Hattie Morahan. [166][167] The film also was the recipient of twelve nominations at the 49th British Academy Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Actress in a Leading Role (for Thompson), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (for Winslet). Hugh Grant and Alan Rickmanplay their respectiv… A college level teacher has reported that her students are more interested in reading Sense and Sensibility after they have seen the film. Sense and Sensibility was a success upon publication, and it later was adapted for film, stage, and television. [53] Fanny's shallow personality is also reflected in "flashy, colourful" dresses,[49] while Edward's buttoned-up appearance represents his "repressed" personality, with little visible skin. Watch later. [30][61] Nevertheless, Doran considered it a "low budget film",[62] and many of the ideas Thompson and Lee came up with – such as an early dramatic scene depicting Mr. Dashwood's bloody fall from a horse – were deemed unfilmable from a cost perspective. I learned about screenwriting at her feet. [66] Additionally, according to Thompson, the director became "deeply hurt and confused" when she and Grant made suggestions for certain scenes, which was something that was not done in his native country. [104][111][112] The film omits the characters of Lady Middleton and her children, as well as that of Ann Steele, Lucy's sister. There, the prevailing ambition is to find suitable husbands for the girls. [101] Thompson's script included a scene of Elinor and Edward kissing, as the studio "couldn't stand the idea of these two people who we've been watching all the way through not kissing. She and her daughters move in and are frequent guests at Barton Park. Palmer). [164] It garnered seven nominations at the 68th Academy Awards ceremony, where Thompson received the Award for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published,[165] making her the only person to have won an Oscar for both her writing and acting (Thompson won the Best Actress award for Howards End, in 1993). "[4] She also praised the novel for possessing "wonderful characters ... three strong love stories, surprising plot twists, good jokes, relevant themes, and a heart-stopping ending. The Dashwood sisters are the opposite in character and temperament: Marianne (Kate Winslet) is all heart and romanticism, while Elinor (Emma Thompson) is all reason and prudence. Sir John Middleton, Mrs. Dashwood's cousin, offers her a small cottage house on his estate, Barton Park in Devonshire. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay and stars as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays Elinor's younger sister Marianne. Beautiful, interesting, incredible movies — a new film every single day. Elinor is the older sister and Marianne the younger. Lucy Steele is invited to stay with John and Fanny Dashwood. It was my job to look at something that Emma Thompson had done and say, "Eh, that's not good, I'll use this other one instead." "[99] Thompson wrote "hundreds of different versions" of romantic storylines. The Dashwoods soon learn that Miss Steele has become Mrs. Ferrars and assume she married Edward. Thompson was pleased that Rickman could express the "extraordinary sweetness [of] his nature," as he had played "Machiavellian types so effectively" in other films. Production later returned to shoot several more scenes, finishing there on 29 April. Berlin International Film Festival. Awards & Festivals. [26] Thompson later said that Winslet, only nineteen years old, approached the part "energised and open, realistic, intelligent, and tremendous fun. [28] Doran felt that Lee's films, which depicted complex family relationships amidst a social comedy context, were a good fit with Austen's storylines. Awards . His rescue of Marianne has him transforming into the "romantic Byronic hero", sporting an unbuttoned shirt and loose cravat. Angela Lansbury presents the award for Best Motion Picture in the Drama Category to the team of "Sense and Sensibility." "[83], Early May saw production at the "exquisite" village church in Berry Pomeroy for the final wedding scene. [143] Andrew Higson referred to all this media exposure as a "marketing coup" because it meant the film "was reaching one of its target audiences. [57], The film was budgeted at $16 million,[58][59] the largest Ang Lee had yet received as well as the largest awarded to an Austen film that decade. [7][17][18] Believing the novel's language to be "far more arcane than in [Austen's] later books," Thompson sought to simplify the dialogue while retaining the "elegance and wit of the original. Sir John's mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, invites her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, to visit. In my films I've been trying to mix social satire and family drama. Sense and Sensibility was her first screenplay; this is her only book. Shopping. "[94] The score contains romantic elements[95][96] and has been described by National Public Radio as a "restricted compass ... of emotion" with "instruments [that] blend together in a gentle sort of way". "[59] For the scene in which Elinor learns Edward is unmarried, Thompson found inspiration from her reaction to her father's death. I realised that all along I had been trying to do Jane Austen without knowing it. [107][108] To heighten the contrast between them, Marianne and Willoughby's relationship includes an "erotic" invented scene in which the latter requests a lock of her hair – a direct contrast to Elinor's "reserved relationship" with Edward. Sense And Sensibility ( 1995) other sizes: 1018x1500 / 2037x3000. In 2004, Louise Flavin referred to the 1995 film as "the most popular of the Austen film adaptations,"[3] and in 2008, The Independent ranked it as the third-best Austen