Following her BAFTA-nominated debut Blue Jean, director Georgia Oakley turns her eye to the drawing room with a fresh take on Jane Austen's very first novel, Sense and Sensibility, adapted for the screen by bestselling novelist Diana Reid, best known for her sharp, contemporary fiction rather than empire-line frocks.
When Mr Dashwood dies, his widow and three daughters are left with next to nothing, forced out of their Sussex home and into a modest cottage. Daisy Edgar-Jones plays the steady, sensible Elinor, while Esmé Creed-Miles is her younger sister Marianne, all impulsive heart and no restraint whatsoever.
Between them they fall for two very different men: George MacKay's quietly honourable Edward Ferrars, and Frank Dillane's dashing, unreliable John Willoughby. Caitríona Balfe plays their newly widowed mother, and Fiona Shaw brings warmth and mischief as the incorrigible gossip Mrs Jennings.
The film marks the latest collaboration between Working Title and Focus Features on Austen's work, following their acclaimed Pride & Prejudice and Emma adaptations. Shot across genuine historic houses in Dorset, Knebworth, and Devon, this version leans fully into the scale and stiff-collared formality of the period while keeping Austen's wit intact.
Expect embroidery-perfect frocks hiding some seriously messy feelings, and a film unafraid to let its heroines' hearts run just as loud as their heads.
