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REVIEW: Sense & Sensibility is a ‘damp interpretation’ of Jane Austen’s debut novel

Critic Chad Armstrong unpacks how the latest adaptation of the enduring tale stacks up.
Chad Armstrong
Promotional graphic for The WHO Review with Chad Armstrong, featuring a scene from a period drama. On the left, a young woman wearing a blue-grey bonnet, pale dress and dark green coat walks beside a smiling man dressed in a green Regency-era suit. In the foreground, a bearded man wearing a wide-brimmed brown hat and charcoal coat stands beside a black horse, holding its reins. The scene is set against a soft pink sky. An orange banner runs along the bottom, featuring the title ‘The WHO Review with Chad Armstrong’ in large white lettering, a film reel graphic and a photograph of Chad Armstrong wearing glasses.
Sense and Sensibilty. Image: Universal Pictures

To misquote Sense & Sensibility’s better-known sibling: it is a truth universally acknowledged that a British film studio in possession of a balance sheet must be in want of a Jane Austen adaptation.

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Here, then, is a new version of Austen’s debut novel.

It’s genuinely shocking that more than thirty years have passed since Emma Thompson wrote and starred in the Oscar-winning film, and that, TV versions aside, the film world has all but ignored the book. That ends with this rather damp interpretation, which lives up to its title by stripping out romantic notions in favour of a mainly sober affair.

A scene from a period drama featuring two young women in an elegantly furnished room, leaning over an open wooden chest while examining books. The woman on the left has long, wavy brown hair and wears a cream blouse with rolled-up sleeves and a striped skirt. She holds an open book and looks towards her companion. The woman on the right has dark brown hair styled half-up and wears a pale grey dress with delicate detailing around the neckline. She holds a brown hardcover book and points towards something inside the chest. Behind them, a large multi-paned window framed by heavy cream curtains lets in soft natural light. Antique furnishings, decorative artwork and warm, muted tones create an intimate, historical atmosphere.
The film leans into very bleak tones. Credit: Universal Pictures

A grey and grubby affair

Daisy Edgar-Jones is our new Elinor Dashwood, the composed centre of the emotional turmoil around her. With the family facing eviction after their father’s death, the Dashwood daughters need good marriages to save them. Younger sister Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles), all passion and fire, throws herself at the greasy Mr Willoughby (Frank Dillane), while Elinor’s modest affections are left dangling by George MacKay’s painfully noble Edward Ferrars.

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Director Georgia Oakley keeps things naturalistic, by which I mean grey and grubby. Barely a beam of sunshine breaks through the clouds. She saves the cinematic grandeur for the ballroom scenes, which inject colour and movement into otherwise drab lives. Choreographer Holly Blakey goes to town with dance sequences that push beyond the usual bounds of classical dance. The film needs them.

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A passing grade

Apart from two abruptly loud turns from British legend Fiona Shaw as Mrs Jennings and Turlough Convery as Sir John Middleton, everyone plays it predictably straight. Where the acclaimed 1995 adaptation perfectly captured the pain of Elinor’s longing, Oakley’s version can’t quite illustrate her interior turmoil as well. Edgar-Jones and MacKay make sweet, puppy-dog-eyed lovers but can barely muster a spark of cinematic passion.

A romantic scene from a period drama showing a young couple walking together through a sprawling meadow of tall, golden grass. The woman wears a pale lavender-grey dress, a dark green coat and a blue-grey bonnet tied beneath her chin. She gathers the fabric of her long skirt in her hands while smiling up at the man beside her. He wears a sage-green Regency-era suit with a black waistcoat, high-collared shirt and tall black boots, carrying a black top hat in one hand. The pair exchange affectionate smiles as they stroll through the countryside, surrounded by lush green trees beneath an overcast sky.
Lukewarm lovers…. Credit: Universal Pictures
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Among the other 2020s Austen adaptations, it earns a passing grade: not as fun as Anya Taylor-Joy’s Emma (2020), but infinitely more enjoyable than Dakota Johnson’s Persuasion (2022). More are on the way, with Netflix’s Pride & Prejudice, starring Emma Corrin, due in December.

Till then, Sense & Sensibility will scratch the Austen devotees’ itch for well-mannered matchmaking.

Read more of Chad Armstrong’s reviews here and follow him on social here.

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Chad Armstrong
Chad Armstrong Arts Critic

  Chad Armstrong is a TV maker and cultural critic with a passion for film, live theatre, travel and culture. He is the founder of The Cultural Binge and has contributed to international publications such as The Queer Review.

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