adaptation of all time, opining that Lee "offered an acute outsider's insight into Austen in this compelling 1995 interpretation of the book [and] Emma Thompson delivered a charming turn as the older, wiser, Dashwood sister, Elinor. "[11][121] She was keen to emphasise the realism of the Dashwoods' predicament in her screenplay,[122] and inserted scenes to make the differences in wealth more apparent to modern audiences. Hearing this, Elinor finally breaks down, unable to repress her feelings any longer. "[133] Conversely, Dole wrote that Thompson's version of Elinor "has a surprising anti-feminist element to it," as she appears more dependent on men than the original character; the film presents her as repressed, resulting in her emotional breakdown with Edward. He won the 2015 Jeff Award for Best New Work for his book, music and lyrics for Sense and Sensibility, commissioned by Chicago Shakespeare Theater.He is the recipient of the 2009 Ovation Award for his music and lyrics to Daddy Long Legs, which has had productions all over the … After seven hours, Fry was able to recover the documents from the device while Thompson had tea with Hugh Laurie who was at Fry's house at the time. [170][171] Lee sought to avoid turning his omission into a scandal and specifically asked the Taiwan state media not to make it a "national issue," explaining that he endured more pressure when forced to act as his country's representative. "[76] Lee had one demand for the scene, that Thompson avoid the temptation to turn her head towards the camera. About Awards; Winners; Videos; Our Nutrition Story; Home Story Sense and Sensibility over Superfoods. [26] Grant called her screenplay "genius", explaining "I've always been a philistine about Jane Austen herself, and I think Emma's script is miles better than the book and much more amusing. Penny Gay observed that Elinor's early dialogue with Edward about "feel[ing] idle and useless ... [with] no hope whatsoever of any occupation" reflected Thompson's background as a "middle class, Cambridge-educated feminist. Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. He lost both to Luis … | The story follows the Dashwood sisters, members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry, as they must deal with circumstances of sudden destitution. "[18], When Sense and Sensibility was released in cinemas in the US, Town & Country published a six-page article entitled "Jane Austen's England", which focused on the landscape and sites shown in the film. The website's consensus reads, "Sense and Sensibility is an uncommonly deft, very funny Jane Austen adaptation, marked by Emma Thompson's finely tuned performance. “What a pity it is, Elinor,” said Marianne, “that Edward should have no taste for drawing.” “No taste for … [88], From May to July, production took place at a number of other National Trust estates and stately homes across England. [125][126] "Family dramas," he stated, "are all about conflict, about family obligations versus free will. Sense and Sensibility. John's stingy, greedy, and snobbish wife Fanny convinces him to give his half-sisters nothing financially; John and Fanny immediately install themselves in the large house, forcing the Dashwood ladies to look for a new home. [22][23] She found the romances to be the most difficult to "juggle",[23] and her draft received some criticism for the way it presented Willoughby and Edward. [180] The popularity of both Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice led to the BBC and ITV releasing their Austen adaptations from the 1970s and 1980s onto DVD. This book especially explores gender roles, and the limited prospects of women who could not support themselves. Info. Metacritic Reviews. Director: Ang Lee. [104] Lee also distinguishes them through imagery – Marianne is often seen with musical instruments, near open windows, and outside, while Elinor is pictured in door frames. Ever. "[142] Meanwhile, most promotional images featured the film as a "sort of chick flick in period garb. [124] Lee conveys this in part when Willoughby publicly rejects Marianne; he returns to a more lavishly furnished room, a symbol of the wealth she has lost. [27], Taiwanese director Ang Lee was hired as a result of his work in the 1993 family comedy film The Wedding Banquet, which he co-wrote, produced, and directed. "[185] In 2011, The Guardian film critic Paul Laity named it his favourite film of all time, partly because of its "exceptional screenplay, crisply and skilfully done.". One afternoon, Marianne takes a walk with Margaret and slips and falls in the rain. "[11], Because Thompson and Doran had worked on the screenplay for so long, Lee described himself at the time as a "director for hire", as he was unsure of his role and position. Logistics were difficult, as the scene was set upon a hill during a rainy day. Producer Lindsay Doran, a longtime admirer of Austen's novel, hired Thompson to write the screenplay. [100], A scene was shot of Brandon finding his ward in a poverty-stricken area in London, but this was excluded from the film. [4] It had been adapted three times, most recently in a 1981 television serial. Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama. [114] Thompson's script both expanded and omitted scenes from Edward's storyline, including the deletion of an early scene in which Elinor assumes that a lock of hair found in Edward's possession is hers, when it belongs to Lucy. Mompesson House, an eighteenth-century townhouse located in Salisbury, represented Mrs. Jennings' sumptuous townhouse. Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman play their respective suitors. [37] Lee eventually cast all but one of them: Hugh Grant (as Edward Ferrars), Robert Hardy (as Sir John Middleton), Harriet Walter (as Fanny Ferrars Dashwood), Imelda Staunton (as Charlotte Jennings Palmer), and Hugh Laurie (as Mr. On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood tells his son from his first marriage, John, to take care of his second wife and three daughters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, since under English law they will inherit nothing. Columbia Tristar's head of UK marketing noted that "if there was any territory this film was going to work, it was in the UK. A press book released by the studio, as well as Thompson's published screenplay and diaries, listed all the filming locations and helped to boost tourism. [26] She recalled, "The idea of a foreign director was intellectually appealing even though it was very scary to have someone who didn't have English as his first language. [146] British publisher Bloomsbury released a paperback edition of the novel containing film pictures, same title design, and the cast's names on the cover, whilst Signet Publishing in the US printed 250,000 copies instead of the typical 10,000 a year; actress Julie Christie read the novel in an audiobook released by Penguin Audiobooks. However, Marianne considers him incapable of feeling love or inspiring it in another. Carole Dole noted that class constitutes an important element in Austen's stories and is "impossible" to avoid when adapting her novels. [7][8] She chose to adapt this particular Austen work because there were two female leads. Sense and Sensibility: Official Clip - Yes, No, Never Absolutely. She lives in England. And not only was I allowed to pass judgment on these tremendous actors, I was required to. Fanny, the snobbiest of the characters, possesses the tightest of curls but has less of a Greek silhouette, a reflection of her wealth and silliness. "[41] Grant's casting was criticised by the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA), whose representatives said that he was too handsome for the part. BAFTA Kids. ", "The changes that Emma Thompson's screenplay makes to the male characters, if anything, allow them to be less culpable, more likeable, and certainly less sexist or patriarchal. "[59] Grant in particular often had to be restrained from giving an "over-the-top" performance; Lee later recalled that the actor is "a show stealer. They have an older half-brother, John, and a younger sister, Margaret (age 13). Tim Squyres edited the film, his fourth collaboration with Ang Lee. "[8], Prior to being hired at Mirage, the producer had spent years looking for a suitable screenwriter[7] – someone who was "equally strong in the areas of satire and romance" and could think in Austen's language "almost as naturally as he or she could think in the language of the twentieth century. John promises to do so. "[59] He suggested Winslet read books of poetry and report back to him to best understand her character. John Alexander. She admits to Elinor that even if Willoughby had chosen her, she is no longer convinced that love would have been enough to make him happy. He reflected in 2013 about the editing process: It was the first film that I had done with Ang that was all in English, and it's Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, and Hugh Grant — these great, great actors. Best TV Film. [173][174] The year 1995 saw a resurgence of popularity for Austen's works, as Sense and Sensibility and the serial Pride and Prejudice both rocketed to critical and financial success. The honest Brandon tells Elinor that Willoughby, though he had been a libertine with Beth, did love Marianne but had no other way of avoiding financial ruin than to marry Miss Grey. Cited examples include Mrs Dalloway (1997), Mrs. Brown (1997), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). [65] Rather than focus on period details, he wanted the film to concentrate on telling a good story. Actor. [71] Thompson later recalled that Lee would "always come up to you and say something unexpectedly crushing", such as asking her not to "look so old". [14][15] The actress found that Sense and Sensibility contained more action than she had remembered, and decided it would translate well to drama. Golden Globe. It also altered the traits of the male leads to make them more appealing to contemporary viewers. [187], "In some ways I probably know that nineteenth century world better than English people today, because I grew up with one foot still in that feudal society. [53], To achieve the tightly wound curls fashionably inspired by Greek art, some of the actresses wore wigs while others employed heated hair twists and slept in pin curls. "[102] It was one of the first scenes cut during editing: the original version was over three hours, Lee was less interested in the story's romance, and Thompson found a kissing scene to be inappropriate. Released: 1995. Sixteenth-century Montacute House in Somerset was the setting for the Palmer estate of Cleveland House. Willoughby watches their wedding from a distance with a look of regret on his face and rides away. "[54] Brandon is first seen in black, but later he wears sporting gear in the form of corduroy jackets and shirtsleeves. Doran later recalled the work was criticized for not getting underway until Willoughby's arrival, with Edward sidelined as backstory. This film is an excellent introduction to Jane Austen’s classic novel Sense and Sensibility. [30] She felt that Lee's involvement prevented the film from becoming "just some little English movie" that appealed only to local audiences instead of to the wider world. She was considered a risk, as her experience was as an actress who had never written a film script. [13] Also a fan of Austen, Thompson first suggested they adapt Persuasion or Emma before agreeing to Doran's proposal. Golden Globes (USA) 1996 | Winner: Best Screenplay - Motion Picture. 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