Guest Review of Sense & Sensibility Plus a Contest to Win Jane Austen Books and a DVD!

Masterpiece's Complete Jane Austen concluded tonight with the wonderful adaptation of Sense & Sensibility. Here is a review of the film from Jill Pitkeathley, author of the forthcoming novel about Austen and her sister, Cassandra and Jane. Read her review of Emma here.

After the review, check out my Jane Austen contest!

Making a seduction scene the introduction to an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel is a bold step and one for which Andrew Davies has been much criticised. Yet the ruin of Colonel Brandon's ward by Willoughby is central to the plot of Sense & Sensibility, so illustrating how the poor young girl was deceived and abandoned by him is surely not a distortion of what Jane Austen wanted her readers to understand. Indeed, though she lived and died a virgin, Jane was by no means ignorant of both the fact and the effect of sex outside marriage. She lived, after all, in the robust days of the Regency and before the times of Queen Victoria when young ladies were not expected to know about such things. Jane was quite well aware of what loss of virtue in a woman meant and seduction features in Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park as well as in Sense and Sensibility.

S&S as she called it, was the first of Jane's books to be published, after Pride and Prejudice had been rejected by one publisher by return of post! It was written at the end of the 18th centurty and first took the 'epistolary' form as a series of letters between the two main characters. She was writing it perhaps when she herself had a brief romance with Tom LeFroy, a young Irishman whom she met when he was over from Ireland visiting his relatives. She may have been in love with him but his family was poor and they both knew he would be obliged to marry well--an alliance with the daughter of a poor clergyman was out of the question as Jane would have well understood. Perhaps Elinor and Marianne represent the two sides of Jane's character--Marianne the romantic and headstrong, Elinor the practical and reserved. Jane later spent a good deal of time revising the manuscript into the narrative form we know now so that it is unclear which parts were written by a 22-year-old Jane and which by the woman of 36 as she was when it was eventually published in 1811. Of course her identity was not then known at all -- it was attributed only to 'A Lady.'

Although much of the book was probably written when Jane was in her early twenties, it shows all the maturity of form and characterisation that we expct hof her novels. She allows the characters to develop and our opinions of them to change as the story unfolds. Mrs. Jennings is at first ridiculous and heartless in her teasing of the sisters but shows real sympathy and warmth during Marianne's illness. The growth of Marianne's respect and love for the Colonel is shown clearly as the story progresses and perhaps comes from the understanding of Jane herself that a man of six and thirty can still be an acceptable lover, even if he does need a flannel waistcoat!

Mrs. John Dashwood is an odious character with a grasping and callous nature which enables her to persuade her husband from his original idea of giving his half sisters one thousand pounds apiece to merely making them a present of fish and game in season--and still is able to think himself generous.

Mrs. Dashwood, the mother, is very like Marianne--driven by her emotions, and so easily overlooks the needs of her elder daughter in her absorption with Marianne and Willoughby, by whom she is also taken in. But Elinor is perhaps not a very appealing character--to judgmental and critcial to elicit our sympathy, somehow she shows perhaps a little too MUCH sense. It makes her rather dull and I sometimes think that in that respect, she and Edward are very well suited to each other!

If I have one reservation about Andrew Davies' adaptation which in all other respects I loved, it is the portrayal of Willoughby. To my mind he is not sufficiently handsome and nowhere near aristocrative enough. The meeting of Willoughby and Marianne on that rain swept hillside is the most dramatic and romantic in all Jane Austen's works and he needs to be the most dramatic and romantic person to match the occasion--the sort of whom Marianne dreams. He is a scoundrel--we suspect from the beginning, but we need to see how he can sweep a girl off her feet figuratively as well as literally!

Many a young woman identified with Marianne when S&S first came out--including the heiress to the Throne, Princess Charlotte, who remarked that 'me and Marianne are very much alike.' Sadly, unlike Marianne who survives her putrid fever to make a wise and sensible marriage, Princess Charlotte was destined to die giving birth to a still born son, leaving the throne of England to Queen Victoria though Jane Austen did not live to see this as she herself died in 1817 at the early age of 41.
--Jill Pitkeathly, author of Cassandra and Jane, coming in September 2008

As you all know, I added a poll to the blog where we can all vote for our favorite adaptation. But I want to know why you picked the one you did -- so I'm running a contest.

Tell me in the comments which adaptation was your favorite and why, and you'll be entered into a random drawing to win a collection of Austen inspired novels including Darcy's Story, an advance reader's edition of Cassandra & Jane, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Lost in Austen and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen as well as the DVD of the most popular adaptation, as chosen by all of you! The contest will end and polls will close next Monday April 14th.

Comments

[Lois]

Well, number one favorite is always 95P&P. Even without the lake scene. LOL But as for the others. . .

my favorite Emma is the one with Jeremy Northam. . . S&S I still have to go with the Emma Thompson one, though I also loved the new one. . . Persuasion and Mansfield Park, the newer ones. . . and Northanger Abbey I only saw the newest, and liked it quite well. :)

Lois

[Andrea]

I think my favorite adaptation of the Jane Austen series has to be the new Sense and Sensibility. The storyline of Edward and Elinor completely swept me off my sweeps. It was beautifully made and just riveting.

