"The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner, as, to, engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance." Thus begins Jane Austen's first novel, Sense And Sensibility, which has been adapted for the screen in so respectable a manner by the actress, Emma Thompson, that it has engaged the general good opinion of the audiences and critics who have made its acquaintance.
The accolades showered upon Thompson's adaptation of Sense And Sensibility - which is directed by the Taiwanese film maker, Ang Lee have included seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, and two to Thompson herself for her performance and her screenplay. That outpouring of praise is fully merited by this graceful and wonderfully entertaining production, which invests the tired genre of British heritage cinema with a keen sense of social observation and a wealth of ironic humour. And while it firmly establishes a precise sense of time and place, it does so discreetly and without ostentation in its use of actors, art direction, locations, costume design and music.
The narrative, for those unfamiliar with Austen's original, follows the reduced circumstances of the Dashwood family after the death of the pateiimillas. The property of Norland Park passes by inheritance to his son by a previous marriage, and Mrs Dashwood (Gemma Jones) and her three daughters are deprived of their home. They are saved from further humiliation by the widow's cousin, Sir John Middleton (Robert Hardy), who offers them a new home, a cottage on his vast Devonshire estate.
However, fate has further blows to inflict on the Dashwood daughters as they learn hard lessons in love in a society obsessed with dowries and social status. Elinor (Emma Thompson), the very proper and self repressed older sister, enjoys an unspoken close understanding with the shy Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant in a slender variation on his Four Weddings And A Funeral character).
And the exuberant Marianne (Kate Winslet), the middle sister, is literally swept off her feet by the dashing John Willoughby (Greg Wise), who rescues her when she stumbles and hurts her ankle in a rainstorm. There is an erotic charge to that memorable first encounter as the handsome young, man feels her feet to check for broken bones. "He lifted me as if I were no more than a dried leaf," she swoons.
Whereas Elinor's problem is one of having too much sense, Marianne suffers from an excess of romantic sensibility; the third sister, the spirited 11 year old Margaret (Emile Francois) is much more interested in playing in her tree house than in all these romantic convolutions. Both older sisters are left lonely, puzzled and broken hearted as first Edward, and then Willoughby, make abrupt, unexplained departures for London, closely followed by the wealthy, middle aged Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman) whose feelings for Marianne are not reciprocated.
A sea of tea, tears and sympathy flows through the consequent scenes as the interlinked fates of all these characters are resolved with solace and sensitivity. Emma Thompson's impeccable adaptation of Jane Austen's story joyously exhibits a felicity for the language of the period and yet subtly emphasises the harsh realities behind the veneer of the society s genteel formalities in language and behaviour.
Initially regarded by some as an unlikely director to bring this quintessentially English tale to the screen, Ang Lee infuses it with the intimacy, warmth and compassion of his earlier movies, The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman, which explored, with wit and insight similarly rigid, society rituals and family relationships among different cultures and in another time period.
This Sense And Sensibility is stamped indelibly by Ang Lee's characteristically restrained direction which is percolated through the work of his consummate cast and crew. Although somewhat older than one might expect Elinor to be, Emma Thompson invests the character with a touching vulnerability, while Kate Winslet, who made such an eye catching debut in Heavenly Creatures last year, perfectly catches the confusions within the idealistically romantic but betrayed Marianne. As the loquacious dowager Mrs Jennings, who invites the Dashwoods to London for the social season, Elizabeth Spriggs is outstanding among the fine supporting cast.
"Madagascar Skin" (members and guests only) IFC, Dublin
At one point in the virtual two hander that is Chris Newby's Madagascar Skin, Harry, the younger of the characters, tells Flint, the other, that he should learn to read, that it exercises the brain. Flint claims that he can spell all the dirty words he knows, to which Harry replies, "That'll help with Jane Austen". Flint replies, "Did her at school - Pride And Produce".
This is one of numerous meaningless exchanges in Newby's rambling and soporific picture of two outsiders unconvincingly drawn together in a remote seaside area. The movie opens in a gay disco and introduces Harry, first in profile from the right and then from the left, to reveal a large birth mark which apparently is a similar shape to the map of Madagascar and the reason for his rejection by other gay men. Deep in despair and heading for the sea to commit suicide, he encounters Flint buried up to his neck in sand as the tide is coming in. The film forges a contrived friendship between the self pitying Harry and the gruff, tattooed kleptomaniac Flint.
Some imaginative and striking use of lighting sparks the only hint of interest in Madagascar Skin, which proceeds at a funereal pace and has such a self conscious sense of art direction that every prop on display registers as nothing other than a prop. The trite dialogue defeats the most valiant attempts of the two principal actors - Bernard Hill as Flint and John Hannah as Harry.
