Every Movie Based On Jane Austen’s Sense And Sensibility, Ranked

Jane Austen’s powerful novel Sense and Sensibility is returning to the big screen this year, making now the perfect time to look back at all the movies that have adapted the beloved story so far. The new version of the film starring Daisy Edgar-Jones has revealed a first look this week, capturing the perfect aesthetic sensibilities beloved in Austen adaptations.

All signs suggest that the upcoming adaptation will be strong. Alongside Edgar-Jones, the trailer for Sense and Sensibility has shown off a stellar cast that includes Esmé Creed-Miles and Caitríona Balfe. The inclusion of George MacKay, Frank Dillane, and more suggest that the new film at least has the potential to become the best version of this story yet.

There have been many beloved Jane Austen adaptations through the years, both as movies and TV shows. While Pride & Prejudice might be the most adapted and most popular work in Austen’s oeuvre, many winning programs have been developed based on her other works. Even Sanditon, which adapted an unfinished work, made for an excellent series.

Perhaps the most underappreciated work in Austen’s catalogue, however, is the frequently overlooked Sense and Sensibility. While works from Emma to Manfield’s Park just as adeptly examine Austen’s fantastic Regency settings, there are few stories as complex, powerful, and compelling as the ones seen with the Dashwood family in Sense and Sensibility.

6

Material Girls

Liberally updating and modernizing Austen’s works is not a new trend, and has sometimes been done well. Clueless did this with the Emma story, and Bridget Jones’s Diary found great success by loosely using many of the plot details and ideas drawn fromn Pride & Prejudice.

Material Girls, unfortunately, did not have the same results. The teen comedy, starring Younger‘s Hilary Duff alongside her sister, Haylie Duff, brought the setting to then-contemporary 2006 Los Angeles, and centered around two sisters choosing whether to take over their late father’s company, Marchetta Cosmetics, or sell it off to fund their shallow lifestyle.

Unfunny and mostly uninspired, the novel’s insightful commentary on the themes of emotionality and rationality was not well represented or examined in this film. Worse than this, however, Material Girls was simply not enjoyable on its own merits. Valuable for little more than seeing Hilary Duff’s strong charisma shine through, it remains one of the weakest Austen adaptations to date.

5

From Prada To Nada

Alexa Penavega looks out in From Prada to Nada

Like Material Girls, From Prada to Nada takes the general concept of two wealthy sisters who may lose their livelihood, and zeroes in on the superficial aspects with a very contemporary materialistic edge. This is used here as little more than the backdrop for romantic misadventures and lacks the substance of the novel.

Camilla Belle and Alexa PenaVega are decent enough performers, but there is little craft to this 2011 film, which is barely more than a slightly better retread of the same reimagining that Material Girls put on screen only a few years before.

Loosely adapting Austen’s novels can work, but watching Prada to Nada, one often wonders if the team behind the film was even familiar with the themes and ideas of the source material. Glitzy in the wrong ways, with only a little bit of familiar style and decent charisma between the performers to enjoy, the film mostly does not work.

4

Scents and Sensibility

Ashley Williams looks surprised in Scents and Sensibility

A lower-budget offering, this 2011 TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel doesn’t do a great deal right, but it doesn’t do much wrong either. Despite its cheaper production and Hallmark-like exaggerated performances by stars Ashley Williams and Marla Sokoloff, the film’s updating of the content surprisingly works better than the two lower entries.

Yes, the stars of Scents and Sensibility, including Nick Zano and Brad Johnson, are not among the best performers ever seen. However, their unpretentious performances actually suit the sensationalized material, and allow for an emphasis on emotion and connection between the stars as they share enjoyably watchable screen time together.

Updated with a focus on crafting a high-end lotion to win back their family’s lost fortune, the film’s contemporary look at sisterhood and romance is perfectly satisfactory. While there is not much to recommend in the film, one could certainly also do a great deal worse.

3

Sense And Sensibility (2024)

The cast of 2024s Sense and Sensibility stand outside

Hallmark’s 2024 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility is a decent enough effort, even if it is not the strongest telling of the story. Capitalizing on the popularity of stories like Bridgerton, this iteration of the story luxuriates in its Regency setting, while adding a fresh flair with a predominantly Black cast.

Despite its contemporary design choices, this period adaptation is not nearly as sensationalized as one might expect. Rather than leaning into more contemporary mores, the film tells the story with a mostly faithful eye for the novel’s details. The Black cast then adds an interesting texture and comment to the story’s themes around class without being overt.

While it may not have the steamy scenes of Bridgerton, this movie works in surprising ways. A fine adaptation of a strong story, despite being made for TV, and perhaps being a little too brief, one can do a whole lot worse than this 2024 adaptation, which deserves more attention than it has received.

2

Kandukondain Kandukondain

The leads of Kandukondain Kandukondain review paperwork together

Kandukondain Kandukondain is a shockingly strong 2000 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility that relocates the film’s setting to contemporary India. A Tamil-language production, this musical feature does a fantastic job updating the novel’s themes about female agency in a refreshing way.

The film finds a great balance between comforting entertainment and thoughtful commentary, and is filled with excellent music by A.R. Rahman. Two of the most popular songs heard throughout the film include the title track and “Konjum Mainaakkale” both of which helped to make the soundtrack album a commercial hit.

Exploring the universality in Austen’s ideas, Kandukondain Kandukondain is one of the best examples of how to thoughtfully adapt a piece of literature from another language and culture. Even for English-language viewers, the film is a must-see.

1

Sense And Sensibility (1995)

There are not nearly as many adaptations of Sense and Sensibility as there are Pride & Prejudice, and one of the main reasons for that might be that the story was already so perfectly told in Ang Lee’s 1995 adaptation. With acerbic wit, smart contemplations on financial struggles, and fantastic period flourish, the film is a nearly perfect adaptation.

This version’s script was written by Emma Thompson, who also plays Elinor in the film. It balances humor and emotion adeptly, crafting a piece that is as thoughtful as it is entertaining.

Often credited as the best Sense and Sensibility adaptation, the film’s cast is especially strong, with the aforementioned Thompson leaning into Elinor’s stuffiness in perfect contrast to Kate Winslet’s more passionate Marianne.

It remains to be seen whether this year’s Sense and Sensibility adaptation can be even better, but that would be a high bar to reach. Until then, 1995’s adaptation of the popular Jane Austen novel remains not just the best adaptation of that work, but one of the best period pieces ever made.