|
|
Rating:  - Great Version!
This new version of Sense and Sensibility was very well done. I especially enjoyed the actress who played Elinor. I think she captures the character really well.
Overall I thought the director made good choices on how to piece it together and what to include. I always enjoy seeing new interpretations of such a classic story and this one was quite successful.
Rating:  - good but not great
The script is competent (of course) but not inspired. The attempts to "improve" on the original are unsuccessful and occasionally absurd (the opening seduction scene and the duel). You mess with Miss Austin at your peril. A cast of good actors doing a great job doesn't hide the fact that many have faces that do not fit, altho' Hattie Morahan makes a terrific Elinor and Lucy Boynton is good as Margaret. The production values are up to the BBC's usual high standard, but I rate this version well behind those of 1981(BBC) and 1995 (Emma Thomson).
The product includes "Miss Austin Regrets", where JA nearing middle age is called upon to give advice on men, love and marriage to her young niece Fanny, a theme too slender to carry a whole film. Pity we weren't given more of JA's earlier life. A missed opportunity, but much better than the dire "Becoming Jane".
The extras are excellent: a commentary (apparently, I couldn't play it), a good (if short) photo gallery, an entertaining interview with Andrew Davies and producer Anne Pivcevic and especially an audio narration ("Remembering Jane Austin") of JA's life, based on the memoir of her nephew J.E. Austin-Leigh (the only Austin biographer who actually knew her).
The discs are housed in a strong folder, one disc in each side (probably the best way of presenting a 2-disc set that I've seen), with an attractive photo on front. Unfortunately this is the only good thing to say about the DVD presentation, which is entirely slipshod. There is not only advertising but the "coming" and "seen previously" slots have been retained. This puerile device is bad enough on telly, but is completely useless on a DVD,and should have been edited out with the inter-episode credits. The scene selection for "Miss Austin Regrets" is in the extra features (weird) and the audio play would be improved with some onscreen images (perhaps of scenes from Jane's life).
I give the audio item 4 stars, the films 3 stars each and the DVD presentation 1 star.
Rating: - Another Old Man in Love with Jane Austen
I believe a great literary work is about more than the surface story of it. Sense and Sensibility is such a story. The timeless undercurrents of the human conditions of that time and place flow from this classic as steadily as it did two-hundred years ago. The first time I picked up the book, I read all night to finish it. This latest dvd is the third version of the story I own and for now my favorite. The English actors are wonderfully cast and several surprisingly close to the pictures in my imagination. I'm a lonely old man, but when I watch this dvd, my lost love sits with me and holds my hand.
Rating:  - Charming
This is a very well done adapation of my favorite Jane Austen novel. I thought Hattie Morahan hit the role of Elinor perfectly and she had great chemistry with Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars. I fell in love with Charity Wakefield by the end of the series and I hope to see more of her in the future. The production quality of the series was also very well done for a made-for-tv production, but then BBC usually does a good job. I highly recommend this wonderful mini series to everyone.
Rating: - More BBC excellence
Finally got around to purchasing this set, and how great it is. Hattie Morahan is striking as Elinor, the casting and performances all excellent, the settings as sumptuous and nuanced as you'd expect from a period drama. Andrew Davies has cornered the market and deserves a Lifetime Achievement Award at this point. What really grabbed me is the addition of Miss Austen Regrets. My heart got ripped out of my backside at several intervals, not that I necessarily minded. It's just incredibly real, so well-acted that you lose yourself deep within the emotions of it. It dispelled any romanticized notions about Jane's life, the Regency period, or a woman's place in society. I used to joke around that The Age of Innocence was a horror film, but Miss Austen Regrets will really get to you. I'm glad to see so many adaptation alumni in it (at least four), particularly Olivia Williams.
|
|