Sense and Sensibility (1995 film)
Encyclopedia
Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 British drama film directed by Ang Lee
. The screenplay by Emma Thompson
is based on the 1811 novel of the same name
by English author Jane Austen
. The film stars Thompson and Kate Winslet
as the eldest of the Dashwood sisters, along with Hugh Grant
and Alan Rickman
.
Producer Lindsay Doran, a longtime admirerer of Austen's novel, hired Thompson to write the screenplay. The actress spent four years going through numerous revisions, as she worked on the script inbetween other films as well as into production of the film itself. Whilst initially intending for another actress to portray Elinor Dashwood, Lee convinced Thompson to undertake the part herself. Sense and Sensibility contributed to a resurgence in popularity for Austen's work, and led to many more film and television adaptations in the following years.
The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews upon release, and many awards and nominations. It was nominated for eleven British Academy Film Awards
(BAFTA Awards), winning the top award BAFTA Award for Best Film
, with Thompson and Winslet both winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
award, respectively. Thompson earned her second Academy Award, this time for Best Adapted Screenplay, making her the only person, as of 2011, to have won a writing Oscar and an acting Oscar (Thompson won the Best Actress
award for Howards End
, in 1993). The film was also nominated for six other Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture
.
) dies, his wife and three daughters – Elinor (Emma Thompson
), Marianne (Kate Winslet
) and Margaret (Emilie François) – are dismayed to learn that their inheritance consists of only £500 a year, with the bulk of the estate of Norland Park left to his son John (James Fleet
) from a previous marriage. John's scheming, greedy, snobbish wife Fanny (Harriet Walter
) immediately installs herself and her spouse in the palatial home and invites her brother Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant
) to stay with them. She frets about the budding friendship between Edward and Elinor and does everything she can to prevent it from developing.
Sir John Middleton (Robert Hardy
), a cousin of the widowed Mrs. Dashwood (Gemma Jones
), offers her a small cottage house on his estate, Barton Park in Devon
shire. She and her daughters move in. Here that Marianne meets the older Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman
), who falls in love with her at first sight. Competing with him for her affections is the dashing but deceitful John Willoughby
(Greg Wise
), who steals Marianne’s heart. Unbeknownst to the Dashwood family, Brandon’s ward is found to be pregnant with Willoughby’s child, and Willoughby’s aunt Lady Allen disinherits him. He moves to London, leaving Marianne heartbroken.
Sir John’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs
), invites her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer (Imelda Staunton
and Hugh Laurie
), to visit. They bring with them the impoverished Lucy Steele (Imogen Stubbs
). Lucy confides in Elinor that she and Edward have been engaged secretly for five years, thus dashing Elinor’s hopes of romance with him. Mrs. Jennings takes Lucy, Elinor, and Marianne to London, where they meet Willoughby at a ball. They learn that he is engaged to the extremely wealthy Miss Grey; and the clandestine engagement of Edward and Lucy comes to light. Edward’s mother demands that he break off the engagement. When he refuses, his fortune is taken from him and given to his younger brother Robert (Richard Lumsden
).
On their way home to Devon
shire, Elinor and Marianne stop for the night at the country estate of the Palmers, who live near Willoughby. Marianne cannot resist going to see Willoughby's estate and walks five miles in a torrential rain to do so. As a result, she becomes seriously ill and is nursed back to health by Elinor after being rescued by Colonel Brandon.
After Marianne recovers, the sisters return home. They learn that Miss Steele has become Mrs. Ferrars and assume that she is married to Edward. However, he arrives to explain that Miss Steele has unexpectedly wed Robert Ferrars and is thus released from his engagement. Edward proposes to Elinor and becomes a vicar
, whilst Marianne falls in love with and marries Colonel Brandon.
The film omits the characters of Lady Middleton and her children, as well as that of Nancy Steele, Lucy's sister.
, had been adapted three times prior to the 1995 release, the last adaptation occurring in a 1981 serial
. Lindsay Doran, the president of production company Mirage Enterprises, was on a company retreat thinking of potential film ideas when she suggested the novel. A longtime fan of Sense and Sensibility, Doran had vowed in her youth to some day adapt the novel if she ever entered the movie industry. She chose to adapt it in particular (rather than Austen's other works) due to the presence of two female leads. Doran stated, "All of [Austen's] books are funny and emotional, but Sense and Sensibility is the best movie story because it's full of twists and turns. Just when you think you know what's going on, everything is different. It's got real suspense, but it's not a thriller. Irresistible." The producer spent ten years looking for a suitable screenwriter until she came across a series of comedic skits, often in period settings, that actress Emma Thompson
had written. A week after she and Doran wrapped production on Dead Again
, the producer selected Thompson to adapt Sense and Sensibility.
