Sense and Sensibility

Absolutely beautiful.

I don't think any of you need a detailed description of the plot of Sense and Sensibility, other than that it is a story about the Dashwood sisters, specifically the eldest sister, Elinor, and the middle sister, Marianne, one of whom is guided by sense and the other by sensibility. In their search for happiness, both of them reconsider their outlook on life and begin to understand each other better, which ultimately leads them to romantic happiness.

Sense and Sensibility, directed by Georgia Oakley, has become a true oasis of very warm, pleasant, nostalgic, and absolutely beautiful feelings. Because this film looks absolutely gorgeous. Despite being a fairly serious historical piece, there is a slightly fairytale-like aura throughout the entire film, because we are, after all, watching an adaptation of an iconic story. The film feels incredibly magical and beautiful, with breathtaking landscapes, vast open spaces, and gorgeous cinematography. Everything was meticulously done. Even when some of the cuts occasionally felt a little too prolonged, they still looked absolutely stunning, which is a huge credit to Arnaud Potier, who handled the cinematography, and Izabella Curry, who edited the film.

This 2026 adaptation also feels like a very smart and pleasant take on the story, one that leaves you feeling lighthearted, precisely because director Georgia Oakley and screenwriter Diana Reid seemed perfectly content with the source material, which is already one of the most iconic novels in history. And considering that this is only Oakley's second feature film and her first major project, she absolutely deserves credit for pulling it off. They didn't try to reinvent the wheel or add some of their own groundbreaking, explosive ideas to the original, as some others do. Instead, they simply left things as they were and transferred the story to the screen beautifully, skillfully, and intelligently, giving us a gorgeous, romantic coming-of-age story that focuses not even so much on romantic entanglements as on the relationship between the sisters and their inner worlds.

And this simplicity of approach is probably one of the coolest things they could have done. Because when you take one of the most legendary novels ever written as your source material, it takes a great deal of courage and self-confidence to try to fix a story that already works perfectly.

But another equally important part of this film is its absolutely wonderful casting. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esme Creed-Miles are fantastic together as the two eldest sisters. The male cast, featuring Frank Dillane, Herbert Nordrum, and George MacKay, is brilliantly chosen as well. Fiona Shaw does a phenomenal job with her comedic role, and the entire supporting cast feels absolutely right for their respective parts.

Of course, it's difficult to compete when this story has already received an adaptation that was incredibly successful and has since become iconic: Ang Lee's 1995 Sense and Sensibility. It's hard to argue that a modern interpretation can really compete with the original, but it doesn't have to, since the purpose is to revitalise the story for a new audience.

But this film gets some very important things right. It treats the source material with enormous respect and brings these pages to the screen without any unnecessary rubbish, giving us a pure and genuinely moving story made with real love.

8/10