Sense and Sensibility 1995

Emma Thompson is a goddess.  I just want to put that out there as a fact, as irrefutable as the earth being round.  Her version of S&S from 1995 will be watched 100 years from now.  It just will. This film is one which I pop in to the DVD player when I feel like I need a good cry.  As I am typing this the music of Marianne at the piano playing her melancholy tunes instantly pops into my head.
 

 I am afraid of going on for fear of gushing here.  Of course, the main reason for the success of this film is Emma Thompson’s script (and she truly channeled Jane Austen for this) and her vision for the film.  Ang Lee as director gave the beauty of the locations and the talent of the actors the ability to shine here. Yes, there are small annoyances like Hugh Grant’s stiff neck substituting for real acting.  But Sir John and Mrs. Jennings are hilarious, John and Fanny Dashwood in the scene where she talks him out of giving the girls any of the inheritance is just as Jane Austen would have wanted it done.  The three sisters and their grieving mother draw you into their world.  Alan Rickman is wonderful as Brandon with his silky voice and sad eyes.  And Greg Wise is so dashing as Willoughby that Emma Thompson just had to marry him 8 years later, the lucky girl.  She deserves him.

 Music....perfection.  Beautiful scenery and locations....check. Top notch acting.... all there.  Very little to gripe about here other than the fact that it was only 136 minutes long and that she has not adapted any other Jane Austen novel or any period drama for that matter.  Nanny McPhee is cute, but we need your Cambridge trained brain working on other pieces for us Emma.  We love you. Actually, I just looked on IMDb and she is apparently the writer of the screenplay for My Fair Lady 2012.  I wait with bated breath.

One more note for anyone who loved this film.  You can purchase the screenplay (mildly interesting) which also includes her diary from the making of the film (hilarious and incredibly interesting). 

And now, I must also request some more non fiction writing from Ms. Thompson as her wit is too good to keep to herself.