A review by atticmoth
The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film by Lindsay Doran, Clive Coote, Emma Thompson, Jane Austen

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

Lately I’ve been feeling deeply insecure about my own career as a filmmaker, partially brought on by a particularly unpleasant filmmaking guide but mostly a slew of rejections for Stiletto and the crushing anxiety of not knowing whether or not I will get into grad school in February. So instead of glorified self-help books, I thought the best way to improve my own craft is to read scripts from films I admire, especially because my own screenwriting ability leaves much to be desired. In college we read the obligatory Godfather and Chinatown scripts, and while I mean no disrespect to the classics I thought I’d start with something more in line with my artistic interests. Ang Lee is the only filmmaker I mentioned in my grad school application, mostly because of his Sense and Sensibility adaptation which channels the neuroses of his repressed Asian culture to an entirely unfamiliar setting. 

But to call it “Ang Lee’s movie” is pretty reductive, considering he was a director-for-hire in the most literal sense. Sense and Sensibility (1995) is an anti-auteur film, truly collaborative because every major player was a different person. Lindsay Doran, the producer, brought a passion & scholarship for Austen’s works to the table, and her introduction to this book was very inspiring. Emma Thompson, who both wrote the screenplay and played Elinor, brought a unique comic sensibility to a book that I don’t much like in the first place. In fact, the biggest voice that was missing in this book was Lee’s, which is a shame because I am curious what he had to say about directing the actors. But Thompson’s production diaries were absolutely delightful to read, her voice is really funny and I would honestly read a whole novel written in this style. When she describes the Buddhist ceremony performed before shooting, it really made me miss working on film sets myself.

The screenplay portion of this book is obviously amazing, one of the few times the Academy’s decision made sense. It’s curious that Sense and Sensibility (the novel) is one of my least favorite of Jane’s, but this is one of my favorite adaptations of her work. It’s very near a perfect script; I only wish Thompson had included the scene where Willoughby shows up drunk. Elinor is still one of the most relatable characters of all time, but the reason I like the film better than the book is because Marianne’s arc is more fleshed out, especially towards the end. I was also surprised at how much was added to Margaret’s character, because in the original she’s little more than a plot device a handful of times, but in the film version she’s almost a Regency-era Yotsuba, providing much-needed comic relief. 

The biggest negative about this book is in the pages themselves. The copy I read was printed on square paper, which completely negates the 1 page:1 minute of screentime rule that’s carefully baked into the margins of every screenplay ever written. I suppose it doesn’t matter much for general audiences, but if I’m trying to learn the craft of screenwriting by reading, this totally throws off the pacing.