Plot.
Poster of Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility

1995 · Film · 136 min

  • Drama
  • Romance

Plot

The Dashwood sisters, sensible Elinor and passionate Marianne, learn that their prospects of marriage seem doomed by their family's sudden loss of fortune. After Henry Dashwood dies unexpectedly, his estate must pass on by law to his son. These circumstances leave Mr. Dashwood's wife and daughters without a home and with barely enough money to live on. As Elinor and Marianne struggle to find romantic fulfillment in a society obsessed with financial and social status, they must learn to mix sense with sensibility in their dealings with both money and men.

About Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 period drama film directed by Ang Lee and based on the 1811 novel by Jane Austen. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay and stars as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays Elinor's younger sister Marianne. The story follows the Dashwood sisters, members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry, as they must deal with circumstances of sudden destitution. They are forced to seek financial security through marriage. Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman play their suitors. Producer Lindsay Doran, a long time admirer of Austen's novel, hired Thompson to write the screenplay. She spent five years drafting numerous revisions, continually working on the script between other films as well as into production of the film itself. Studios were nervous that Thompson—a first-time screenwriter—was the credited writer, but Columbia Pictures agreed to distribute the film. Though initially intending to have another actress portray Elinor, Thompson was persuaded to take the role. Thompson's screenplay exaggerated the Dashwood family's wealth to make their later scenes of poverty more apparent to modern audiences. It also altered the traits of the male leads to make them more appealing to contemporary viewers. Elinor and Marianne's different characteristics were emphasised through imagery and invented scenes. Lee was selected as director, both for his work in the 1993…

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Cast

  • Emma ThompsonElinor Dashwood
  • Kate WinsletMarianne Dashwood
  • Alan RickmanColonel Christopher Brandon
  • Hugh GrantEdward Ferrars
  • Gemma JonesMrs. Dashwood
  • Greg WiseJohn Willoughby
  • Elizabeth SpriggsMrs. Jennings
  • Imogen StubbsLucy Steele
Images