Sense and Sensibility

Name: Sense and Sensibility
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: December 13, 1995
Duration: 136 min
Rating: 84
Cast: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet

1995

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 109 Ratings

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8.2

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 109 Ratings

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Sense And Sensibility

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Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 13, 1995 | PG

Starring: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet

Summary: Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters, Elinor, Marianne and teen-age tomboy Margaret, are cruelly deprived of their home and inheritance on the death of their father. The law decrees that magnificent Norland Park must pass to his son by a previous marriage, the girls' stepbrother John, who is partnered in life by the genteely grasping Fanny. TheMrs. Dashwood and her daughters, Elinor, Marianne and teen-age tomboy Margaret, are cruelly deprived of their home and inheritance on the death of their father. The law decrees that magnificent Norland Park must pass to his son by a previous marriage, the girls' stepbrother John, who is partnered in life by the genteely grasping Fanny. The impoverished Dashwoods are saved from further humiliation by Mrs. Dashwood's cousin, Sir John Middleton. He offers them a new home, Barton Cottage, on his vast Devonshire estate.… Expand

Director: Ang Lee

Genre(s): Drama, Romance

Rating: PG

Runtime: 136 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Liam Lacey

Poised, delicate, powerful, hovering between poignancy and pealing laughter, it is a feast formed by skill and serendipity. Read full review

100

Mick LaSalle

It's an exuberant, well- crafted film that gets the audience involved on a gut level even before the opening credits are over. Read full review

Rita Kempley

This rapturous romance is not only laugh-out-loud funny but demonstrates how little humankind has evolved in matters of the heart. Read full review

James Berardinelli

A wonderful motion picture, even given the weaknesses of the source material. Read full review

Ty Burr

Ang Lee's film of the Jane Austen novel slavishly follows the gospel according to Merchant Ivory, swooning over characters declaiming modestly while surrounded by topiary. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

An absorbing, delightful, and nuanced movie with laugh-out-loud humor, and though it often plays events broadly where you might have preferred subtlety, it's not a movie that could have settled for muffled silence. Read full review

Roger Ebert

An enjoyable film, and yet it left me somehow unsatisfied...there is too much contrivance in the way [Austen] dispatches her men to London when she is done with them. Read full review

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User Reviews

Dostoyevsky3

May 5, 2020

Sense and Sensibility is an undeniable Jane Austin masterpiece marked by a wonderful love story brought to film with Emma Thompson's masterfully winning performance.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

EmW.

Feb 2, 2006

Lovely film! Laughed at the "F Major" scene when Mrs Jennings and her friend were having a giggle at the expense of Elinor Dashwood! Overall though it is a great film with superb acting. Ang Lee is a brilliant director as well.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

ginam5

Jun 15, 2013

One of my favorite movies of all time. Great writing, perfect acting, just a gorgeous movie. It gets better every time you watch it. Col. Brandon is the epitome of chivalry, wisdom and romance. Who knew Severis Snape could be so romantic? (LOL)

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

JohnM.

Dec 20, 2005

This is an amazing movie, true to its traditional source yet very inviting and appealing to modern audiences. The performances are uniformly excellent, Emma Thompson deserved that Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and the direction is fluid, unfussy and very insightful. The movie looks This is an amazing movie, true to its traditional source yet very inviting and appealing to modern audiences. The performances are uniformly excellent, Emma Thompson deserved that Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and the direction is fluid, unfussy and very insightful. The movie looks beautiful, too. Kate Winslet is superb in her somewhat flashier role, and this movie really made me appreciate Alan Rickman. I can come back to this movie again and again. What a joy.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

JennaT.

Dec 11, 2007

This movie was well acted out. Some parts make you horribly mad and yelling at the TV like when Willoughby left but other than that it was good.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

FilipeNeto

Mar 25, 2022

This is another adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name, widely known and considered a classic of English literature. I've never read it, I confess... I've never seen it for sale, but one day I'll read it, I'm curious to do so. However, taking into account what I saw in this film,This is another adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name, widely known and considered a classic of English literature. I've never read it, I confess... I've never seen it for sale, but one day I'll read it, I'm curious to do so. However, taking into account what I saw in this film, it is not very different from other works by the author, who approached several times themes such as the life of the English middle and upper classes of her time, the rules and social conventions or the way how marriages were arranged according to the size of the dowries and possible inheritances, and not exactly the affections and feelings of the betrothed.

