One of the big hits of 1996, and the film that won Emma Thompson an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay as well as countless BAFTA's, all thoroughly deserved for a film that captures so well the spirit of the novel; knowing, but with an open sense of frivolity going hand in hand with the satire.

　　 The plot concerns the two Dashwood sisters, disinherited by reason of their sex, and their various trials and tribulations with the opposite sex. The two sisters, Marianne (Kate Winslet) and Elinor (Emma Thompson) discover that while the former could be seen as prone to excess `sensibility' and the latter too constrained by `sense', in fact they both possess both qualities.

　　 The film is much more than a period romance, due to the witty script's satirical pot-shots at various aspects of the society of the time, 英文影评 of which criticisms are just as valid now as they were in Austen's day. The director, Ang Lee, shows a painterly eye for composition and lighting, while bringing a realism to the action so often lacking in `tea, scones and frilly frocks' dramas such as this. Some of the costumes even show up in more than one scene, for goodness sake!

　　 Performance-wise, the film belongs to Kate Winslet. Her rosy-cheeked girlishness and delicate features betray the vulnerability of her outwardly gutsy and confident character. Thompson is also great, bringing warmth, humanity and depth to her matronly, pragmatic Elinor. A bevy of well-known British thesps make up an exemplary supporting cast. Stand-outs include a thoroughly dashing Greg Wise, and a show-stealing turn from Hugh Laurie as a cynical, henpecked husband. Alan Rickman is maybe a little too taciturn and Hugh Grant a little too... well... Hugh Grant, but these are minor quibbles in an otherwise unmissable film.