Sense and Sensibility
1995 · 136 min · Drama, Romance
Directed by Ang Lee
“Lose your heart and come to your senses.”
The Dashwood sisters, sensible Elinor and passionate Marianne, learn that their prospects of marriage seem doomed by their family's sudden loss of fortune. After Henry Dashwood dies unexpectedly, his estate must pass on by law to his son. These circumstances leave Mr. Dashwood's wife and daughters without a home and with barely enough money to live on. As Elinor and Marianne struggle to find romantic fulfillment in a society obsessed with financial and social status, they must learn to mix sense with sensibility in their dealings with both money and men.
Why it's worth watching
This masterful adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel is a beautiful exploration of sisterly love, emotional maturity, and moral integrity. It contrasts the quiet self-sacrifice of Elinor with the passionate impulsiveness of Marianne, showing how both must learn to balance wisdom with deep feeling. The film is beautifully acted, visually stunning, and deeply comforting in its celebration of enduring affection.
What it praises
It praises honor, keeping one's promises even at great personal cost, sisterly devotion, self-restraint, and genuine love over social ambition and greed.
For discernment
About as clean and edifying as period romance gets, and genuinely nourishing on the virtues it dramatizes: Elinor's quiet self-restraint, keeping a painful promise at real personal cost, sisterly devotion, and the choice of steadfast character over social ambition. There is essentially no profanity, no sexual content beyond cleavage and a discreet reference to a man who abandoned a woman he'd gotten pregnant, and only the period practice of bloodletting (a dripping wound, cutting not shown) for anything intense. The one thing a thoughtful viewer might weigh is Austen's world itself, where marriage is openly transactional and dowries and social class govern love — the film critiques that money-obsession rather than endorsing it, but it steeps you in a milieu of decorum and rank that is worth watching with discernment rather than pure envy. A strong recommendation with little to guard against.
- SexualityA mild spoken reference to a man abandoning a woman after getting her pregnant, plus period-dress cleavage.
- LanguageOne use of 'b****' and a vain use of God's name; otherwise clean.
- NoteThe old medical practice of bloodletting is shown with a wound dripping blood, though the cutting itself is not depicted.
Cast
Emma Thompson
Elinor Dashwood
Kate Winslet
Marianne Dashwood
Alan Rickman
Colonel Christopher Brandon
Hugh Grant
Edward Ferrars
Gemma Jones
Mrs. Dashwood
Greg Wise
John Willoughby
Elizabeth Spriggs
Mrs. Jennings
Imogen Stubbs
Lucy Steele
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