Ragione e sentimento

I procrastinated watching this series as Ang Lee's 1995 film was still fresh with me and I knew i would keep comparing instead of enjoying. I finally watched it and I have to say, I simply loved it. Every bit. It was totally satisfying. I will share that with respect to the 1995 film, that I have watched multiple times, that as much as I appreciate Emma Thompson, it is always at the back of my mind that she was too old for Elinor and made her look like a spinster as opposed to a unmarried and eligible older sister. This Elinor made me cry and I was very much into her story. Both versions are lovely but this version made me go immediately to IMDB and write this comment. Thank you Andrew Davies.

I have read the book, seen the 1995 movie adaptation, but this series was so beautifully played, the emotion conveyed was so impressive. Don't get me wrong the book is Fantastic, the movie adaptation was lovely! But this series moved me much more in the feelings conveyed by mere expression that made it phenomenal, I loved it!

Perhaps we are getting used to Andrew Davies's adaptations but I think he was below par here, perhaps because of the short duration. This version had what are known as "high production values", ie it looked good and was well-acted. However Jane Austen's dialogue and characterisation really lost out when compressed into three episodes. Andrew Davies would rightly say that 21st century television is a very different medium from an early nineteenth century novel. In its own terms, therefore, as a TV drama it was quite good, as bonnet-fests go. However if you had never read the book, you would have probably thought that much fuss has been made over a fairly uninteresting story. I guess you could compress Sense & Sensibility still further until people would believe that Jane Austen was first published by Mills and Boon.

On the plus side at least they got the characters' ages right. In the 1995 version Emma Thompson was 36 but playing a nineteen year old. However good she was, she was far too old for the part.

This is a good new version. I'm surprised it was made, since the one with Emma Thompson is still quite fresh in people's minds.

However, I think that this one has some better characterisations. Both versions had good Mariannes, but this one is hard to beat. Hatty M. plays Elinor with all the right emotions, but I'm not always sure she is quite in period.

This could partly be Andrew Davies' fault, as he is responsible for some dialogue that surely would never have come from the pen of Jane Austen.

David Morrissey is excellent as usual, as is Dan Stevens (who has the great advantage, in my book, that he is not Hugh Grant. I think he would have been good as Willoughby, who should surely be more handsome than Edward). Dominic Cooper is not good as Willoughby. His looks are wrong, his speech tends towards Estuary English in places and in others he does not speak clearly. I could go on.

Lucy Steele's sister does something close to an impression of Alice in The Vicar of Dibley. Why does she have a non-standard accent, whereas her genteel sister does not?

I should also mention that the settings and overall look of the production were first rate.

I totally disagree with all the negative comments about this film. I mean, it was a little rushed at times, especially at the end. However, all in all it was a great film to watch and you did not feel in any way that Elinor and Marrianne married the wrong men! In the Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant version, I think you get the impression that Elinor should marry Col. Brandon!

The acting was of the high quality you expect from any BBC production and the music was absolutely fantastic. The editing was a little patchy at times, but otherwise sound.

I would absolutely recommend this version to any true Jane Austen fan, it does not disappoint, in fact it leaves you with that same warm fuzzy feeling that each novel and most of the film adaptations always do!

Happy Watching!