Sense and Sensibility (2008)

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Movie
German title Sense and sensuality
Original title Sense & Sensibility
Country of production UK
original language English
Publishing year 2008
length 180 minutes
Rod
Director John Alexander
script Andrew Davies
production Anne Pivcevic
music Martin Phipps
camera Sean Bobbitt
cut Roy Sharman
occupation

The miniseries of US director John Alexander from 2008 based on the English literary classic "Sense and Sensibility" ( " Sense and Sensibility ") by Jane Austen ; this has been filmed five times so far. The series is the third BBC production of the same novel.

action

Mr. Dashwood lives with his second wife and their three daughters Elinor, Marianne and Margaret on a stately home called Norland Park in Sussex . When he dies, he is forced by current inheritance law to leave all his property to his son John from his first marriage and to leave the care of his wife and daughters to the conscience of the son. However, he is married to a hard-hearted woman, Fanny, who prevents the sisters-in-law from receiving financial security and drives them out of Norland Park.

Before that, however, they met Edward Ferrars, Fanny's older brother. In contrast to his sister, he is very courteous and friendly. As the future heir to the family's fortune, he is expected to have a political career and a befitting marriage, but he himself prefers the simple country life. He and Elinor develop great affection for each other, but are both too reluctant to reveal their feelings.

Since they now have to restrict themselves financially, the Dashwood ladies move to Devonshire into a cottage belonging to a relative, Sir John Middleton. The Dashwoods are warmly welcomed to his stately Barton Park estate; Sir John's mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, is a warm-hearted, somewhat talkative woman who immediately looks for suitable husbands for the three girls. So she arranges a dinner with the neighbor and long-time friend of the family, Colonel Brandon, a thirty-five year old landowner. The Colonel falls in love with the seventeen-year-old Marianne at first sight, she has a very emotional, passionate nature and can therefore not do much with the twice as old and reserved Colonel. When she meets John Willoughby, a young gentleman from society, she is killed: she falls madly in love and believes that she has found her soulmate in him. The marriage is welcomed by her family, Sir Middleton and Mrs. Jennings, all of whom assume the two are already secretly engaged and await his official proposal. On the day on which he announced himself to Marianne's mother for this important conversation, Willoughby appears and says with dry, brief words goodbye to London, where his aunt, whose heir he hopes to inherit and who can support him financially, has ordered him .

When Mrs. Jennings moves to her London residence with Elinor and Marianne for the winter months, Marianne waits in vain for Willoughby's visit. The two finally meet at a ball, Willoughby is cold and cold towards her. She cannot explain his behavior to herself. However, the next day she learns that he has become engaged to a rich heiress. In London, the girls also meet the two sisters Steele. Lucy Steele confides her big secret to Elinor: She has been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars for four years! In contrast to her impulsive sister, Elinor is a very reserved, “reasonable” young woman who does not reveal her feelings to the outside world. Still, it is very difficult for her to endure the thoughtless chatter of Lucy Steele, who raves about Edward, whom Elinor secretly loves. At a dinner at Mrs. Ferrar's house, to which the Dashwoods as relatives and the Steele sisters are invited, they learn of Mrs. Ferrar's plans to marry Edward to a wealthy and gifted heiress. When Lucy's sister gossips and the secret of Edward's engagement to Lucy gets to his mother's ears, she gives him the choice of either putting the unwanted connection or his legacy and family out of his head. The chivalrous Edward does not want to break his promise made to Lucy, and so he is expelled from the family, his younger brother Robert is now heir to the family fortune. Colonel Brandon offers Edward a pastor's position on his Delaford estate to help him make a living.

Accompanied by Colonel Brandon, Elinor and Marianne travel back to the country, where they spend some time at the Cleveland estate. The Colonel has now confided in Elinor that his ward (the daughter of his childhood sweetheart, whom he was not allowed to marry) had been seduced by Willoughby and left with the newborn child. Marianne wanders through the park in her grief for Willoughby during a thunderstorm, is found by the Colonel and develops - encouraged by a lack of courage to live - a life-threatening pneumonia; her survival is on the knife edge, but she is recovering. With the illness, she seems to have overcome the love pains for Willoughby, and over time she recovers from both. Having matured, she now recognizes the merits of Colonel Brandon, who does not impose himself on her, but continues to adore her and finally makes her a proposal, which she gladly accepts.

In the cottage, the Dashwood women hear of Lucy Steele's marriage to Mr. Ferrars. When Edward visited the Dashwoods in the spring and Elinor looked after "Mrs. Ferrars “inquires, he realizes that she doesn't even know that after the inheritance had passed to his brother Robert, Lucy had also transferred her affection to him and released him, Edward. So she was now Mrs. Robert Ferrars. Elinor rushes from the room struggling to keep his composure, he can now confess his love to her and she agrees to become his wife. They live together in a modest cottage in the country.

Charisma

In Great Britain, the three-part film adaptation was first broadcast on January 1, 2008 and on the two following Sundays by the public broadcaster BBC One . In the United States, the station PBS broadcast the adaptation as part of the Masterpiece series on March 30th and April 6th, 2008.

In Germany, the TV premiere of the German-language version took place on January 1, 2009 on WDR television, with the three parts being shown in succession. The French first broadcast took place on the bilingual cultural channel arte on March 6, 2009, while German viewers were able to receive the German version at the same time. The DVD box appeared in stores on December 4th, 2008.

criticism

Zweiausendeins.de:

In terms of staging and equipment, dignified television film miniseries based on the novel by Jane Austen. The main actresses say their dialogues a bit woodenly, so that it is difficult to establish an emotional closeness to the characters.

Prisma.de:

As early as 1995, director Ang Lee shot his multi-award-winning drama "Sense and Sensibility", based on a novel by Jane Austen, based on the script by leading actress Emma Thompson. In contrast to Lee's work, which is in places quite uninspired and bland-looking, John Alexander's three-part is much more lively and the irony of Austen's original is also skilfully processed here. In addition, the two leading actresses Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield in the roles of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are simply more convincing than Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet at the time. This is certainly also due to screenwriter Andrew Davies, who is considered one of the most prominent authors in England.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Overview of all Jane Austen films , accessed on Nov. 14, 2013
  2. ^ Sense & Sensibility. PBS homepage, accessed June 23, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Sense and sensuality. fernsehserien.de, accessed on June 23, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Zweausendeins.de Film Lexicon: Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility , accessed on November 29, 2013
  5. ↑ Prisma.de: Sense and Sensibility