From Mia’s Desk: April 11th, 2016

From Mia’s Desk will post the second week of each month and discuss something of interest to Mia, which she hopes others will find interesting too! It may focus on opinion pieces, literature (historical and current), or even movies–because a good story is a good story.

Sense & Sensibility

Another of my favorite classic novels would have to be Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility. While everyone seems to be all about Pride & Prejudice and Mr. Darcy, I’m not. I’m all about the other & story, and Colonel Brandon. I also strongly identify with Elinor. I’ve often been, or at least felt like, the most adult person in the room even when I was half of everyone’s age. So, Elinor–sensible, practical, even-headed Elinor–being stuck with her very emotional family… Well, I get it.

I grew up watching the version with Emma Thompson and that fantastic cast from 1995. I went to see it in the theater with my mother. I was the youngest person in the room by 23 years. I know this because the next oldest person was my mother! This version is lovely, but reading the book actually ruined it for me. When I learned that the character of Elinor is only 19? Emma, I love you, but at 36, I just could never see you as 19. All of the actors but for the girl playing Margaret and Kate Winslet were at least ten to fifteen years too old for their roles, as much as I adore the actors in it–Alan Rickman, especially. (Winslet was only about five years too old…)

A few years ago, I saw the BBC’s adaptation and this one is truly lovely. Morrissey’s Colonel Brandon feels truer to the character. As much as I love Rickman, he played Brandon too…timid. This character was a colonel and had been to the West Indies. He was wounded, but not timid. Morahan and Wakefield fit the ages of their characters much better and portrayed them well. Elinor was not nearly as emotionally suppressed as Thompson played her, though Winslet was truer to the head-smacking idiocy of the book’s Marianne.

Honestly, I would greatly recommend them both. They both have a stunning cast and top notch production, as well as beautiful scores. The fact that the BBC version’s soundtrack can compete with a Patrick Doyle score for me is impressive. Thompson’s has some elements that the other doesn’t and embraces the spirit, but I think the BBC’s is a bit truer to the book.