Sense And Sensibility (Collector's Edition) [1996] | ![Sense And Sensibility (Collector's Edition) [1996]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417AD994CQL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Ang Lee
Actors: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, James Fleet, Tom Wilkinson, Harriet Walter
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £2.80
You Save: £10.19 (78%)
New (33) Used (5) from £1.99
Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 575
Format: Collector's Edition, Colour, Dubbed, Pal, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Danish (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled), Norwegian (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Greek (Subtitled), Czech (Subtitled), Italian (Subtitled), Hebrew (Subtitled), Finnish (Subtitled), Icelandic (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Polish (Subtitled), Swedish (Subtitled), Hungarian (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled)
Rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region: 2
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 131 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5035822450998
ASIN: B000053W5D
Theatrical Release Date: December 13, 1995
Release Date: February 6, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New.
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Emma Thompson scores a double bull's-eye with Sense and Sensibility, a marvellous adaptation of Jane Austen's novel. Not only does Thompson turn in a strong (and gently humorous) performance as Elinor Dashwood--the one with "sense"--she also wrote the witty, wise screenplay. Austen's tale of 19th-century manners and morals provides a large cast with a feast of possibilities, notably Kate Winslet, in her pre-Titanic flowering, as Thompson's deeply romantic sister, Marianne (the one with "sensibility"). Winslet attracts the wooing of shy Alan Rickman (a nice change of pace from his bad-guy roles) and dashing Greg Wise, while Thompson must endure an incredibly roundabout courtship with Hugh Grant, here in fine and funny form. All of this is doled out with the usual eye-filling English countryside and handsome costumes, yet the film always seems to be about the careful interior lives of its characters. The director, an inspired choice, is Taiwan-born Ang Lee, here making his first English-language film. He brings the same exquisite taste and discreet touch he displayed in his previous Asian films (such as Eat Drink Man Woman). Thompson's script won an Oscar. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...
 Austenmania is well-served here, but are these productions missing something? December 23, 2007
cathy earnshaw (Berlin, Germany)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee with a screenplay written by Emma Thompson, made up one part of the holy trinity of Austen productions which aired in 1995. That crowning year for Austenmania began with the BBC production of Persuasion in April 1995 (starring Amanda Root and Ciáran Hinds), followed by the impeccable BBC version of Pride and Prejudice (starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle) in September and October, and was capped off in mid-December by this film version of Sense and Sensibility. Emma Thompson's much-praised screenplay (for which she won an Oscar and a Golden Globe) straddles the difficult divide between pleasing the community of Jane Austen purists and making the 1811 novel appealing to a wider audience of cinema-goers with a bent for romantic drama. The dialogue and mannerisms are modernised a little, but not to the absurd degree displayed in Joe Wright's weak adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in 2005 (which has a miscast Keira Knightley in the lead role).
In the novel, Austen counsels us once again towards rational love and shows the dangers of Marianne's self-blinding, guileless abandonment to passion (played by a pre-Titanic Kate Winslet in tight, corkscrew ringlets). Many Brigid Jones fans will undoubtedly be able to identify with her uncontainable romanticism and headstrong devotion to following her feelings irrespective of what someone like Elinor (Emma Thompson) - steady, reserved and so mature, she's almost dull - might think. And so it is that the one sister is able to learn something crucial from the other: Marianne is forced by circumstance to realise the near-fatal risks of passionate devotion to someone of whom she has only an impression, rather than true knowledge; and Elinor, sobbing like a human Niagra Falls at the close, that an excess of emotional repression can be devastatingly misunderstood as the absence, rather than secrecy, of love.
