Sense and Sensibility is the story of two sisters: reserved and pragmatic Elinor (Emma Thompson) and passionate, wilful Marianne (Kate Winslet). When their father, Henry Dashwood, dies, by law his estate must pass to the oldest son from his first marriage. Suddenly homeless and impoverished, his current wife and daughters find themselves living in a simple country cottage. The two sisters are soon accepted into their new society. Marianne becomes swept up in a passionate love affair with the dashing Willoughby (Greg Wise), while Elinor struggles to keep a tight rein on the family purse strings and to keep her feelings for Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant), whom she left behind, hidden from her family. Despite their different personalities, they both experience great sorrow in their affairs, but they learn to mix sense with sensibility in a society that is obsessed with both financial and social status.
Emma Thompson, was outstanding as Elinor. The quality of her acting for this movie is almost indescribable, and she brought a lease of life into Elinor that I doubt anyone else would, with that amount of finesse and realism. She broke my heart with her story as Elinor, and I was also impressed learning the fact that she penned the entire Screenplay for this movie. Kate Winslet also shined as Elinor's dreamy younger sister Marianne. The second half of this movie belongs primarily to Winslet, and the first half to Thompson, though each steal moments from either half. Winslet was extremely impressive as Marianne, she was extremely believable with her tearful and emotional outbursts for Willoughby - I wanted to applaud her in those scenes. Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars was believable enough, but nothing great. I am a fan of his movies and was disappointed with his performance, though he had some notable body language, like the stiff walk, thumb-twiddling, and upper-class British accent (which he actually has in most movies). Greg Wise as Willoughby seemed like a decent choice: his role wasn't powerful or big enough to comment on in detail. Alan Rickman shocked me, I have only ever seen him as Snape in the Harry Potter series and was really shocked to see him as the emotional, gentlemanly Col. Brandon. The rest of the cast were also very good and contributed to the classic story.
All in all, Sense and Sensibility's biggest strength is the powerful and applause-worthy performances given by Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. Ang Lee's direction combined with the acting power of these two actresses was bound to make a success, and it did. Jane Austen should be proud.
Emma Thompson, was outstanding as Elinor. The quality of her acting for this movie is almost indescribable, and she brought a lease of life into Elinor that I doubt anyone else would, with that amount of finesse and realism. She broke my heart with her story as Elinor, and I was also impressed learning the fact that she penned the entire Screenplay for this movie. Kate Winslet also shined as Elinor's dreamy younger sister Marianne. The second half of this movie belongs primarily to Winslet, and the first half to Thompson, though each steal moments from either half. Winslet was extremely impressive as Marianne, she was extremely believable with her tearful and emotional outbursts for Willoughby - I wanted to applaud her in those scenes. Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars was believable enough, but nothing great. I am a fan of his movies and was disappointed with his performance, though he had some notable body language, like the stiff walk, thumb-twiddling, and upper-class British accent (which he actually has in most movies). Greg Wise as Willoughby seemed like a decent choice: his role wasn't powerful or big enough to comment on in detail. Alan Rickman shocked me, I have only ever seen him as Snape in the Harry Potter series and was really shocked to see him as the emotional, gentlemanly Col. Brandon. The rest of the cast were also very good and contributed to the classic story.
All in all, Sense and Sensibility's biggest strength is the powerful and applause-worthy performances given by Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. Ang Lee's direction combined with the acting power of these two actresses was bound to make a success, and it did. Jane Austen should be proud.