Emma Thompson’s adaptation of Jane Austin is an extraordinary piece of writing. Few of Austin’s original words remain, but all of her spirit and intent now reside in a form that is much more accessible to modern sensibilities. Ang Lee’s direction shows a powerful appreciation of set and setting. All of the acting is first-rate: this is a wonderful piece of movie making.

I enjoyed the commentary of Emma Thompson and Lindsay Doran more than any DVD commentary I’ve ever heard. It is entertaining, moving, informative and very, very funny. I suppose that I should mention here that I have something of a major crush on Emma Thompson: smart and funny, she can stop on the dime located between profane and profound and give you 9 cents change.

This is a story about 18th Century women, who have very little control over their destinies. Their lot in life is to wait for something (good or ill) to happen to them. An expression or an inference can be more devastating than a car explosion in a Steven Segal movie. Once you attune yourself to their “sensibilities”, this becomes a very powerful movie experience.

The transfer quality (audio and video) is very good (not the best I have seen, but very good). All in all, this is a surprisingly good DVD, well worth watching and owning.


[This message has been edited by cwburch (edited 08-30-1999).]

Thanks for the review!

I just ordered Sense & Sensibility today. (CDNow has it for $15.99. Using a $10 coupon and a $10 gift certificate from FreeRide to cover tax & shipping, it's only going to cost me $1.43.)

I enjoyed the movie when I saw it in the theater, and when I found out that Emma Thompson was going to be doing a commentary track, I figured it would be worth getting.

Glad to hear that it is.

--Ken

Where did you find the Sense and Sensibility DVD on CDNow's site?

I only see VHS and LD, and nothing for $15.99.

Thanks for your help!

This is one of my wife's favorite movies. She has always tried to convince me to watch this with her, but I never was very interested. However, when I heard of a special edition from Columbia/Tri-Star, it was another excuse to add another DVD to my collection.

We still haven't found the time to watch it yet, but I'm sure my wife will be happy that we well finally watch this one together.

Tygre14:

Yeah, when I went to the CDNow site and searched for "Sense and Sensibility", the DVD didn't come up.

But when I clicked on Emma Thompson's name, it took me to another page that had the DVD.

Here's the link:
http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver...son%2cemma/fs=

Thanks so much!