Thompson spent four years writing and revising the screenplay, both during and in between shooting other films. On an episode of the popular quiz show QI, Thompson later revealed that she lost the screenplay on her faulty computer. When a repairman could not retrieve the file, she took the computer in a taxi to friend Stephen Fry
, who spent seven hours retrieving the missing file. He is thanked in the end credits. Thompson continued making revisions throughout production of the film, including changing scenes out of budgetary reasons, adding improvements to dialogue, and flexibly changing certain aspects to better fit the actors. In possession of a screenplay, Doran next had to pitch the idea to various studios in order to finance the film, but found that many were wary of Thompson as the screenwriter and viewed it as too risky. Columbia Pictures
supported Thompson's involvement, and agreed to sign as the producer and distributor. However, Columbia initially wanted Thompson to hire a ghostwriter
for the film. Executive producer Sydney Pollack
stressed that the film be understandable to modern audiences. Thompson explained that Austen was just as comprehensible in a different century, "You don't think people are still concerned with marriage, money, romance, finding a partner? Jane Austen is a genius who appeals to any generation."
Despite not having heard of Jane Austen prior to filming, Taiwanese director Ang Lee
was hired due to his work in the 1993 family comedy film The Wedding Banquet
, which he co-wrote, produced, and directed. Doran felt that his films, which depicted complex family relationships with social comedy, were a good fit with Austen's storylines. She recalled, "The idea of a foreign director was intellectually appealing even though it was very scary to have someone who didn't have English as his first language." The producer sent Lee a copy of Thompson's script, to which he replied that he was "cautiously interested." Fifteen directors were interviewed, but according to Doran, Lee was one of the few who "knew where the jokes were" and told them he wanted the film to "break people's hearts so badly that they'll still be recovering from it two months later." Doran also felt that Lee's involvement would have prevented the film from becoming "just some little English movie" that appealed only to "audiences in Devon" instead of to "the whole world." Lee explained, "I thought they were crazy: I was brought up in Taiwan, what do I know about 19th-century England? About halfway through the script it started to make sense why they chose me. In my films I've been trying to mix social satire and family drama. I realized that all along I had been trying to do Jane Austen without knowing it. Jane Austen was my destiny. I just had to overcome the cultural barrier."
Composer Patrick Doyle
, who had previously worked with friend Thompson in the films Henry V
, Much Ado About Nothing
, and Dead Again, was hired to do the music for Sense and Sensibility. He explained his musical score, "Sense and Sensibility was stifled; the music had to be suppressed to match what was happening onscreen. You had this middle-class English motif
, and with the music you would have occasional outbursts of emotion."
and Joely Richardson
, the daughters of Vanessa Redgrave
, as Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. However, Lee wanted Thompson herself to play Elinor, to which the actress replied that at age 35, she was too old for the 19-year-old character. Lee then suggested Elinor's age be changed to 27, which would also have had the effect of making the reality of spinsterhood
easier for modern audiences to understand.
Actress Kate Winslet initially intended to audition for the role of Marianne but the director disliked her work in Heavenly Creatures
, causing her to audition for the lesser part of Lucy Steele. However, the actress pretended she had heard the audition was still for Marianne, and won the part based on a single reading. Thompson wrote the part of Edward Ferrars with actor Hugh Grant
in mind, and he agreed to receive a lower salary in order to fit with the film's budget. Grant's casting was met with criticism from the Jane Austen Society of North America, who felt that he was too handsome for the part. Thompson met her future husband Greg Wise
, who played John Willoughby, whilst filming. He briefly dated Winslet during the production, and the actress later set him up with Thompson after her divorce with Kenneth Branagh
was completed.
, the village church in Berry Pomeroy
, Flete House
, and Compton Castle
. Settings in London included the National Maritime Museum
in Greenwich
. Additional scenes were filmed at Trafalgar House
and Wilton House
in Wiltshire, Mompesson House
in Salisbury
, and Montacute House
in South Somerset
.
Lee suggested Winslet read books of poetry and report back to him in order to best understand her character. He also had Thompson and Winslet live together to develop their characters' sisterly bond. The director often had the actors do numerous takes for certain scenes in order to get the perfect shot. During filming Lee had the actors meditate and practice t'ai chi. According to Thompson, the director became "deeply hurt and confused" when she and Hugh Grant made suggestions for certain scenes, which was something not done in his home country. Lee ended up losing sleep because he felt his authority was being undermined, though this was later resolved. Other problems ensued; Kate Winslet got phlebitis
, Thompson became sick with conjunctivitis
, and many of the sheep Lee wanted in every exterior shot collapsed from heat exhaustion.
For the scene in which Elinor learns Edward is unmarried, Grant was unaware that Thompson would cry through most of his speech; the actress told him, "'There's no other way, and I promise you it'll work, and it will be funny as well as being touching.' And he said, 'Oh, all right,' and he was very good about it." Lee had one demand for the scene, that Thompson not turn her head towards the camera for even one second. The rainy scene depicting Marianne's first encounter with Willoughby had around 50 takes with the actors becoming soaked under rain machines, leading Winslet to collapse from hyperventilation
. Thompson later recalled the director would "always come up to you and say something unexpectedly crushing", such as asking her not to "look so old."
