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Sense and Sensibility

  • 1995
  • PG
  • 2h 16m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
132K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
946
37
Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Watch Trailer [EN
Play trailer2:09
3 Videos
99+ Photos
Costume DramaPeriod DramaRomantic ComedyDramaRomance

Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The older two daughters are the title opposites.Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The older two daughters are the title opposites.Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The older two daughters are the title opposites.

  • Director
    • Ang Lee
  • Writers
    • Jane Austen
    • Emma Thompson
  • Stars
    • Emma Thompson
    • Kate Winslet
    • James Fleet
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    132K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    946
    37
    • Director
      • Ang Lee
    • Writers
      • Jane Austen
      • Emma Thompson
    • Stars
      • Emma Thompson
      • Kate Winslet
      • James Fleet
    • 312User reviews
    • 66Critic reviews
    • 84Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 33 wins & 50 nominations total

    Videos3

    Trailer [EN
    Trailer 2:09
    Trailer [EN
    Sense and Sensibility
    Trailer 1:59
    Sense and Sensibility
    Sense and Sensibility
    Trailer 1:59
    Sense and Sensibility
    'Sense and Sensibility' | Anniversary Mashup
    Clip 1:29
    'Sense and Sensibility' | Anniversary Mashup

    Photos106

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    + 100
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    Top cast27

    Edit
    Emma Thompson
    Emma Thompson
    • Elinor Dashwood
    Kate Winslet
    Kate Winslet
    • Marianne Dashwood
    James Fleet
    James Fleet
    • John Dashwood
    Tom Wilkinson
    Tom Wilkinson
    • Mr. Dashwood
    Harriet Walter
    Harriet Walter
    • Fanny Dashwood
    Gemma Jones
    Gemma Jones
    • Mrs. Dashwood
    Hugh Grant
    Hugh Grant
    • Edward Ferrars
    Myriam Emilie Francois
    • Margaret Dashwood
    • (as Emilie François)
    Elizabeth Spriggs
    Elizabeth Spriggs
    • Mrs. Jennings
    Robert Hardy
    Robert Hardy
    • Sir John Middleton
    Ian Brimble
    Ian Brimble
    • Thomas
    Isabelle Amyes
    • Betsy
    Alan Rickman
    Alan Rickman
    • Colonel Brandon
    Greg Wise
    Greg Wise
    • John Willoughby
    Alexander John
    Alexander John
    • Curate
    Imelda Staunton
    Imelda Staunton
    • Charlotte Palmer
    Imogen Stubbs
    Imogen Stubbs
    • Lucy Steele
    Hugh Laurie
    Hugh Laurie
    • Mr. Palmer
    • Director
      • Ang Lee
    • Writers
      • Jane Austen
      • Emma Thompson
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews312

    7.7131.5K
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    Featured reviews

    jitkapw

    I saw it four times in two days

    After seeing Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth I wouldn't expect myself to like another JA adaptation so much, but I confess I did. P&P stays my favourite but S&S is very close.

    I can't agree with some of the comments that Hugh Grant wasn't proper for Edward Ferrars. Yes, maybe his age didn't match Emma Thompson's exactly but I think he acted wonderfully. His speech especially and stiff walk. I loved the scenes at the beginning where he made friends with Margaret Dashwood and played with her. It was so sweet.

    My favourite, however, was definitely Colonel Brandon! I think Alan Rickman was just perfect for that role. I've seen him only as professor Snape in the first Harry Potter film, so I can't compare very much but I would say he is a great actor. I love his voice (especially when he says "What can I do? Give me some occupation, Miss Dashwood, or I shall run mad.), love his intonation and how he cares for Marianne so tenderly and patiently even though she turns her back on him. You can see the suffering in his eyes!

    I first read the book and didn't like it much but after seeing the film I'll reread it. I highly recommend JAusten's books to anyone who hasn't read them yet and likes JA's adaptations.
    8kosmasp

    Period drama

    I haven't read the book (yet), but concerning the film as it is, I can assure you that it is very well made. You'll get one of the best period dramas (I wouldn't go all the way with "best ever", but then again, I don't often use extremes to describe a movies) that you have seen!

