Book & Movie Comparison by Alicia
Jane Austen: Sense & Sensibility

Jane Austen. I’m sure that there are quite a few of you reading this who are Jane Austen fans; I’m not an avid one, although I enjoy her work. But for those of you who have heard her name or her books mentioned many times (Emma, Pride & Prejudice, etc.) but have never actually read her for yourself, to you I dedicate this review. And I would encourage you to read Ms. Austen’s novels and perhaps watch the movies based on the stories and decide for yourself if you can consider yourself a “Jane Austen fan”.


I had seen the movie based on this Austen book, and being a person who likes to read the book and compare the movie to the original work, I borrowed “Sense & Sensibility” from the library. Some of you may have seen the 1995 version of this book, with Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, and Kate Winslet. It was rated PG for Adult Content. I wanted to see it for the sole reason that it was one of the favorite movies of a friend, or, rather, pen-pal, of mine. So when it was on TV late one night I decided to tape it. We have a Satellite Dish and have programmed our TV system to “lock out” any movies with “Nudity” or “Sexual Content” as well as any movies under the rating “PG” (which would be “PG-13” and “R”), and I was surprised to find that “Sense & Sensibility” was locked out for “SC” (“Sexual Content”). Of course, I knew that the ratings Hollywood slaps on things nowadays aren’t the most accurate and reliable, and trusting my friend’s judgment I went ahead and recorded the movie. I watched it a few days later, and, I can understand where they found the Adult, or Sexual, Content. It was in very mild form; back in the days of this story, the 1800s, any thing of a scandal was hush-hush and usually very delicately avoided. And in this movie, they did refrain from going into great detail of the affair, but of course it could not be left out, because it is a very important part of the story! The scandal I speak of, of course, was the sordid past of one of the supporting characters in the story. Parts of it were carefully and gently related by a rather embarrassed friend of Marianne and Eleanor (the 2 sisters the novel is about). The movie is interesting, and not a bad retelling of the book, although it won’t be one of my favorites... but, the book wasn’t one of my absolute favorites, either. The most surprising part of the movie, perhaps, was that Kate Winslet is one of the stars in the movie (she plays Marianne). Kate Winslet, who is currently best known for her part opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in “Titanic”. I think I can assure you that her part in this movie is quite different from that one! The book is, of course, a classic. It wasn’t hard for me to read --it rolled along smoothly and the “action” (in quotation marks because Jane Austen’s style of writing takes all new developments -surprising though they may be- in a very calm fashion) kept me quite interested (even though I knew how it turned out!). I think my favorite part of the book was the same as in the movie: when Eleanor’s calm facade and proper coolness was shattered upon her discovery that the man she loved had not married, after all. But I won’t tell you any more about that; you’ll have to find out for yourself! The book turns out happily and justly, I think, for everyone concerned. Jane Austen truly is a skilled author! I’ve seen a movie based on another of her books, “Pride & Prejudice”, that I loved, and hope to get the book to read of that one, as well, but I’ll have to read something that I haven’t seen a movie based on soon! In conclusion, I can only say that whether you’re classic-minded or not (I believe a few classics are worth reading to anybody) you ought to try out Jane Austen’s novels. She doesn’t talk like Shakespeare, and I bet you will understand and like her very much!

Another Sense & Sensibility book/movie review: by Annick (outside link)


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