, 48 of 49 critics gave the film a positive review, resulting in a 98% approval rating. In her review in the New York Times, Janet Maslin
called the film "...grandly entertaining... a sparkling, colourful and utterly contemporary comedy of manners... Emma Thompson proves as crisp and indispensably clever a screenwriter as she is a leading lady." In her work Jane Austen on film and television: a critical study of the adaptations, Sue Parrill praised the 1995 film, writing that with "a sterling screenplay, a high-powered cast, a talented director, and a delightful soundtrack, this film is a winner in all respects."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
said the film is "entertaining and amusing [and] enjoyable, civilized, yet somehow not as satisfying as Persuasion
... because the earlier film looked simpler and more authentic, and this one seems a little too idealized." In his review in San Francisco Chronicle
, Mick LaSalle
stated, "[This is] an exuberant, well-crafted film that gets the audience involved on a gut level even before the opening credits are over... Ang Lee might at first seem an unlikely choice to direct an adaptation from English literature. But he does it with the right balance of irony and warmth. The result is a film of great understanding and emotional clarity, filmed with an elegance that never calls attention to itself."
Barbara Shulgasser of the San Francisco Examiner enthused, "What a glorious time is had by all in this wonderful adaptation of Jane Austen's novel... Ang Lee serves up this sweetmeat without fuss, without the super-seriousness of filmmakers awed by their literary material... [He] and Thompson create a world so believable in its absurd rigidity that we feel we have known these characters all our lives. We are unshakably interested in everything that happens to them. The movie is so intelligently wrought, and so full of good spirit that even those who have behaved badly are at the end given the chance to seem human and pained by their own weaknesses."
Todd McCarthy of Variety
observed, "Thompson's script manages the neat trick of preserving the necessary niceties and decorum of civilized behavior of the time whilst still cutting to the dramatic quick. But she and Lee have always kept an eye out for the comedic possibilities in any situation, assisted by a highly skilled cast of actors, which, down to the most briefly seen supporting player, collectively seems to understand the wit and high spirits of the approach. The choice of Lee to direct this so specifically British and period film, and his great success in doing so, will no doubt be the source of much wonderment. Although his previously revealed talents for dramatizing conflicting social and generational traditions will no doubt be noted, Lee's achievement here with such foreign material is simply well beyond what anyone could have expected and may well be posited as the cinematic equivalent of Kazuo Ishiguro
writing The Remains of the Day
."
, Thompson received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
, making her the only person to have won an Oscar for both writing and acting (Thompson won the Best Actress award for Howards End
, in 1993). At the 49th British Academy Film Awards
, Sense and Sensibility won for Best Film
, Best Actress in a Leading Role
(for Thompson), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role
(for Winslet). The film also received awards and nominations at the 53rd Golden Globe Awards
, the 1st Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
, and at the 2nd Screen Actors Guild Awards.
, and led to more Austen adaptations in the following years. The filming of Sense and Sensibility and other Austen adaptations led to a surge in popularity at many of the landmarks depicted. When Sense and Sensibility was released in theaters, Town and Country
released a six-page article entitled "Jane Austen's England", which focused on the landscape and sites shown in the film. A press book released by the studio as well as Thompson's published screenplay and diaries listed all the filming locations, helping to boost tourism. Saltram House for instance saw a 57 percent increase in attendance after the film was released.
In addition, there were many marketing tie-ins for Sense and Sensibility. After its release, New Market Press published Thompson's screenplay and film diary. British publisher Bloomsbury
released a paperback edition of the novel containing film pictures and the cast's names on the cover, whilst Signet Publishing in the US printed 250,000 copies instead of the typical 10,000 a year; actress Julie Christie
read the novel in an audiobook released by Penguin Audiobooks. Sense and Sensibility shot up in book sales, ultimately hitting tenth place on the The New York Times Best Seller list for paperbacks in February 1996. A 2004 author referred to the 1995 film as "the most popular of the Austen film adaptations." Furthermore, the film is credited with helping make Kate Winslet a recognizable movie star.
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
. The screenplay by Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
is based on the 1811 novel of the same name
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, is a British romance novel by Jane Austen, her first published work under the pseudonym, "A Lady." Jane Austen is considered a pioneer of the romance genre of novels, and for the realism portrayed in her novels, is one the most widely read writers in...
by English author Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. The film stars Thompson and Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
as the eldest of the Dashwood sisters, along with Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
and Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
.
