Sense and Sensibility – A Bookish Movie Review

51jzH2v5fvLI loved this movie, both as an adaptation and as an incredibly well done movie. In fact, I think I actually liked it better than the book. Obviously, in any movie adaptation there will be changes made to simplify the book into a two hour story. For the most part, I found the removed scenes in this book had adequate replacements. There were two small things that I felt changed essential things about the characters, but overall I thought the adaptation was quite faithful to the feel of the book.

All of my favorite quotes were included, preserving the understated humor of the book. The movie also followed Austen’s lead in showing a lot about characters’ personalities through brief scenes instead of spelling things out for you. I love the casting of all the characters, especially Elinor. I thought each actor’s attitude and appearance were perfect for their character.

What really made the movie for me was how much more we got see of Edward and Elinor’s relationship. In the book, we know that Elinor likes Edward and that they have spent some time getting to know each other, but we don’t get any description of what Elinor likes about Edward. In the movie, he’s wonderful with Margaret and much more respectful of the Dashwoods than his sister. Honestly, I have no idea how readers could like Edward just from the book, while in the movie, I thought he was wonderful. Since I’ve always loved Elinor, having a love interest I could get excited about made me enjoy the movie even more.

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9 Comments

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9 Responses to Sense and Sensibility – A Bookish Movie Review

  1. ebookclassics

    I love this movie too, although I recently saw the 2008 mini-series so I’m a little divided now about who plays the best Edward. But Hugh Grant’s version of Edward is so funny and charming in his awkwardness. Have you read Emma Thompson’s screenplay for the movie? She has cute little diary notes about Hugh and missing him after he finished filming his scenes.

    Reply
    • DoingDewey

      I haven’t read her screenplay but my library has a copy which I’ll probably get. I think I like Emma Thompson and would have learning more about her :)

      Reply
  2. Alice

    I love this film, and I love it more than the book too. Emma Thompson (Elinor) is just awesome, I think she won an oscar for the screenplay.

    Reply
  3. Patty B

    It was this movie that got me interested in Jane Austin…awesome movie.

    Reply
    • DoingDewey

      I can’t remember if I saw the movie before I read the book and it’s bothering me because I’m curious whether seeing the movie first influences how much I like it compared to the book. I can certainly see myself picking up the book based on how much I liked the movie. It was very well done!

      Reply
  4. Charlie

    I wasn’t keen on the book, but I really want to see this adaptation. I do remember not really being interested in the relationship, and now I’ve read what you said about the film making it more obvious I’m wondering if I would like it more for the film.

    Reply
    • DoingDewey

      I think it’s entirely possible you’d like it better as a movie. In the book, I didn’t feel like the relationship was shown in enough detail, so I appreciated that the movie filled in the gaps :)

      Reply
  5. Pingback: Sense and Sensibility Re-telling | Doing Dewey

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