Georgia Oakley's Sense and Sensibility: A Keen-Eyed Austen Retelling

Georgia Oakley's new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility opens Friday, October 16, and it confirms the Blue Jean director as a major talent. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles lead as the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, opposite George MacKay, Frank Dillane and Herbert Nordrum.

Any new Austen adaptation invites comparison with Ang Lee's 1995 film, the version that earned Emma Thompson her second Oscar. Oakley doesn't try to reinvent the wheel or subvert the text, and according to The Film Stage's review, that's the right call: her take is "sublime" and "more than justifies returning to the well once more."

There's a lesson in that. For as much as audiences want original stories, there's real pleasure in a solid translation of sturdy material.

How the story is set up

Very little time goes to setup. The credits roll over images of a girl lounging in a field, then we learn the Dashwood patriarch has died. His wife and daughters risk losing their house — and their place in the upper class — to his son John and John's wife Fanny (Stacey Martin), unless Elinor or Marianne marries someone of means.

The reserved Elinor starts a tentative romance with Fanny's brother, Edward Ferrars (MacKay). Marianne, prone to feeling her feelings, quite literally falls for John Willoughby (Dillane). Colonel Brandon (Nordrum), an older, aloof family friend hovering in the background, suggests a more unexpected path for her.

No real surprises follow. Austen built such a sturdy romantic structure that the ending's fakeout can annoy a little. But she was also a writer of wit, and this version, the review notes, embodies that "in spades."

Who delivers?

• Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles are "perfectly matched" as sisters, balancing classic sibling antagonism with heartfelt devotion.
• Caitríona Balfe, as the matriarch, handles the dry wit so associated with Austen.
• Bodhi Rae Breathnach, as youngest daughter Margaret, gets a lot of laughs.
• Fiona Shaw has a good intro as the boorish Mrs. Jennings but "rapidly overstays her welcome."
• George MacKay, with a face built for a period piece, makes a dashing hero; Dillane shows a warmer register alongside a variation of his toxic man from Urchin; Nordrum manages a solid English accent, though his character limits how deep he can burrow.

What makes Oakley's direction the real star?

Arnaud Potier's lush cinematography — which the review says "surely ranks with the year's best" — aids Oakley's fantastic eye. At times the film adopts a roving, handheld Malickian style (Terrence Malick-like natural imagery, complete with voiceover), and does it far better than Hamnet managed with all its time in the natural world.

Indoors, Oakley favors mirrors during conversations, subtly shifting focus between speakers at a dinner. It's only a little showy, but it shows a director with real command of craft stretching herself. The dance sequences, capturing bodies in motion, look especially pleasing.

What does this change for Oakley?

Like Blue Jean, this is finally a story about repression and a woman's place in the world, drawn out deftly during a brisk runtime. For the Dashwoods — downgraded from a nice middle-class house to a shabby cottage — marriage is survival. The sisters must read the whims of courting men not just for love, but to judge whether their intentions are honest.

The review's verdict: this version probably won't supplant your favorite, but it's "an entertaining, well-crafted take that more than stands on its own." It's as much a springboard for everyone involved as it is a delight to watch — and it marks Oakley as a director who can claim outside material without going overboard.