Producer Lindsay Doran, a longtime admirerer of Austen's novel, hired Thompson to write the screenplay. The actress spent four years going through numerous revisions, as she worked on the script inbetween other films as well as into production of the film itself. Whilst initially intending for another actress to portray Elinor Dashwood, Lee convinced Thompson to undertake the part herself. Sense and Sensibility contributed to a resurgence in popularity for Austen's work, and led to many more film and television adaptations in the following years.
The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews upon release, and many awards and nominations. It was nominated for eleven British Academy Film Awards
British Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...
(BAFTA Awards), winning the top award BAFTA Award for Best Film
BAFTA Award for Best Film
This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
, with Thompson and Winslet both winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :...
and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film...
award, respectively. Thompson earned her second Academy Award, this time for Best Adapted Screenplay, making her the only person, as of 2011, to have won a writing Oscar and an acting Oscar (Thompson won the Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
award for Howards End
Howards End (film)
Howards End is a 1992 film based upon the novel of the same title by E. M. Forster , a story of class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century England...
, in 1993). The film was also nominated for six other Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
.
Plot
When Mr. Dashwood (Tom WilkinsonTom Wilkinson
Thomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...
) dies, his wife and three daughters – Elinor (Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
), Marianne (Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
) and Margaret (Emilie François) – are dismayed to learn that their inheritance consists of only £500 a year, with the bulk of the estate of Norland Park left to his son John (James Fleet
James Fleet
James Edward Fleet is an English actor. He is most famous for his roles as the bumbling and well-meaning Tom in the 1994 British romantic comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the dim-witted Hugo Horton in the BBC situation comedy television series The Vicar of Dibley.-Personal life:Fleet...
) from a previous marriage. John's scheming, greedy, snobbish wife Fanny (Harriet Walter
Harriet Walter
Dame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
) immediately installs herself and her spouse in the palatial home and invites her brother Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
) to stay with them. She frets about the budding friendship between Edward and Elinor and does everything she can to prevent it from developing.
Sir John Middleton (Robert Hardy
Robert Hardy
Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA is an English actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow.-Early life:...
), a cousin of the widowed Mrs. Dashwood (Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen.-Early life:Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor...
), offers her a small cottage house on his estate, Barton Park in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
shire. She and her daughters move in. Here that Marianne meets the older Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
), who falls in love with her at first sight. Competing with him for her affections is the dashing but deceitful John Willoughby
John Willoughby
John Willoughby is a fictional character in Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. He is described as a handsome young single man with a small estate, but has expectations of inheriting his aunt's large estate.-First Appearance:...
(Greg Wise
Greg Wise
Greg Wise is an English actor and producer. He has appeared in many British television works, as well as several feature films .- Early life :...
), who steals Marianne’s heart. Unbeknownst to the Dashwood family, Brandon’s ward is found to be pregnant with Willoughby’s child, and Willoughby’s aunt Lady Allen disinherits him. He moves to London, leaving Marianne heartbroken.
Sir John’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs
Elizabeth Spriggs
-Early life and career:Born in Buxton, Derbyshire as Elizabeth Jean Williams, Spriggs had an unhappy childhood and grew up entirely without affection, particularly from her distant, domineering father, a master builder and farmer. She studied at the Royal College of Music and taught speech and...
), invites her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer (Imelda Staunton
Imelda Staunton
Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the British comedy television series Up the Garden Path, the Harry Potter film series and Vera Drake...
and Hugh Laurie
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
), to visit. They bring with them the impoverished Lucy Steele (Imogen Stubbs
Imogen Stubbs
Imogen Stubbs, Lady Nunn is an English actress and playwright.-Early life:Imogen Stubbs was born in Northumberland, lived briefly in Portsmouth, where her father was a naval officer, and then moved with her parents to London, where they lived on an elderly river barge on the Thames...
). Lucy confides in Elinor that she and Edward have been engaged secretly for five years, thus dashing Elinor’s hopes of romance with him. Mrs. Jennings takes Lucy, Elinor, and Marianne to London, where they meet Willoughby at a ball. They learn that he is engaged to the extremely wealthy Miss Grey; and the clandestine engagement of Edward and Lucy comes to light. Edward’s mother demands that he break off the engagement. When he refuses, his fortune is taken from him and given to his younger brother Robert (Richard Lumsden
Richard Lumsden
Richard James Lumsden is a British actor, writer, composer and musician. He played Nathan in Channel 4's drama Sugar Rush and on radio he plays Ray in Clare in the Community.-Career:...
).
On their way home to Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
shire, Elinor and Marianne stop for the night at the country estate of the Palmers, who live near Willoughby. Marianne cannot resist going to see Willoughby's estate and walks five miles in a torrential rain to do so. As a result, she becomes seriously ill and is nursed back to health by Elinor after being rescued by Colonel Brandon.
