Bibliofreakblog

Sense & Sensibility Mini-Series

I think that part of the reason that this story has always appealed to me, is that I am Margaret Dashwood.  I have two sisters much older than me, and I used to ask their boyfriends idiotic questions, like, are you guys going to get married?

But seriously, it is the awesome background characters that make Jane Austen’s works so appealing.  Otherwise, this would just be Pride & Prejudice all over again (or more accurately, P&P would be S&S all over again, as it was published first).

Really, Willoughby is Wickham, the womanizer that had someone said something earlier, could have prevented heartbreak/ruination.

Mrs. Ferrars is Catherine De Bourgh.

Colonel Brandon is Mr. Darcy.

Mrs. Dashwood is Mrs. Bennet.

Etc., etc.

And the plot isn’t much different either.  Girl meets boy.  Girl doesn’t like boy.  Girl likes other boy who turns out to be a jerk.  Girl marries first boy.

And girl meets boy.  Girl and boy like each other, but form no commitment.  Boy turns out to have some sort of past and/or family status/objection that prevents girl and boy from marrying.  Past and family are overcome.  Girl and boy get married.

Yet, this particular mini-series is just as compelling as any other JA adaptation I’ve ever seen, which is to say, it’s compelling as hell.

It helped that I hadn’t seen the 1995 movie in some years so I couldn’t remember who was bad and who was good.  This anticipation was heightened because the directors added a tantalizing sex scene in the very beginning in which a man with dark hair is seducing a teenaged girl.  Because you can’t see their faces, you remain unsure which guy it was for some time.

Which, you know, helps in the formulaic department.