    Of course you have to be open to this kind of movie. Meaning, that if you're more likely to watch Bruce Willis in Die Hard or can't wait for the next Steven Seagal movie, this might not be your cup of tea! There is a strong possibility that you won't like (to watch) this movie at all.

    So if you have seen period dramas and like them, than watch this one too, if you haven't watched one yet, than this can be a perfect movie to start with (although some might say, it's downhills after that ;o) )
    10pma97dr-2

    Very good adaptation.

    This is one of the best of the recent Jane Austen films, from one of her weaker books. Emma Thompson has done a fine job of the script, not slavishly remaining faithful to the book but not abandoning it either.

    The cast are uniformally excellent. I especially liked Kate Winslet's Marianne and Alan Rickman's Brandon. Emma Thompson's performance is almost good enough to make you forget that she is far to old for the part. The supporting cast are all excellent.

    Ang Lee's direction shows the same skill that it did in the excellent Eat Drink Man Woman and the scenery and costumes are beautiful (perhaps too beautiful).

    This is more romantic and less comic than say Emma, and Thompson's script wisely stays away from the kind of set-piece gags seen in the recent film of Emma. All in all, this is excellent.
    10Hermit C-2

    A classic for all time.

    Whoever says they just don't make the quality of pictures today that they used to hasn't seen or is ignoring this film.

    That Emma Thompson is one of the greatest actresses working is no secret. But who would have expected such a miracle from her in the screenwriting department? Some of the most dramatic moments in 'Sense and Sensibility' come from her pen, not Jane Austen's, difficult as that may be to believe. For instance, the scene in which Col. Brandon (Alan Rickman) carries in the ill Marianne Dashwood (Kate Winslet), echoing the earlier scene where Willoughby (Greg Wise) brought the injured young woman home was Thompson's doing. Marianne's illness also is responsible for much more drama in the movie than in the book. And I'm an Austen fan! I can't recall another writer bringing so much good of his or her own to a classic like this.

    I suppose the director, cinematographer, production designer, etc. deserve to share the credit when a movie is this outstanding, but with such a super group of actors on the screen (from top to bottom) it's easy to heap all the praise on them. I had unconsciously (and unfairly) pigeonholed Alan Rickman based on the other role I'd seen him in, the villain in 'Die Hard,' so he was quite a surprise to me. The real bombshell, however, was my first exposure to Kate Winslet. After seeing this movie and Kenneth Branagh's 'Hamlet' I can say I can't remember another young actress who has impressed me so much. And she played these difficult roles by the time she was 20! Many of the other cast members are a part of an excellent group that Thompson and Branagh have often worked with in the past.

    I realized that 'S&S' had become one of my all-time favorite movies when I found myself watching it every chance I got when it came on TV. I think it's bumped 'Raging Bull' off my personal top 10 list.
    8ElMaruecan82

    In the Name of Love, Marriage and Conveniences...

    If it wasn't for Jane Austen's novels and their screen-adaptation, we wouldn't be much familiar with the English gallantry and the bourgeois manners of the early 19th century. Her oeuvre encapsulated a time where women didn't have a way to go through life without landing on the "marriage" square, hardly an issue to please feminists but who would call Austen traditional or submissive for all that? She respected the conventions but made powerful social commentaries in the indirect sense that her female protagonists never married someone they didn't love. Marriage was the end, but love was the means to achieve it, while marriage of convenience was the privilege of the mediocre ones.

    Now, there is an interesting point of comparison between her two most celebrated novels: "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice". "Sense" was Austen's first success, written at a very young age, yet it deals with characters evolving in the realm of adulthood, while in "Pride", written by an older Austen, the heroines are the Bennett Sisters who aren't older than twenty. It is just like Austen was a painter who had to go to the top of the mountain to have a clear view on a plain after having painted the mountain from the plain. With enough experience and wisdom, she was able to make a brighter portrait of a young generation who get the man through their actions. In "Sense", the Dashwood sisters are fully-dimensional characters, Elinor (Emma Thompson) is reserved and introverted while Marianne (Kate Winslet) is romantic and flamboyant, they're more mature than the Bennetts sisters, but at the expense of their reactivity.