After Marianne recovers, the sisters return home. They learn that Miss Steele has become Mrs. Ferrars and assume that she is married to Edward. However, he arrives to explain that Miss Steele has unexpectedly wed Robert Ferrars and is thus released from his engagement. Edward proposes to Elinor and becomes a vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
, whilst Marianne falls in love with and marries Colonel Brandon.
Cast
- Emma ThompsonEmma ThompsonEmma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
as Elinor Dashwood - Alan RickmanAlan RickmanAlan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
as Col. Christopher Brandon - Kate WinsletKate WinsletKate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
as Marianne Dashwood - Hugh GrantHugh GrantHugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
as Edward Ferrars - Greg WiseGreg WiseGreg Wise is an English actor and producer. He has appeared in many British television works, as well as several feature films .- Early life :...
as John Willoughby - Gemma JonesGemma JonesGemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen.-Early life:Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor...
as Mrs. Dashwood - Robert HardyRobert HardyTimothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA is an English actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow.-Early life:...
as Sir John Middleton - James FleetJames FleetJames Edward Fleet is an English actor. He is most famous for his roles as the bumbling and well-meaning Tom in the 1994 British romantic comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the dim-witted Hugo Horton in the BBC situation comedy television series The Vicar of Dibley.-Personal life:Fleet...
as John Dashwood - Harriet WalterHarriet WalterDame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
as Fanny Ferrars Dashwood - Imelda StauntonImelda StauntonImelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the British comedy television series Up the Garden Path, the Harry Potter film series and Vera Drake...
as Charlotte Jennings Palmer - Imogen StubbsImogen StubbsImogen Stubbs, Lady Nunn is an English actress and playwright.-Early life:Imogen Stubbs was born in Northumberland, lived briefly in Portsmouth, where her father was a naval officer, and then moved with her parents to London, where they lived on an elderly river barge on the Thames...
as Lucy Steele - Hugh LaurieHugh LaurieJames Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
as Mr. Palmer - Emilie FrançoisMyriam Francois-CerrahMyriam Francois-Cerrah, also known as Emilie Francois , is a British actress of French and Irish heritage. Her screen career began at age 12 in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility in which she played Margaret Dashwood alongside Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet...
as Margaret Dashwood - Elizabeth SpriggsElizabeth Spriggs-Early life and career:Born in Buxton, Derbyshire as Elizabeth Jean Williams, Spriggs had an unhappy childhood and grew up entirely without affection, particularly from her distant, domineering father, a master builder and farmer. She studied at the Royal College of Music and taught speech and...
as Mrs. Jennings - Richard LumsdenRichard LumsdenRichard James Lumsden is a British actor, writer, composer and musician. He played Nathan in Channel 4's drama Sugar Rush and on radio he plays Ray in Clare in the Community.-Career:...
as Robert Ferrars - Tom WilkinsonTom WilkinsonThomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...
as Mr. Dashwood - Lone Vidahl as Miss Grey
The film omits the characters of Lady Middleton and her children, as well as that of Nancy Steele, Lucy's sister.
Writing
Jane Austen's debut novel, Sense and SensibilitySense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, is a British romance novel by Jane Austen, her first published work under the pseudonym, "A Lady." Jane Austen is considered a pioneer of the romance genre of novels, and for the realism portrayed in her novels, is one the most widely read writers in...
, had been adapted three times prior to the 1995 release, the last adaptation occurring in a 1981 serial
Sense and Sensibility (1981 TV serial)
Sense and Sensibility is a 1981 BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen's novel. The seven-part series was dramatized by Alexander Baron, and directed by Rodney Bennett....
. Lindsay Doran, the president of production company Mirage Enterprises, was on a company retreat thinking of potential film ideas when she suggested the novel. A longtime fan of Sense and Sensibility, Doran had vowed in her youth to some day adapt the novel if she ever entered the movie industry. She chose to adapt it in particular (rather than Austen's other works) due to the presence of two female leads. Doran stated, "All of [Austen's] books are funny and emotional, but Sense and Sensibility is the best movie story because it's full of twists and turns. Just when you think you know what's going on, everything is different. It's got real suspense, but it's not a thriller. Irresistible." The producer spent ten years looking for a suitable screenwriter until she came across a series of comedic skits, often in period settings, that actress Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
had written. A week after she and Doran wrapped production on Dead Again
Dead Again
Dead Again is a 1991 psychological thriller/neo-noir directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Branagh and his then-wife Emma Thompson. Andy García, Derek Jacobi and Robin Williams are also featured.-Plot summary:...
, the producer selected Thompson to adapt Sense and Sensibility.
