AUSTEN 01 -- Sense and Sensibility

[[deleted user]]

Thank you. I'll give it a try and we'll see how it goes.

[Zeljka]

Great review, Vismay, right on the spot :)

I like your observations too, Alana, Marren, Claire and Kimberly. My favourite character is by far Elinor - I fear I was really harsh with her at the beginning, judging her overly reserved. She was just cautious, righfully so, as she was by her sister's example aware what happens if you are not cautious at all. Marianne seemed so selfish all the time... She was completely absorbed with herself, as if all the world revolved around her. With her around, Elinor really hadn't had a chance to pronounce her anguish.

You have all probably noticed how the end wasn't classically happy. It was rather... reconciling. Marianne was so bitterly disappointed in love, so she accepted love of the other, for her much older and calmer man. Elinor was pleased with Edward, whose opinions and actions were worthy and honorable, but I am not sure he was that equal with her in other things. If Austen continued their stories, would our heroines be truly happy in the end? Who knows. In movies it seems only Elinor was really pleased -- actors playing Edward were the only ones I liked :)

I've seen four adaptations:
- Scents and Sensibility - it was not really utterly bad as itself, had some really stupid scenes though, but didn't have a vibe of Austen's novel.
- From Prada to Nada - although stranded a lot from the original (chopped off some characters and changed some storylines), but kept that vibe of the novel. In any case it was fun to watch and the actors were admirable.
- Sense and Sensibility (1995) - now I could really see how much Emma Thompson changed the original story! That disturbed me a bit, because I couldn't fathom the reason behind such changes, but the performances were too superb to complain about that. But matches weren't so perfect. I simply couldn't tie Alan Rickman with Kate Winslet, nor Emma Thompson with Hugh Grant. There was no chemistry between neither of them. Pity. I loved Hugh Laurie though :D
- Sense and Sensibility (2008) - I have already seen series two years ago, but now I have much higher opinion of it, now after reading the book. I liked all the characters and the way story was told. I shouldn't have been surprised, really, as it is another work of Andrew Davies. Both Elinor and Marianne were perfect, and I even liked both Edward and Brandon.

Unfortunately latter simply couldn't come out more sympathetically. That character was written that way, and whatever we do, in the end it always seems Marianne punished herself for previous indiscretions with attaching herself to him. He is good and worthy man, but match simply doesn't sound good. What are your thoughts about that?

Has anybody seen any older adaptation of Sense and Sensibility? I wonder what are they like, are they better than newer ones?

[Alana]

I watched the 1971 BBC version, but it wasn't all that impressive. It followed the story fairly closely, but the actors were rather flat and I think I only found it interesting because I already knew the story.

I think Col. Brandon must be a very difficult character to act. He is much older than Marianne, which in modern day puts him at a disadvantage to begin with. Plus he is only in her mind after her devistation from Willoughby, and there is so much you have to show with their reading and spending time together to have any real sense of her growing attached to him later. It really requires a huge change on Marianne's part to recognize the advantages of having an older, very steady man by her side, after she has been so ill-used in love before. But it's hard to see it as anything less than a rebound. In the 1995, Alan Rickman did a fairly good job of showing attraction on his part, but I didn't get any sense of the change from Winslet, and without that change in attitude and chemistry, it's very difficult to make that relationship work on screen.

[Marren]

I like 1971 version. The series began entertaining,then suddenly its appeal started plummeting. However, it caught my attention again- Mrs Jennings certainly keeps the spirits alive. In this adaptation Edward was my favourite. You can see his shyness and he stammered a bit when he spoke

1981: I could not connect with any of the characters. Middleton was annoying. This adaptation showed more details from the book. Margaret was missing in both 1981 and 1971 adaptations.

I like 2008 version the best, although I did not have the chance to see it this month. The chemistry between Marianne and Willoughby is vivid, the same for Elinor and Edward. Colonel Brandon was ever the gentlemen. (I really want to watch it again very soon to assess the details)

1995 version was just ok to me. I think it was because of the actors who played Edward and Colonel Brandon.(not a big fan of either) I must say you can actually see Brandon's love for Marianne. The ending was awkward for me.

I enjoyed watching Scents and Sensibility. The modern twist was cool to me. I liked that the sisters remained close. At the ending the bad guys suffered and the good guys got their happy ever after. My favourite was Brandon, what took Marianne so long to see the good in him? I do not know!


From Prada to Nada was an ok film. I remembered watching it before. The Mexican culture added some zest to the plot. When Rodrigo introduced himself to Mary's family was hilarious to me, haha.