    In "Pride", luck and men's valiance were not elements to count on, and many round trips allowed the heroine to confront her suitor. It is possible that "Pride" was a bit too modern while "Sense" was more obedient to the perception of women's role at the time (rather static), but the directing by Ang Lee and the screenplay worked in such a way that the quest for marriage isn't actually the most interesting part of the film. And while I don't think I give away the ending by saying that each one will find the true love, it's obviously not the point of suspense; the real question is how these people interact. And just like your typical Austen's stories, there's a good deal of passions and deception, or romantic studs popping up at the right moment and forcing the women to all align in the house to promptly welcome their host. Some are dark and brooding (Alan Rickman) other shy and amiable (Hugh Grant) and a few too perfect to be true (Greg Wise) but they all have one thing in common, they're conveniently called to office in London whenever marriage seems too close, a snobby bitch or karma playing the same game postponing the overdue rendezvous with destiny.

    But as predictable as these films are, their quality is elsewhere, starting with the acting. Literary movies have this quality that the abundance of words and plots can sometimes distract from simpler moments that actually elevate them more than any monologue or speech. This moment occurs when Edward (Grant), is ready to confess something to Elinor. They have spent enough time together to grow a deep feeling. He's about to say something about his… you expect the word "feeling", he says "education", and you can see something click in the blink of an eye in Thompson's face, 'devastation' as it would really show in a woman who learned to hide her feelings. There's no doubt that Emma Thompson is one of the greatest actress of her generation. On the other hand, Marianne will also face abandon and the reaction will fit her passionate personality. While, the plot in itself can be summed up by women waiting for the right men to come, so (God forbid), they don't end up as bitter spinster, there is more to enjoy, the text and more importantly, the subtext.

    And on that level, Jane Austen's stories are exhilarating hymns for eloquence and literacy, whether when the characters write intimate correspondences, share their personal thoughts with their friends or relatives or try to convey a strong message by still respecting the conveniences, I just can't resist by the way Shakespeare's language is being honored. You finish the film and you just want to express your feelings with the same economy of obviousness or flamed passion when called for, and a similar urge generally invade me when I finish the Ivory and Merchant movies. There is something just irresistible in these British heritage films, they make you realize how close we still are to these times by the scale of history, but light-years ahead as far as mediocrity and plainness is concerned.And it's a credit to Austen's writing and Thompsons's rewriting (earning her an Oscar) to have translated the story in a tone that wouldn't make feminists' neck hair stand up and wouldn't portray men as misogynistic pigs.

    The film says something important: the strength of your character doesn't depend on what he or she accomplishes but how it can strongly affect your own feeling or how can they resist the cruelties of life without necessarily triumphing over them. All through the film, I was totally rooting for Marianne, Elinor, their mother (Gemma Jones) and the way they endorsed or rebelled against conventions at crucial times where simpler things were complicatedly expressed. Indeed, everything that happened is due to something said, a promise or a misunderstanding. It's all in the way words are used, misused or distorted and that's one of the many delights in this lavish movie.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Director Ang Lee originally was considering Kate Winslet only for the smaller part of Lucy Steele, even though she really wanted to play Marianne. When Winslet arrived at her audition, she pretended that her agent had sent her to read for Marianne, and her reading won her the role.
    • Goofs
      Marianne plays three different contemporary keyboard instruments, but each sounds like a modern grand piano.
    • Quotes

      Edward Ferrars: I-I've come here with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is, and always will be, yours.

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Nixon/Jumanji/Heat/Mr. Holland's Opus/Sense and Sensibility/Othello (1995)
    • Soundtracks
      Weep You No More Sad Fountains
      Music by Patrick Doyle

      text anonymous

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    FAQ21

    • How long is Sense and Sensibility?Powered by Alexa
    • How does it end?

    Details

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    • Release date
      • January 26, 1996 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Sensatez y sentimientos
    • Filming locations
      • Efford House, Milford Road, Plymouth, Devon, England, UK(Barton cottage)
    • Production companies
      • Columbia Pictures
      • Mirage Enterprises
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $16,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $43,182,776
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $721,341
      • Dec 17, 1995
    • Gross worldwide
      • $134,582,776
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 16 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
      • Dolby Digital
      • Dolby Atmos
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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