Thompson spent four years writing and revising the screenplay, both during and in between shooting other films. On an episode of the popular quiz show QI, Thompson later revealed that she lost the screenplay on her faulty computer. When a repairman could not retrieve the file, she took the computer in a taxi to friend Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, who spent seven hours retrieving the missing file. He is thanked in the end credits. Thompson continued making revisions throughout production of the film, including changing scenes out of budgetary reasons, adding improvements to dialogue, and flexibly changing certain aspects to better fit the actors. In possession of a screenplay, Doran next had to pitch the idea to various studios in order to finance the film, but found that many were wary of Thompson as the screenwriter and viewed it as too risky. Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
supported Thompson's involvement, and agreed to sign as the producer and distributor. However, Columbia initially wanted Thompson to hire a ghostwriter
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
for the film. Executive producer Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
stressed that the film be understandable to modern audiences. Thompson explained that Austen was just as comprehensible in a different century, "You don't think people are still concerned with marriage, money, romance, finding a partner? Jane Austen is a genius who appeals to any generation."
Despite not having heard of Jane Austen prior to filming, Taiwanese director Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
was hired due to his work in the 1993 family comedy film The Wedding Banquet
The Wedding Banquet
The Wedding Banquet is a 1993 film about a gay Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet....
, which he co-wrote, produced, and directed. Doran felt that his films, which depicted complex family relationships with social comedy, were a good fit with Austen's storylines. She recalled, "The idea of a foreign director was intellectually appealing even though it was very scary to have someone who didn't have English as his first language." The producer sent Lee a copy of Thompson's script, to which he replied that he was "cautiously interested." Fifteen directors were interviewed, but according to Doran, Lee was one of the few who "knew where the jokes were" and told them he wanted the film to "break people's hearts so badly that they'll still be recovering from it two months later." Doran also felt that Lee's involvement would have prevented the film from becoming "just some little English movie" that appealed only to "audiences in Devon" instead of to "the whole world." Lee explained, "I thought they were crazy: I was brought up in Taiwan, what do I know about 19th-century England? About halfway through the script it started to make sense why they chose me. In my films I've been trying to mix social satire and family drama. I realized that all along I had been trying to do Jane Austen without knowing it. Jane Austen was my destiny. I just had to overcome the cultural barrier."
Composer Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle is a Scottish musician and film score composer. A longtime collaborator of actor/director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work scoring such critically acclaimed films as Henry V , Sense and Sensibility , Hamlet , and Gosford Park , as well as noteworthy blockbusters as Harry...
, who had previously worked with friend Thompson in the films Henry V
Henry V (1989 film)
Henry V is a 1989 film directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on William Shakespeare's play The Life of Henry the Fifth about the famous English king. Branagh stars in the title role, and wrote the screenplay. The film was highly acclaimed on its release....
, Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing (film)
Much Ado About Nothing is a 1993 British/American romantic comedy film based on William Shakespeare's play. It was adapted for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also played the role of Benedick....
, and Dead Again, was hired to do the music for Sense and Sensibility. He explained his musical score, "Sense and Sensibility was stifled; the music had to be suppressed to match what was happening onscreen. You had this middle-class English motif
Motif (music)
In music, a motif or motive is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition....
, and with the music you would have occasional outbursts of emotion."
Casting
Thompson's hope was that Doran would cast NatashaNatasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
and Joely Richardson
Joely Richardson
Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
, the daughters of Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
, as Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. However, Lee wanted Thompson herself to play Elinor, to which the actress replied that at age 35, she was too old for the 19-year-old character. Lee then suggested Elinor's age be changed to 27, which would also have had the effect of making the reality of spinsterhood
Spinsterhood
The Spinsterhood is a fictional order of extraterrestrial female warriors appearing in comic books published by American publisher, Marvel Comics. The group was first introduced in Silver Surfer Vol. 3, #80 .-Fictional history:...
easier for modern audiences to understand.
Actress Kate Winslet initially intended to audition for the role of Marianne but the director disliked her work in Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures is a 1994 film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his wife Fran Walsh, about the notorious 1954 Parker-Hulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand. Filmed on location in Christchurch, it features Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in their screen debuts...
, causing her to audition for the lesser part of Lucy Steele. However, the actress pretended she had heard the audition was still for Marianne, and won the part based on a single reading. Thompson wrote the part of Edward Ferrars with actor Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
in mind, and he agreed to receive a lower salary in order to fit with the film's budget. Grant's casting was met with criticism from the Jane Austen Society of North America, who felt that he was too handsome for the part. Thompson met her future husband Greg Wise
Greg Wise
Greg Wise is an English actor and producer. He has appeared in many British television works, as well as several feature films .- Early life :...
, who played John Willoughby, whilst filming. He briefly dated Winslet during the production, and the actress later set him up with Thompson after her divorce with Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
was completed.
Filming
The film was budgeted at US $16 to $16.5 million, the largest budget Ang Lee had yet received as well as the largest awarded to an Austen film that decade. Sense and Sensibility was filmed at a number of locations in Devon, including Saltram HouseSaltram House
Saltram House is a George II era mansion located in Plympton, Plymouth, England. The house that can be seen today is the work of Robert Adam, who altered the original Tudor house on two occasions. The saloon is sometimes cited as one of Adam's finest interiors...
