Upon their father’s death, the Dashwood sisters and their mother find that they are essentially homeless, as the estate, by law, goes to his son from his first marriage. They’re left with a measly 500 pounds to live on, but thankfully a cousin offers them a cottage not too farm from their home.
While the family packs up their belongings, they are visited by Mr. Dashwood and his unpleasant wife, whose only saving grace is her brother, Edward (Hugh Grant), who comes to visit before heading on to London. Oldest sister Elinor (Emma Thompson) immediately takes a liking to Edward, who genuinely feels for their situation, and does his best to help. It seems that he comes to care for Elinor too, and promises to come see them at their new home.
They move a short time later and become better acquainted with their cousin and his mother, who seem to have nothing better to do then gossip and speculate about the love that Elinor left behind. It is there that they also meet Col. Brandon (Alan Rickman), who immediate takes to the middle sister, Marianne (Kate Winslet), but Marianne finds him too quiet. She instead falls for dashing Willoughby, who shares her love of poetry and Shakespeare.
In typical Jane Austen fashion, her story is filled with misunderstandings, “tragedy” (of the romantic sort) and of course, a happy ending. Everyone ends up with their true love. Alan Rickman, in normally not-so-nice roles (like Professor Snape) does a brilliant job as Colonel Brandon and Hugh Grant does wonderfully as the sky As much as I love the language of Jane Austen, I find it hard to believe that one can fall in love in the course of a day (and this always happens in her stories). Between that and the women’s eagerness to be married, I find it hard to swallow with my 21st century self. However, the writing is romantic and the acting is superb so it’s not to difficult to watch. I’d recommend it for ages 10 and up, only because it’s a really long movie (136 minutes) and its doubtful younger children will sit through it or find it interesting.
“Sense and Sensibility” is rated PG for mild thematic elements.
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