Sense and Sensibility Review: The Marriage Plods

The irony is that, while we Janeites will always welcome another Jane Austen adaptation, we’re liable to find them wanting. How could we not, when the original text is so sublime? And any attempt at adapting Sense and Sensibility to film is further hampered by the simple fact that Ang Lee and Emma Thompson’s 1995 version already exists, and it is wonderful. (A 2008 BBC series adapted by Andrew Davies is also quite good.) What most distinguishes this newest iteration of Austen’s first published novel? How much it broods. 

Director Georgia Oakley and screenwriter Diana Reid are largely faithful to Austen’s plot, but wring every last drop of melodrama from its story about two opposite-minded sisters and their waxing and waning triumphs and disappointments in love. Rather than arching an eyebrow at middle sister Marianne Dashwood’s bounding romanticism, the filmmakers follow her lead. Sense and Sensibility is so gloomy and swoony at times I wondered if they were pulling more inspiration from the Brontë shelf than Austen.

We first meet Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles) wriggling in tall grass, communing with nature. Intoxicated with sensation and yearning to fling herself body and soul into romantic love, Marianne stands in marked contrast to her elder sister, the stalwartly sensible Elinor (Twisters’ Daisy Edgar-Jones). When the Dashwood women – including an impractical mother (Catríona Balfe) and ungovernable little sister (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) – find themselves in dire financial straits following the death of their paterfamilias, whose son from a first marriage has inherited all, it is levelheaded Elinor who keeps the ship righted. That doesn’t mean she’s immune to love. The arrival of Edward Ferrars (George MacKay, Rose of Nevada) – the perfectly lovely brother of their perfectly awful sister-in-law – warms her heart, but it’s complicated. It seems more straightforward for Marianne when she meets the dashing Willoughby (Urchin breakout Frank Dillane), but that gets complicated, too. (Turns out he’s a cad.)

Dillane, who once upon a time played young Tom Riddle, another silver-tongued devil, makes a terrific Willoughby; all the male suitors are well-cast, including Herbert Nordrum (The Worst Person in the World) as stoic Colonel Brandon and MacKay, who finesses a character who’s a bit of a weenie (mommy issues to boot!). Fiona Shaw is a hoot as the coarse but fun-loving Mrs. Jennings – she just about feels like the only actor allowed to enjoy a laugh – but most of the rest of the cast has been nudged in the direction of big and/or grim. As for the titular sisters, Edgar-Jones is capable enough, playing the model of restraint, but I wouldn’t call it a distinctive portrayal. Creed-Miles, on the other hand, takes a novel approach to Marianne, delivering a sullen performance I never warmed to.

This is sounding like a pile-on, when truly, I’ll never begrudge an opportunity to spend time in Austen’s world, and Oakley does bring some unique stylings. (I was charmed by the inclusion of the approach to London, a perspective that’s usually skipped in adaptations.) But is this truly Austen’s world? There were two instances that made me question how closely tethered this Marianne and Elinor actually are to Austen’s original vision. The film dramatizes a late duel – OK, sure – but further, it has Marianne squealing over it, thrilled at two men taking shots over her, a narrative choice that badly undermines her character growth. The film also opens and closes with a character running – first Marianne, then Elinor – and I don’t think it’s a stretch to interpret the filmmakers are twinning these actions purposefully, suggesting that the two women would both be served by moving more in the direction of the sense or sensibility of her sister. And that, I believe, is a fundamental misread of Elinor, who always felt deeply, but had the good sense not to act like an idiot about it. 

Sense and Sensibility

2026, PG, 132 min. Directed by Georgia Oakley. Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Esmé Creed-Miles, Caitríona Balfe, Frank Dillane, Herbert Nordrum, George MacKay, Fiona Shaw.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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