I sit here in the thunder, the green on the grey

[sovay]

Me: I should rewatch Sense and Sensibility (1995). It might pair illuminatingly with Persuasion (1995); I haven't seen it in nine years and I've never written about it; I saw it for the first time in 1996 with someone who didn't like it. That was a point in my life when I saw very few movies and did not think critically about them if I did. Those can be interesting to revisit.

*half an hour of movie later*

My critical faculties: FUCK, Alan Rickman is BEAUTIFUL.

Ladies and gentlepeople, that may be the review.

Comments

[sovay]

I preferred the 2008 S&S adaptation to the 1995 one, actually.

May I ask? I've only ever seen the 1995 version.

[movingfinger]

I think the 2008 is on Netflix.


ETA: No, Hulu. Sorry.

[staranise]

The performances feel more authentic to me. For one, the actresses of Marianne and Elinor seem a lot younger and less self-possessed; they're more vulnerable, more obviously teenaged and young-adult. Sir John Middleton isn't just a stupid old man who doesn't know how annoying he is; instead you get the sense that he's fantastic with dogs and babies under five, and those successes sustain him through every subsequent social blunder. Everyone's a lot more nuanced and multilayered. Not to mention, the scenes have additional layers of emotional complexity--Marianne in an upper hallway listening to Elinor send Willoughby away; the sense that Lucy Steele knows how Elinor feels about Edward before imparting her confidences--and some interesting visual metaphors, especially around Marianne.

Comparing the two, all the performances in the 1995 version feel very one-note, and almost caricatures; in 2008, they make sense to me as people.

[sovay]

the sense that Lucy Steele knows how Elinor feels about Edward before imparting her confidences

I got that very strongly from Imogen Stubbs' performance, actually: all wide-eyed shyness and claws out. You can see them every time she takes Elinor's arm, especially in company where Edward might be seen. She's territorial.

Comparing the two, all the performances in the 1995 version feel very one-note, and almost caricatures; in 2008, they make sense to me as people.

Understood. The 1995 characters do not feel like caricatures to me, but this is why there are multiple versions of a story.