Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (August 25, 2022)
Filmmaker Ang Lee began his career in his native Taiwan, and 1994’s Eat Drink Man Woman brought him success that spanned continents. This led him to direct his first English-language effort, 1995’s Sense and Sensibility.
An adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1811 novel, we meet the Dashwood family. When wealthy Mr. Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) passes away, the laws of inheritance stipulate that his estate goes to his male heir, John Dashwood (James Fleet).
This leaves his widow (Gemma Jones) and daughters Elinor (Emma Thompson), Marianne (Kate Winslet) and Margaret (Emilie François) high and dry. They get an allowance of a mere 500 pounds a year combined on which to live.
Down to earth Elinor and impulsive Marianne usually veer in opposite directions. As both attempt to cope with their new circumstances, they embark on romances that spotlight their differing personalities.
Like most American males, I never read Austen’s novels, and my exposure to adaptations of her work remains limited. I saw 2005’s Pride & Prejudice as my first exposure back in 2006.
From there, I watched the 1995 Pride as well as 2020’s Emma, though I’d also seen 1995’s Clueless, a loose take on Emma. Oh, and I’d also checked out Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I guess counts.
Despite my general disenchantment with “chick flicks”, I largely enjoyed these efforts. The 2005 Pride offered a pleasant surprise, and Clueless always delivered an amusing update. Emma was also an engaging effort.
The 1995 Pride didn’t dazzle me, but it became a more than competent adaptation. Only the messy Zombies turned into a fairly weak presentation.
Given that I’ve largely liked my experiences with Austen-related films, I went into Sense with moderate expectations. Because the genre still doesn’t elate me, I didn’t assume that I’d love it, but I figured I’d enjoy it.
The presence of so much notable talent added to these hopes. Thompson won an Oscar for her screenplay, and the film nabbed six additional Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
With an impressive cast, expectations rose greater. In addition to Thompson, Winslet and Wilkinson, we find talents like Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Imelda Staunton, Hugh Laurie and others. How could a project with such a strong pedigree go wrong?
In truth, I can’t claim anything actually “goes wrong” with Sense. Nonetheless, I admit the end result largely leaves me cold, as the story and characters never do much to engage me.
Put simply, neither Elinor nor Marianne turn into compelling personalities. Whereas the story sets up the two as opposites, they rarely come across as especially different, and the movie fails to find much in terms of their personalities that means we connect with them.
The leads of Sense mainly come across as the sorts of intelligent women who bristle at the restrictions of their era that we expect from Austen. Of course, even with those vibes, both still mainly concentrate on romantic prospects, but nonetheless, the roles give off the proto-feminist feel we anticipate.
They just never seem particularly interesting. We follow Elinor and Marianne as they plod through various prospective partners but not much of this makes a real impact.
Do I ever feel like I care what happens to Marianne and/or Elinor? Not really. They seem like good people but the film can’t imbue them with enough true personality to ensure that their fates matter to us.
It doesn’t help that Thompson was far too old for the part. When I went into the movie, I assumed she played the mother, not one of the daughters.
36 years old during the production, Thompson was closer in age to 47-year-old Wilkinson than to 19-year-old Winslet or 12-year-old François. The film asks us to swallow Thompson as the sister of these two, and that becomes a bridge too far.
Austen wrote Elinor as 19 in her novel. What in the world inspired Thompson to play a role barely half her age?
I don’t know, and while she offers a perfectly solid performance, her utter inability to seem age-appropriate becomes a major issue here. We never remotely view Elinor as anything other than a middle-aged woman, and this disconnect turns into an avoidable distraction.
Even without that, I just find Sense to offer a dull tale. As noted, the characters never do much to engage me, and given that the “plot” revolves entirely around their paths, this becomes a problem.
I can find no fault with the production in general, as everything here seems well-executed and professional. As noted, we find an excellent cast, and the crew behind the camera ensures we get a film with solid construction.
I just can’t get beyond my general boredom with the final result. As much as I feel I should embrace this project, Sense just leaves me cold.
