In the Jane Austen cinematic universe, and also in the one that is purely cinephile, the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, the one that gave us Matthew Macfadyen emerging from the mist, is the best adaptation of the British writer’s novel. However, when just over a year ago it was announced that Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles would star in a new version of Sense and Sensibility, everyone rushed to praise Ang Lee’s version directed two decades ago. A film that, being fundamental in 90s cinema, is for an entire generation as distant as a cassette tape.
Despite having Daisy Edgar-Jones headlining the cast, and counting veteran names like Fiona Shaw or Caitriona Balfe in supporting roles, the good impression left by the film starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet has accompanied every update about the new project. Something that Oakley, however, tried to keep out of her mind. «I had to forget that the cinematic adaptation had been so successful», she admitted at the movie junket held in London a few weeks ago.
After acting in Expiation, Beyond Passion, Oakley shifted to directing in 2012, directed five short films and received widespread praise with her first feature, Blue Jean, released in 2022. At 38, stepping behind the camera to tell a story so well known has been her first major professional challenge.
Her Own Version of Sense and Sensibility
For Oakley, when filming the new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility “there were many challenges in terms of production, the scale of the project, the number of locations, working with animals, children and so on… Many things related to the shoot, real challenges.”
Georgia Oakley in a moment from the Sense and Sensibility junket, alongside Fiona Shaw (left) and Bodhi Rae Breathnach.
«But I wouldn’t say,» she continued, «that the greatest challenge was thinking so much about the previous versions. It was more a matter of answering questions such as What is this version? What is my version of the story? How did I feel when I read the book for the first time? How can I bring that to the screen?»
The idea of creating a contemporary version of Sense and Sensibility came from producer India Flint, who has worked with directors such as Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) and Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and participated in other adaptations of Jane Austen novels such as Emma (2020) or the aforementioned Pride and Prejudice (2005). «I was fascinated by Georgia’s ability to convey to the audience a story of a very specific time and place,» Flint commented about the director’s first film, Blue Jean.
On Sisters and Nature
Although Oakley is a filmmaker known for writing her own material, the English director was moved by the script by Australian writer Diana Reid and immediately connected with how she wanted to approach the film, both visually and thematically. «I was very drawn to the relationship between the sisters», she acknowledged. «They represent two opposing forces that many women have inside them and that are always battling. As a writer, Austen seemed to understand the power and dynamics of gender, and that has translated into Diana’s brilliant, witty and inspiring script».
Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Daisy Edgar-Jones and George McKay in an image from Sense and Sensibility.
For the director, «the fact that the central love story is the one shared by the two sisters… I truly believe that Austen was writing about two facets of herself that were often in disagreement with each other, and she portrayed them split into these characters». And beyond Elinor and Marianne, there was another important role to foreground: the natural world.
«Georgia wanted to make sure we didn’t make a movie in which the women looked like they spent their days sitting around, waiting for a man to visit them», Reid commented before adding that «seeing them in nature was a wonderful way to ground their stories and make them connect with a modern audience; we no longer live in drawing rooms, but everyone still lives in nature».
