Georgia Oakley’s adaptation brings a fresh, windswept energy to Jane Austen’s classic, with Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles delivering tender and instinctive performances.
Perhaps every generation gets the Jane Austen adaptation it needs. Three decades after Ang Lee and Emma Thompson’s acclaimed 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility, director Georgia Oakley offers a strikingly different interpretation of the classic novel.
Adapted with confidence and directed with a strong visual sensibility, Oakley’s film feels perfectly suited to unsettled modern times. Its windswept atmosphere and emotional intensity often make it feel closer to the Brontës than Austen, as the Dashwood sisters navigate love, social expectations and uncertainty across the rural landscapes of Sussex and Devon.
Austen meets the wild landscape
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles play Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, whose romantic fortunes are repeatedly buffeted by circumstances beyond their control. The countryside is more than a backdrop: Oakley turns it into a central part of the film’s identity.
The story remains firmly rooted in Regency England and its rigid social conventions, but the film constantly suggests a world that is older and wilder beneath those rules. Crumbling farm buildings, ancient trees and expansive landscapes give the film an almost timeless quality, contrasting with the temporary dramas of its characters.
The men are generally a reserved group. George MacKay plays Edward Ferrars as thoughtful and charming, while Frank Dillane gives John Willoughby a rakish edge with an unsettling undertone. Herbert Nordrum’s Colonel Brandon is tense and reserved, offering a performance that recalls Alan Rickman’s unconventional interpretation in Lee’s film.
Strong supporting performances
Oakley also gives the supporting cast plenty of room to make an impression. Turlough Convery brings comic warmth to Sir John Middleton, who takes in the newly displaced Dashwood family.
Fiona Shaw is particularly memorable as Mrs Jennings, turning the character into an exuberant and entertaining presence whose meddling provides some of the film’s funniest moments.
At the heart of the film, however, is the relationship between Elinor and Marianne. Edgar-Jones and Creed-Miles portray their sisterly bond with such naturalism and tenderness that much of their connection feels almost unspoken.
The performances retain the restraint expected from a period drama while avoiding the stiffness that can sometimes accompany Austen adaptations. Oakley reinforces that naturalism with an unusual but effective touch: dogs regularly wander through scenes, sniffing around, sleeping nearby or simply becoming part of the domestic environment.
The result is often funny, but more importantly, it makes the world feel lived-in and human.
This is Austen with the bonnets blown off — and the film is all the better for it.
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