In terms of doing what it says on the tin, the film cannot really be faulted (although you have to like Hugh Grant's routinal foppish inarticulacy to buy him in the role of Edward Ferrars). But I can't escape the feeling that something is lacking in some of these safe, 'suburban' period dramas. What marks Jane Austen out as a genial writer is the sparky high irony with which she tells her social dramas. And the key problem that adaptations of her novel face is: how to convey her idiosyncratic voice? Don't these rather academic productions bypass that problem by reproducing Austen's narrative as closely as possible whilst only half-heartedly addressing the difficult question of voice? Can very efficient and safe filmmaking like this genuinely reproduce Austen's deft irony?
The market for films emanating a nostalgia for the high morals, manners and decorum of England's Regency period has mushroomed. The question now, twelve years after these versions were first released, is whether filmmakers are prepared to consider new ways of interpreting these novels and, in doing so, to challenge and push viewers beyond nostalgia and their comfort zone to a new, and perhaps deeper, understanding of Austen's timeless classics.
 Sensational November 10, 2007
A reader (Buckinghamshire)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I must admit I was put off watching this for many years because I have never been a fan of Emma Thompson, Kate Winslett or Hugh Grant and the fact that all three were in it was a definite turn off. I finally watched it one rainy windy afternoon when there was nothing worth watching on tv and was captivated. Fine acting, fine script, beautiful costumes, wonderful settings - well worth watching and I'm sorry I didn't do so sooner. One of the few examples of a film living up to the book.
Faultless. November 3, 2007
S. Thomson (Bradford, UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The magic of the movies allows a story of no obvious relevence, to touch your soul.
The triumph of sense and sensibility being the delicate and acutely observed range of emotion in a period setting.
The cast illustrating the gift of an actor who can lift a character from the page and render them in a truely memorable film.
I love this film, you've got to watch it.
Looks on tempests but never shaken...... October 17, 2007
Susan E. Wyld (West Midlands, Uk)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a truly delightful adaptation. Fron the beginning it captures the atmosphere and spirit of the era with a good script, excellent costmes and beautiful settings. Quite a lot of the dialogue has been plucked directly from the pages of the novel, and most of that which hasn't has been written so closely to Austen's style that it sounds like it should be Austen.
The cast are all excellent (with one exception, which I will come to). Kate Winslet is perfect as the beautiful, emotional Marianne, Alan Rickman is strong and passionate as Colonel Brandon and Elizabeth Spriggs shines as jolly but interfering Mrs Jennings. Hugh Grant makes a suitably shy and sedate Edward Ferrars, Greg Wise plays the perfect rogue as Willoughby and the supporting characters, including the hilarious Imelda Staunton and Hugh Laurie, all fit around them perfectly. Several of the other minor characters have been cut, in order to fit the story into a 2 hour film, but it remains fairly faithful to the book and nothing of importance is lost.
The only "odd one out" is Emma Thompson, who is too old for the part of Elinor and sadly this shows. Although she does a good job for the most part, her acting during the dramatic scenes where she finally admits her feelings for Edward to Marianne, and later when she and Edward finally get together, is very stilted. On the plus side, there is great chemistry between all the characters and the placing of Elinor as the "sensible" one and "mother" of the household is spot on. I also like the friendship which we see develop between her and Colonel Brandon.
The real star here of course is Kate Winslet, who completely steals the show as Marianne and will have you crying with her in despair over Willoughby as she makes the emotional transition from girl to woman.
Other particularly delightful moments to look out for are Fanny Dashwood pushing a shocked Lucy Steele out of the doorway by the nose and Greg Wise on horseback in the rain.
As good as the book! August 23, 2007
Lilacstar (united kingdom)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is the only adaptation of S&S i have seen but out of all the different adaptations of Austen's books this is by far my favorite (closely followed by 1995 P&P). Marianne was extremely well played by Kate Winslet and viewers can really understand her struggling affections with Brandon and Willoughby. There is perfect chemistry between Elinor and Edward - the casting is perfect. Future releases will struggle to meet the same quality as this film. There are no major 'book moments' missed out either. I cant recommend this highly enough - may be a little bit biased because it has been my favorite film for many years!
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