, the village church in Berry Pomeroy
Berry Pomeroy
Berry Pomeroy is a village and civil parish in the South Hams district of Devon, England, about two miles east of Totnes. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 973...
, Flete House
Flete House
Flete House is a Grade I listed country house at Holbeton, in the South Hams district of Devon, England.Flete was a Saxon estate, the manor being held by the Damarell family from the reign of William I until the time of Edward III....
, and Compton Castle
Compton Castle
Compton Castle is a fortified manor house in the village of Compton, about west of Torquay, Devon, England . The castle has been home to the Gilbert family for most of the time since it was built...
. Settings in London included the National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...
in Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
. Additional scenes were filmed at Trafalgar House
Trafalgar House (Wiltshire)
Trafalgar House, also known as Trafalgar Park, is a country house located south of Salisbury, in the county of Wiltshire, England. This country estate is a popular venue for events such as weddings, corporate meetings and charity fundraisers. In recent years, it has also been used as a set for film...
and Wilton House
Wilton House
Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years....
in Wiltshire, Mompesson House
Mompesson House
Mompesson House is an 18th-century house located in the Cathedral Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. The house has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1952.-Miscellanea:...
in Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, and Montacute House
Montacute House
Montacute House is a late Elizabethan country house situated in the South Somerset village of Montacute. This house is a textbook example of English architecture during a period that was moving from the medieval Gothic to the Renaissance Classical; this has resulted in Montacute being regarded as...
in South Somerset
South Somerset
South Somerset is a local government district in Somerset, England.The South Somerset district covers and area of ranging from the borders with Devon and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approximately 158,000...
.
Lee suggested Winslet read books of poetry and report back to him in order to best understand her character. He also had Thompson and Winslet live together to develop their characters' sisterly bond. The director often had the actors do numerous takes for certain scenes in order to get the perfect shot. During filming Lee had the actors meditate and practice t'ai chi. According to Thompson, the director became "deeply hurt and confused" when she and Hugh Grant made suggestions for certain scenes, which was something not done in his home country. Lee ended up losing sleep because he felt his authority was being undermined, though this was later resolved. Other problems ensued; Kate Winslet got phlebitis
Phlebitis
Phlebitis is an inflammation of a vein, usually in the legs.When phlebitis is associated with the formation of blood clots , usually in the deep veins of the legs, the condition is called thrombophlebitis...
, Thompson became sick with conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis refers to inflammation of the conjunctiva...
, and many of the sheep Lee wanted in every exterior shot collapsed from heat exhaustion.
For the scene in which Elinor learns Edward is unmarried, Grant was unaware that Thompson would cry through most of his speech; the actress told him, "'There's no other way, and I promise you it'll work, and it will be funny as well as being touching.' And he said, 'Oh, all right,' and he was very good about it." Lee had one demand for the scene, that Thompson not turn her head towards the camera for even one second. The rainy scene depicting Marianne's first encounter with Willoughby had around 50 takes with the actors becoming soaked under rain machines, leading Winslet to collapse from hyperventilation
Hyperventilation
Hyperventilation or overbreathing is the state of breathing faster or deeper than normal, causing excessive expulsion of circulating carbon dioxide. It can result from a psychological state such as a panic attack, from a physiological condition such as metabolic acidosis, can be brought about by...
. Thompson later recalled the director would "always come up to you and say something unexpectedly crushing", such as asking her not to "look so old."
Release
Sense and Sensibility was theatrically released on 13 December 1995. It grossed US $42,993,774 in the US and US $92,000,000 in foreign markets for a worldwide box office total of US $134,993,774, considered to be a box office success. It had the largest box office gross out of the Austen adaptations of the 1990s.Critical reviews
On Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, 48 of 49 critics gave the film a positive review, resulting in a 98% approval rating. In her review in the New York Times, Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
called the film "...grandly entertaining... a sparkling, colourful and utterly contemporary comedy of manners... Emma Thompson proves as crisp and indispensably clever a screenwriter as she is a leading lady." In her work Jane Austen on film and television: a critical study of the adaptations, Sue Parrill praised the 1995 film, writing that with "a sterling screenplay, a high-powered cast, a talented director, and a delightful soundtrack, this film is a winner in all respects."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
said the film is "entertaining and amusing [and] enjoyable, civilized, yet somehow not as satisfying as Persuasion
Persuasion (1995 film)
Producer Fiona Finlay had for several years been interested in making a film based on the novel Persuasion, and approached screenwriter Nick Dear about adapting it for television...
... because the earlier film looked simpler and more authentic, and this one seems a little too idealized." In his review in San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
stated, "[This is] an exuberant, well-crafted film that gets the audience involved on a gut level even before the opening credits are over... Ang Lee might at first seem an unlikely choice to direct an adaptation from English literature. But he does it with the right balance of irony and warmth. The result is a film of great understanding and emotional clarity, filmed with an elegance that never calls attention to itself."
