Even though more than 30 years have passed since its release, Ang Lee’s Sense And Sensibility isn’t the kind of literary adaptation I would be particularly keen on trying to update. Bolstered by an incredible ensemble cast, it’s an endlessly enchanting and rapturous rendering that remains one of the finest cinematic interpretations of Jane Austen’s work. Nonetheless, director Georgia Oakley and screenwriter Diana Reid have crafted their own version of the classic novel that distinguishes itself enough tonally from other takes. It’s a more urgent and less stately production, favoring muted colors and an omnipresent music score over the bright and whimsical Austen screen dramatizations of the mid-90s. Arriving early in this year’s award season, this Sense And Sensibility finds Focus Features attempting to recreate the success they had with the somber Hamnet last year.

Set in England during the early 19th century, the story opens with news of Henry Dashwood’s death, leaving Mrs. Dashwood (Caitríona Balfe) with their three daughters Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones), Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles), and Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). Forced to downsize to a country cottage and faced with the prospect of poverty, the eldest daughters set out to find suitors who will improve their situation. Soon after, Elinor meets the dashing and debonair Edward Ferrars (George MacKay), quickly falls for him and patiently waits for him to ask for her hand in marriage. Marianne, the more impulsive and idealistic of the sisters, is set up with reserved and reticent family friend Colonel Brandon (Herbert Nordrum) but is drawn to the flighty and fanciful John Willoughby (Frank Dillane) instead.

In addition to the inclusion of the Norwegian Nordrum in an ensemble traditionally comprised of English performers, Sense And Sensibility possesses a few other inspired casting choices that help it stand out. The always magnificent Fiona Shaw is a hoot as the gabby and gregarious Mrs. Jennings, who invites the Dashwoods to a consequential trip to bustling London. Conversely, Stacy Martin is perfectly prickly as Edward’s disapproving sister, the closest thing this tale has to a proper antagonist, apart from the unpredictable wicket gates of romance. But as the soft-spoken Colonel Brandon, Nordrum gives the film’s most nuanced performance that paints the character with colors we haven’t seen in other adaptations before. Elsewhere, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles do fine and familiar work in their exploration of the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood between the two oldest Dashwood daughters.

In terms of presentation, director Georgia Oakley jettisons the more whimsical touches we associated with Austen’s work to make her Sense And Sensibility a more solemn and serious-minded affair. The staid cinematography by Arnaud Potier drains the warmer colors of those 1990s Austen adaptations, favoring a more subdued palette that makes more frequent use of dramatic close-ups as opposed to wide shots. Instead of the aristocratic frolic of Patrick Doyle’s music from the 1995 movie, composer Roger Goula’s score is more melodramatic and melancholy, typified by mournful choirs and downcast strings. The music is generally more insistent in its accompaniment as well, even drowning out some of the laugh lines at key moments of comic relief. I counted multiple instances where Fiona Shaw tries to rattle off a one-liner but the score undercuts the attempted witticism.

Still, this Sense And Sensibility is a reasonable entry point to on-screen Austen and younger folks willing to give this a chance may prefer this moodier version to the refined, “capital-P productions” from decades earlier. Perhaps those more stagey cinematic creations are seen as stilted and old-fashioned now, just as musicals from the 1960s seemed to me when I was a kid in the 90s. The more dour tone of this latest iteration may more keenly reflect the way Gen Z and Alpha feel about the current conditions of financial and romantic hardships they face in their everyday lives. Do we want level-headed art that reflects how things are in the real world or do we want escapist art that lets our minds wander in fantastical worlds for a couple hours? It’s a dilemma that mirrors the two opposing temperaments at the heart of Sense And Sensibility. The “sense” crowd might eat it up but the “sensibility” group may find it stifling.

Score – 3/5

More new movies coming to theaters this weekend:
Street Fighter, starring Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji, adapts the long-running video game series in which a pair of estranged fighters are recruited to enter the World Warrior Tournament and, unbeknownst to them, the two are slated to square off against each other.
Whalefall, starring Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin, is a survival thriller in which a scuba diver searching for his father’s remains in the ocean is swallowed by a sperm whale, leaving him a short window of time to find a way to escape.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, starring Mahershala Ali and John Cho, follows a devoutly religious hitman who embarks on a desperate journey across Houston to protect his children after his wife dies, confronting forces closing in and beliefs threatening to unravel.

Reprinted by permission of Whatzup