A close second is Northanger Abbey. Well cast, beautiful story, just fantastic as well.

[Marybeth]

All-time favorite Austen adaptation is "Persuasion" '95 with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. It's nearly flawless, and I can honestly say each time I watch it I notice something new. Of the recent crop though, I was positively blown away by the new "Sense and Sensibility." A few minor quibbles aside, the setting, the actors, everything made it an absolute delight.

[Felicia]

Pride and Prejudice (95) is and will probably always be my very favorite. It was my first Jane Austen novel and brought me to know and love all over her novels. However, as far as the new adaptations go, I really enjoyed the Northanger Abbey. It gave me a new outlook on the novel is now my third favorite JA adaptation. (P&P95, Persuasion95 and Northanger Abbey07)

[Kate]

Of the new Masterpiece versions, Northanger Abbey was my definite favorite. Because the novel is so dependent on your knowledge of What Jane Is Satirizing, I had never seen an adaptation that included so many jokes! (Especially Henry's smarmy little smile when telling her "all it remains is for me to smile, and...") I love that Catherine was not stupid, not even ridiculously naive, but smart and a bit in love with gothic romance. And the film made it so clear she is a reader, which is lovely!

P&P is marvelous, of course, but the new NA is almost impossibly good for a 90-minute adaptation.

[AndreaW]

I love both versions of P&P, Emma (with Jeremy Northam) and both versions of S&S. I really enjoyed the new adaptation of Northanger Abbey! It was SO much better!

[Laura]

I have always loved P&P 95 with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle - it's so well done, it is faithful to the book yet there is still room for interpretation and an extra scene here and there. The acting and casting was also fabulous! AND the costumes were historically accurate!

Though S&S 2008 was also quite amazing...good casting (except for Willoughby), and historically accurate costumes, and good music...

I can't choose between the 2, but I've loved P&P for much, much longer. That book was what got me hooked on Jane Austen.

[Maria]

P&P has always been my favorite. It was the first one after all when I was 12, but during the adaptations, I really liked NA. Never thought it would be like that

[limecello]

Ooo - I've been recording Masterpiece Theater since they started the series on Jane Austen, but I haven't had the chance to watch any of them yet... one of my favorite adaptions is Emma with Gwenyth Paltrow. I absolutely love Jane Austen, and actually wrote my senior thesis on Mansfield Park :)

[Beverley]

I absolutely think that A&E's P&P is the best adaptation and I don't think they will ever make anything better. And I am so grateful to PBS for doing this because this January I discovered Jane Austin!

[Bee]

My favourite is probably Pride and Prejudice. Like the other people in the comments I think it was casted really well.

[BLM]

Colin Firth's Darcy is iconic and can't ever be topped, althought the 2005 remake of P&P had Matthew McFayden as Darcy, who was great. But then the new remake of Sense & Sensibility has Dominic Cooper as Willoughby, who is one of the original HISTORY BOYS. Go check that out now. You'll be glad I sent you there.

[Julie E.]

I liked all the PBS adaptations, but when making my decision about my favorite, I (like some of you) decided to only choose between the new (to U.S. viewers, anyway) adaptations. That excluded P&P and Emma. Much as I liked Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility, I chose Persuasion as my favorite, not only because the story is good, but also because, um, Rupert Penry-Jones is so unbelievably hot. Sorry for my shallowness. :)

[Hope]

My favorite is the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. The actors were excellent--especially Jennifer Ehle. Also, the fact that it is a mini-series rather than a 2-hour film allows time to fully develop the story without being rushed.

[Heather J.]

My favorite of all the Masterpiece Classic Jane Austen Season adaptations is "Pride and Prejudice." I've seen it so many times, it's what I watch when I'm stuck in bed with the flu or want to spend an enjoyable afternoon. I just love it. Of the new adaptions, I would say "Northanger Abbey." That Henry - what a guy!!!

[Jillian]

My favorite of the adaptations is Northanger Abbey, though Sense & Sensibility is a close second. I loved the daydream scenes from Catherine's overactive imagination. And, of course, I had no problem with the scenes that featured Henry. : )

[Fedora]

I'm going with Pride and Prejudice as well--I've an admittedly shallow fondness for Colin Firth. Plus that book was a favorite and the adaptation quite nicely done :)

[Dina]

I loved Pride & Prejudice, but my favorite one was with Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy. I thought Colin Firth's version was good too, but Matthew won me over.

[Lisa]

I loved Mansfield Park, especially Fanny, Edmund and Henry. I enjoyed reading this book and seeing it on screen was just as good as reading the book! Pride and Prejudice is my next favorite based on many of the comments above.

[tabitha]

i loved Pride and Prejudice it was the very first book of hers that i read and i also enjoyed the movies . the movie on pbs is the best that i have seen so far!