Sense & Sensibility (BBC 2008)
Jane Austen proves to be a continued source of adaptation inspiration
Tags: misc dvd 2008 Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on May 10th, 2008
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Remember when “Masterpiece Theater” was the only way to see those wonderful British productions of that brought to life a wide variety of stories, from “Upstairs, Downstairs” to “Poldark” to “I, Claudius” (still one of my favorites)? Now there is a wide variety of methods to get these productions, among them the high number of stations broadcasting, and that seems to have watered down the quality of many things. Fortunately, there are still enough people that look for quality in their programming at the BBC an “Sense & Sensibility” is the latest to arrive on DVD to help prove that fact.
Much in the same way that “Pride & Prejudice” was adapted by the BBC about 10 years ago, Jane Austin’s first novel gets brought new life. It had been filmed once before on a smaller budget about 25 years earlier, so now “The Beeb” felt that the time was right to give it another go.
“Sense & Sensibility” follows (primarily) two sisters who find themselves with very little after the passing of their father. The bulk of his estate goes to his son and second wife, both of whom are not terribly inclined to help out. Fending for themselves, they fall in love, get their hearts broken, find renewed love and in the end everything works out fairly well.
There are a lot of similarities between “Sense & Sensibility” and “Pride & Prejudice” which can be forgiven as many authors first and second novels bear many similarities. These two books turned into films and television programs are some of the earliest forms of the romantic comedy genre.
Instead of focusing on one primary relationship as in “Pride & Prejudice” “Sense & Sensibility” looks at two sisters and their experiences of the times. There is also plenty of humor, which helps elevate the proceedings from simply being a dreary overly-romantic melodrama, which is part of what Jane Austin was trying to not necessarily spoof, but poke fun of.
I didn’t recognize any of the names and faces present in this production, but that shouldn’t be taken as any lack of credit on the cast’s part. This production of “Pride & Prejudice” is built of largely younger actors – though Jean Marsh and Janet McTeer tip the scale in favor of some older, more recognizable faces.
Not having read the novel, I can’t say whether or not this adaptation is truly faithful to the source material. I can, however, point out that this does expand upon the 1995 film version (which was great, by the way) with its longer run time allowing for more and longer scenes for better character development. This was Jane Austin’s strength, that of characters, which is why her works are still enjoyable to this day.
We get the three part miniseries as it originally aired. This is a bit of an annoyance, as I would like to have been able to sit down and watch all (not quite) 3 hours in one sitting without having the interruptions of getting “caught up” with what happened last week. Opening and closing credits for each episode in a DVD presentation such as this is pointless.
As for the special features, we get an audio commentary on each of the episodes from the director and producer as well as a few of the principal actors. The commentary track is informative and engaging. One might think that a 3 hour commentary would wind up with nothing to say but that simply isn’t the case. The director and producer turn up again in a featurette where they discuss the script adaptation and how to differentiate their production from the well regarded 1995 film among other things. “Miss Austen Regrets” is an hour and a half fictional biography of Jane Austen based on some of her correspondence. This in itself would have almost been worth a release on its own, as it gives a very unique look at the author. In many ways, it plays out like one of her novels, centering on love, marriage, or the lack of it. An audio only feature is an hour long radio play “Remembering Jane Austen” is also presented here.
For fans of the author, there is enough here to warrant a purchase, and the casual “Brit-lit” fan will certainly want to rent this. There’s not only a great production of one of Jane Austen’s better known works, but enough special features to make this a very nice package.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Good "period" romantic comedy + Audio commentary + Miss Austen Regrets |
8.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
| - Even for a romantic comedy there's a lot of "period" stuff to wade through (let's face it, Jane Austen just isn't for everybody) | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| If you like Jane Austen, you should have this in your collection. | |
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Tags: misc dvd 2008
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on May 10th, 2008 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
