Synopsis
The Dashwood sisters, sensible Elinor and passionate Marianne, whose chances at marriage seem doomed by their family's sudden loss of fortune. When Henry Dashwood dies unexpectedly, his estate must pass on by law to his son from his first marriage, John and wife Fanny. But these circumstances leave Mr. Dashwood's current wife, and daughters Elinor, Marianne and Margaret, without a home and with barely enough money to live on. As Elinor and Marianne struggle to find romantic fulfillment in a society obsessed with financial and social status, they must learn to mix sense with sensibility in their dealings with both money and men.
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Cast
- Emma ThompsonElinor Dashwood
- Kate WinsletMarianne Dashwood
- Alan RickmanColonel Christopher Brandon
- Hugh GrantEdward Ferrars
- Gemma JonesMrs. Dashwood
- Greg WiseJohn Willoughby
- Elizabeth SpriggsMrs. Jennings
- Imogen StubbsLucy Steele
- Harriet WalterFanny Ferrars Dashwood
- James FleetJohn Dashwood
Recommendations
- 100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Poised, delicate, powerful, hovering between poignancy and pealing laughter, it is a feast formed by skill and serendipity. - 100
Time
[It presents] us with a vast range of richly developed, gorgeously played characters ... and mov[es] them gracefully through time and a lot of very pretty spaces without ever losing its conviction, its concentration or our bedazzled attention. [18 Dec 1995] - 90
Variety
Crucially for such an elaborately dressed production, the characters all come thoroughly alive with their ready wits and pulsing emotions, overcoming the two-century gap with seeming effortlessness. - 90
The New York Times
Grandly entertaining...matches the Austen-based "Clueless" for sheer run. [13 Dec 1995] - 88
USA Today
Thompson has had the good sense and sensitivity to get Austen right, while letting Winslet steal the show. - 83
Entertainment Weekly
Ang Lee's film of the Jane Austen novel slavishly follows the gospel according to Merchant Ivory, swooning over characters declaiming modestly while surrounded by topiary. - 80
Washington Post
Lee, who made the upbeat "Eat Drink Man Woman," plays this double love story as brightly as possible. There's peppy social satire in the smallest of gestures. - 78
Austin Chronicle
An absorbing, delightful, and nuanced movie with laugh-out-loud humor, and though it often plays events broadly where you might have preferred subtlety, it's not a movie that could have settled for muffled silence.
