SENSE & SENSIBILITY. Directed by Ang Lee; written by Emma Thompson; produced by Lindsay Doran for Columbia. Starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant. Rated PG
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What great fun this movie is! Genteel, but funny, sophisticated, yet romantic. Loaded to the rafters with wonderful performances, large and small—it's a delight. And, I venture to say, not just for English majors or women who like old-fashioned clothes. I would challenge anyone not to enjoy it.
The story might seem a bit contrived, especially to millennium-approaching moviegoers. But it's completely faithful to the Jane Austen novel, and you could do a lot worse for source material. Her stories so perfectly capture the essence of their setting (18th century polite English society) that before long it seems as natural as breathing.
And this production works just as well, despite being directed by someone who hails from the other side of the world from Dorsetshire (a Taiwanese) and being written by a novice screenwriter (although I believe Thompson would be wonderful at whatever she tries).
The newly poor Dashwood sisters Elinor (Thompson) and Marianne (Winslet) may have to struggle to make ends meet, but their lives have no lack of excitement. The more sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward (Hugh Grant) only to find out he's secretly engaged to a not-very-likeable young woman.
Marianne, who wears her heart and her opinions on her sleeve at all times, is passionately in love with the dashing Willoughby (Greg Wise). (While the stolid but mysterious Colonel Brandon (Rickman) nurses a hopeless passion for her.) But Willoughby mysteriously disappears and doesn't answer her letters.
The performances are all so wonderful, I almost hate to single any of them out. But I must note that I have always suspected Rickman (who has been such a good villain in movies like Die Hard and Quigley Down Under) could be an attractive good guy if given half a chance. His lovesick Colonel proves me right.
It's no surprise to anyone, on the other hand, that Thompson is a sheer delight as Elinor—she always is. Grant might be accused of just replaying the inarticulate dreamboat from Four Weddings and a Funeral, but he fits the awkward Edward perfectly.
I know this all sounds like fluff, and fluff it certainly is. But it is fluff of the very highest order. Dialogue that is wittier than you can probably imagine (that is, if you're unfamiliar with Austen), minor characters with the most hilarious little quirks and foibles, and major characters that are both exasperating and endearing—all mixed up in a plot of delightful complexity ... yes, it's first-class fluff, indeed!
February 25, 1996