The two protagonists of this film are Marianne and Elinor Dashwood, two young sisters of marriageable age. They are the daughters of a father who has just died, but who is legally prevented from leaving them part of his fortune, which the law obliged him to leave entirely to the son of his first marriage. So the Dashwoods have to move to a small country house rented cheaply by a distant cousin. There, they will rebuild their lives, integrate into the local social life and begin to receive suitors.

Films like this always run the risk of becoming boring, with so many comings and goings, turns and revolts, where the relationships and courtships between the characters seem to go backwards and forwards. In this case, however, I must say that I found the film quite light, less melodramatic and tiring than I expected. The pacing of the film also helps, as it doesn't seem to waste much time pointlessly. The script is full of subtleties, intelligence, criticism of the way of living and thinking of the time.

The cast is very good and is full of well-known and proven names, starting with the protagonists, Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, two strong names who adapted well to the characters and knew how to give them what they needed. I'm not a Hugh Grant fan, but I recognize that his stilted posture and thick English accent work well for his character in the film. Alan Rickman is also excellent, in a register that adapts well to a more mature character, like his. However, there are several actors who did not do well, starting with Greg Wise, who was not convincing in my eyes and is very touchy-feely. I also thought that Elizabeth Spriggs was very histrionic and made the character tiresome.

Technically, the film has many merits: Ang Lee directed it intelligently, bringing out the best in everyone. The cinematography is very good and makes the most of England's rains and clouds, as well as the candlelight and the subtle, soft colors of the dresses. The sets are good, and together with the costumes, they manage to insert the audience into the historical period in which the story takes place. Of course, there are some anachronisms and small details where the production clearly had to improvise. The soundtrack also does a competent job.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Flipje

May 25, 2021

Emma Thompson (screenwriter) and Ang Lee (director) have made a little charming Jane Austen adaptation. For Jane Austen fans, this is good ol' landed gentry, period drama, Pride and Prejudicish goodness. It satisfies like high-priced, imported chocolate. The screenplay moves at aEmma Thompson (screenwriter) and Ang Lee (director) have made a little charming Jane Austen adaptation. For Jane Austen fans, this is good ol' landed gentry, period drama, Pride and Prejudicish goodness. It satisfies like high-priced, imported chocolate. The screenplay moves at a brisk-enough pace for a film focussed on love and misunderstandings, not to mention heartbreaks and other cad, bad boy moments care of upper crusty too-good-to-be-true rogues. Emma Thompson (Elinor Dashwood) does her best Emma Thompson here and if you loved Howard's End or Remains of the Day, she is always tip-top and very received pronunciation in her dignified delivery. This version of Hugh Grant (Edward) is perfectly fine though it is Hugh Grant... pausing... between words... and selecting the next ones... with poise, perplexed brow... thoughtful... demeanor and yet, why not? It works. Alan Rickman (Col. Brandon) here is solid, saintly and just right the amount of stiff upper lift and you dearly wish, watching him, he made more films like this. His accent gives him a kind of nobility. As for Kate Winslet, well...wince, well... I have to say, she doesn't compare with Thompson's previous co-star from Howard's End. Helena Bonham- Carter, in my opinion, can act circles around Winslet and I'm sure, she would have been ideal for the role of Marianne if Miss HBC had not had an affair with a certain someone's hubby... hmmmm... so Winslet does the job but only barely, basically turning on the woe-is-me waterworks whenever necessary. I never felt for her giddy and emotionally mood-swinging character. Yet overall... story, writing, pace... great stuff. Villages of stone houses. Proper discussions. Green rolling landscape. Also, great fun with Hugh Laurie as Hugh Laura but being put-off and surly in period attire. Have to mention Gemma Jones as the matriarch: quite the screen presence to balance Winslet's lightweight weepiness. Easily recommended.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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7	#7 Best Movie of 1995
38	#38 Most Discussed Movie of 1995
22	#22 Most Shared Movie of 1995