When I think of film adaptations of books, there are a lot of miserable examples. Few--very few--succeed in capturing the essence of a book well--even if they are fabulous films in their own right. One of my favorite book adaptations ever has to be Emma Thompson's version of the Jane Austen novel,
Sense and Sensibility. I just love it--love the humor and warmth that Thompson brought to the screenplay, love the gorgeous direction of Ang Lee.
Which is why, as you can imagine, I almost didn't even give the Masterpiece Classic version by Andrew Davies a fighting chance.
I may have been mistaken. I can't believe I waited so long!
This newest version is fantastic--with much of what made the Thompson/Lee version so dear to me, but with it's own twists. For instance, there is a deeper development of the Edward-and-Elinor romance, which was lovely.
I also just loved the fact that there was a darker, sort of "raw" quality to the setting. Since Great Britain's weather is roughly on-par with what we get here in the Mitten, I sometimes roll my eyes at period pieces that are all sunshine and teacups. But the un-varnished, and sometimes pretty bleak-looking weather in this film only gave it more depth.
Not that I could ever forget the classic (at least in my mind) version! In fact, when I stumbled across
this excerpt from Emma Thompson's diaries from when she was filming, it made me remember all over again how smart and witty she--and her version of the film--is. Don't you just want to be friends with her? I do!
Ok, so I'll probably just need to be content with reading
her reflections instead. Still fun, probably:)
1 comment:
I thought this was a great adaptation, too! As much as I loved Emma Thompson's version (and the Colin First version of P&P for that matter), I do like the trend in some of the more recent adaptations of casting younger actors who are closer to the ages the characters in the books are actually supposed to be.
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