Barbara Shulgasser of the San Francisco Examiner enthused, "What a glorious time is had by all in this wonderful adaptation of Jane Austen's novel... Ang Lee serves up this sweetmeat without fuss, without the super-seriousness of filmmakers awed by their literary material... [He] and Thompson create a world so believable in its absurd rigidity that we feel we have known these characters all our lives. We are unshakably interested in everything that happens to them. The movie is so intelligently wrought, and so full of good spirit that even those who have behaved badly are at the end given the chance to seem human and pained by their own weaknesses."
Todd McCarthy of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
observed, "Thompson's script manages the neat trick of preserving the necessary niceties and decorum of civilized behavior of the time whilst still cutting to the dramatic quick. But she and Lee have always kept an eye out for the comedic possibilities in any situation, assisted by a highly skilled cast of actors, which, down to the most briefly seen supporting player, collectively seems to understand the wit and high spirits of the approach. The choice of Lee to direct this so specifically British and period film, and his great success in doing so, will no doubt be the source of much wonderment. Although his previously revealed talents for dramatizing conflicting social and generational traditions will no doubt be noted, Lee's achievement here with such foreign material is simply well beyond what anyone could have expected and may well be posited as the cinematic equivalent of Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro OBE or ; born 8 November 1954) is a Japanese–English novelist. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and his family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing...
writing The Remains of the Day
The Remains of the Day
The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro's third published novel. One of the most highly-regarded post-war British novels, the work was awarded the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1989...
."
Awards and nominations
Sense and Sensibility received numerous accolades, including seven Academy Awards nominations and twelve BAFTA nominations. At the 68th Academy Awards68th Academy Awards
The 68th Academy Awards were held on March 25, 1996, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The show was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. The ceremony was watched 44.48 million viewers, with 30.5% households watching...
, Thompson received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
, making her the only person to have won an Oscar for both writing and acting (Thompson won the Best Actress award for Howards End
Howards End (film)
Howards End is a 1992 film based upon the novel of the same title by E. M. Forster , a story of class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century England...
, in 1993). At the 49th British Academy Film Awards
49th British Academy Film Awards
April 23, 1995----Best Film:Sense and Sensibility----Best British Film:The Madness of King GeorgeThe 49th British Film Awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts on 23 April 1996, honoured the best films of 1995....
, Sense and Sensibility won for Best Film
BAFTA Award for Best Film
This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
, Best Actress in a Leading Role
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :...
(for Thompson), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film...
(for Winslet). The film also received awards and nominations at the 53rd Golden Globe Awards
53rd Golden Globe Awards
The 53rd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1995, were held on 21 January 1996.-Best Actor – Drama: Nicolas Cage – Leaving Las Vegas* Richard Dreyfuss – Mr...
, the 1st Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 1995
The 1st Critics' Choice Awards were given in 1996 to honor the finest achievements in 1995 filmmaking.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Kevin Bacon - Murder in the First*Best Actress:**Nicole Kidman - To Die For*Best Director:**Mel Gibson - Braveheart...
, and at the 2nd Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Legacy and influence
1995 saw a resurgence of popularity for Jane Austen's works, as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice rocketed to critical and financial success. The two adaptations helped draw more attention to the previously little known 1995 film PersuasionPersuasion (1995 film)
Producer Fiona Finlay had for several years been interested in making a film based on the novel Persuasion, and approached screenwriter Nick Dear about adapting it for television...
, and led to more Austen adaptations in the following years. The filming of Sense and Sensibility and other Austen adaptations led to a surge in popularity at many of the landmarks depicted. When Sense and Sensibility was released in theaters, Town and Country
Town and Country
- Locations in the United States :*Town 'n' Country, Florida*Town and Country, Missouri*Town and Country, Washington*Town & Country Village , California- Other uses :...
released a six-page article entitled "Jane Austen's England", which focused on the landscape and sites shown in the film. A press book released by the studio as well as Thompson's published screenplay and diaries listed all the filming locations, helping to boost tourism. Saltram House for instance saw a 57 percent increase in attendance after the film was released.
In addition, there were many marketing tie-ins for Sense and Sensibility. After its release, New Market Press published Thompson's screenplay and film diary. British publisher Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
released a paperback edition of the novel containing film pictures and the cast's names on the cover, whilst Signet Publishing in the US printed 250,000 copies instead of the typical 10,000 a year; actress Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
read the novel in an audiobook released by Penguin Audiobooks. Sense and Sensibility shot up in book sales, ultimately hitting tenth place on the The New York Times Best Seller list for paperbacks in February 1996. A 2004 author referred to the 1995 film as "the most popular of the Austen film adaptations." Furthermore, the film is credited with helping make Kate Winslet a recognizable movie star.