[Alana]

That's one thing I did like about the 1995 version: Maragaret was alive and very active in the plot and her interactions with Edward made him very endearing. But I'll agree he was played better in the 1971 version, as his stammering and shyness was very in line from what I expected from the book. Then again, I can't stand Hugh Grant, so I was going to be against him from the beginning in any case, lol.

I think the 2008 is the one I haven't seen yet, although it should be in my mailbox today or tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

[Marren]

I can't stand Hugh Grant either, or see that fascinating thing about Alan Rickman, that I realize may females see :D I believe it is one of the reasons, the film was just 'ok' for me.

[Zeljka]

I liked too the way 1995 and 2008 adaptation employed Margaret - Edward came out much more attractive than in the book (never mind the actors themselves ;)

I was actually wondering why they chose so much older actor for Brandon in 1995 edition. I like Alan Rickman as an actor, but he certainly wasn't 35 at that time. That's why Brandon in 2008 version fits -- he looks right about 35-40, still youthfully handsome but steadier (as you Alana said :) with the years' experience. I understand that (for 1995 version) they needed an actor that would seem older for our perceptions of age changed till Austen's time, but he was really too old, as if father-like figure for Marianne. It wasn't really surprising there wasn't any chemistry between them.

As for Brandon in Scents & Sensibility, he was way off the original character. Too young and too handsome :)

I loved that Rodrigo's introduction, very funny indeed :D Film has some really charming moments.

So, older adaptations aren't so appealing to watch. I was thinking of watching them too, but now I don't think so. I guess it's time to move on Pride and Prejudice now ;)

[Alana]

Watched 1981 miniseries today. I HATE being unemployed and having so much time... sigh, I digress.

While the overall quality wasn't that great, the casting was better than some I've seen. Colonel Brandon wasn't bad and Edward was ok. Elinor was so standoffish that she wasn't appealing at all to me. I thought they did a decent job with Mrs. Jennings, though. Willoughby was over-the-top and of course, no Margaret.

I have to admit, I only half watched it and the disk was a bad copy so it skipped a large chunk of the middle, so I might not be doing it justice. It's not one I'd rewatch, though.

[Marren]

Alana wrote: "Watched 1981 miniseries today. I HATE being unemployed and having so much time... sigh, I digress.

While the overall quality wasn't that great, the casting was better than some I've seen. Colonel ..."


It was not all that for true :D haha. Imagine I watched it last week or was it this week and I cannot remember what the cast looked like. That is how very average, I thought it was.

[Alana]

Finished the 2008 miniseries. Definitely the best of the bunch. It had all of the characters and they seemed better matched than some of the other versions, especially Col. Brandon and Marianne. Why the whole duel thing was thrown in, not sure, but I thought the relationship between them was developed much more naturally than other adaptations. The less natural one was the ending reaction with Edward and Elinor; I thought she acted very stiffly and I just didn't get the same sense of emotion with her as other versions. But throughout the rest of the story she was exactly how I pictured Elinor, showing just enough emotion but not giving into it entirely.

[Kimberly]

I am watching the 2008 version now, and just finished episode one. It is really good, and I love Edward!!!! (Downton abbey infatuation). Everyone is spot on for me - except I am not a fan of the pick for Willoughby....but that might be bias since we all know how this ends.

[Alana]

I thought Willoughby was great in that one; he's got just the look for the charming sophisticate that's not quite what he appears to be and just comes across sleazy later.

[Alana]

I went ahead and watched I Have Found It, which was an interesting experience. Personally, I loved Bollywood's adaptation Bride & Prejudice, musical and all, so thought I might enjoy this one quite a bit. Well, this one is not in English (which is fine, I have no problem with subtitles), but the quality simply wasn't not nearly as good. The acting was fairly poor (although their version of Marianne/Col. Brandon was actually more convincing than some of the other, more traditional adaptations) and the lip-syncing atrocious, especially Meenu's (who, incidentally, is the lead in Bride & Prejudice and does an excellent job in that film). To be fair to the film, I think a lot of the pop culture and political jokes and satires get lost in translation, so I let a lot of that slide. It did a pretty good job as an adaptation, making adjustments solely based on modernity and eastern culture. If it had been made ten years later, I think the filmmakers would have had more experience and the quality of the film would have been much greater, as we see in Bride & Prejudice, which I enjoy watching over and over again. It's a good effort, although not one I'd watch often, mostly because it is difficult to watch a film with subtitles and multi-task :)

3/5 for this one.

[Marren]

I would like to watch it some time Alana. I like most Bollywood movies I have seen.