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the only person to have won Academy Awards for both acting and screenwriting. Sense and Sensibility contributed to a resurgence in popularity for Austen`s works, and has led to many more productions in similar genres. It persists in being recognised as one of the best Austen adaptations of all time.

Plot

On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) tells his son from his first marriage, John (James Fleet), to take care of his second wife (Gemma Jones) and three daughters, Elinor (Emma Thompson), Marianne (Kate Winslet) and Margaret (Emilie François), since they will inherit nothing. However, John`s greedy and snobbish wife, Fanny (Harriet Walter), immediately convinces him to give them practically nothing financially; John and Fanny then immediately install themselves in the large house and the Dashwood ladies are forced to look for a new home. Fanny invites her brother Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant) to stay with them. Elinor and Edward soon form a close friendship, but Fanny haughtily tells Mrs. Dashwood that Edward would be disinherited if he married someone of no importance with no money. Mrs. Dashwood understands her meaning completely.

Sir John Middleton (Robert Hardy), a cousin of the widowed Mrs. Dashwood, offers her a small cottage house on his estate, Barton Park in Devonshire. She and her daughters move in, and are frequent guests at Barton Park. The Dashwoods meets the older Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman), who falls in love with Marianne at first sight. However, Marianne considers him an old bachelor, incapable of feeling love or inspiring it in another.

One afternoon, Marianne takes a walk with Margaret and slips and falls in the rain. She is carried home by the dashing John Willoughby (Greg Wise), with whom Marianne falls in love. They spend a great deal of time together, but on the morning she expects him to propose marriage to her, he instead leaves hurriedly for London. Unbeknownst to the Dashwood family, Brandon`s ward Beth, the illegitimate daughter of his former love Eliza, is pregnant with Willoughby`s child, and Willoughby`s aunt Lady Allen has disinherited him upon discovering this.

Sir John`s mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs), invites her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer (Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton), to visit. They bring with them the impoverished Lucy Steele (Imogen Stubbs). Lucy confides in Elinor that she and Edward have been engaged secretly for five years, dashing Elinor`s hopes of a future with him. Mrs. Jennings takes Lucy, Elinor, and Marianne to London, where they meet Willoughby at a ball. He greets Marianne uncomfortably and barely acknowledges their acquaintance, and they soon learn he is engaged to the extremely wealthy Miss Grey. Marianne becomes inconsolable.

Lucy is invited to stay with John and Fanny, as a way for Fanny to avoid inviting the Dashwood sisters to visit them. Lucy, falsely believing that she has a friend in Fanny, confides her clandestine engagement to Edward and is thrown out of the house. It is soon revealed that Edward`s mother has demanded that he break off the engagement. When he honorably refuses, his fortune is taken from him and given to his younger brother, Robert (Richard Lumsden). On hearing this, Colonel Brandon offers Edward the parish on his estate, feeling sympathy for the unfortunate circumstances his honor has resulted in.

On their way home to Devonshire, Elinor and Marianne stop for the night at the country estate of the Palmers, who live five and half miles away from the Grey Estate. Marianne cannot resist going to see the estate and treks up a hill in a torrential rain to do so, and subsequently becomes gravely ill as a result. Colonel Brandon finds her in the rain and brings her home. Elinor stays at her side until she recovers, and the sisters return home. Colonel Brandon and Marianne begin spending time together, as Marianne has a new appreciation for him. She admits to Elinor that even if Willoughby had chosen her, she was no longer convinced that love would have been enough to make him happy.

The Dashwoods soon learn that Miss Steele has become Mrs. Ferrars and assume that she is married to Edward. Later when Edward visits their house they learn that Miss Steele unexpectedly jilted him in favor of his brother Robert and Edward is thus released from his engagement. Edward proposes to and marries Elinor. Edward becomes a vicar, under the patronage of Colonel Brandon, whom Marianne marries. Willoughby is seen watching their wedding from a distance, and then rides away.

Directed by Ang Lee
Produced by Lindsay Doran
Screenplay by Emma Thompson
Based on Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen
Starring

Emma Thompson
Alan Rickman
Kate Winslet
Hugh Grant

Music by Patrick Doyle
Cinematography Michael Coulter
Edited by Tim Squyres
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates

13 December 1995 (United States)
23 February 1996 (United Kingdom)

Running time 136 minutes[1]
Country United Kingdom, United States
Language English, French
Budget $16 million
Box office $134,993,774