The Adaptation of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen into a Film

I give some examples of ironies kept from original text but changed into sights and actions.
I also show that in films, sights and actions as well as sounds convey the written language
of the original text and at the same time follow the film syntax. To close my discussion on
the adaptation of Sense and Sensibility into film, I mention some differences from the
original text but also show these differences do not modify the central meaning of the
novel. My analysis is followed by a conclusion of the adaptation of Sense and Sensibility
into a film.

There have been a great number of adaptations of novels into movies. These
adaptations always raise several discussions concerning fidelity. When a film adaptation
goes to the wide screen, the director and the script writer’s adaptation will surely be
criticized. On the other hand, it must be a difficult task the one of screen writer as well as
of the film director when adjusting movies from novels.

There are also many different remakes of films shot in different times (film making has
changed considerably the last decades) and resulting from directors’ different analysis and
approaches. Directors choose different approaches in order to accommodate their filmgoing
audiences, who also change their perspectives from time to time. Some of Jane Austen’s
BBC productions have very sophisticate settings, as for example Sense and Sensibility
(2008) by John Alexander and Andrew Davies and Pride and Prejudice (1995) by Simon
Langton and Andrew Davies. Others films portrait the eighteenth century society more
realistically, as Pride and Prejudice (2005) by Joe Wright and Deborah Moggach.
What is the task of these decision makers? Surely a film is much more immediate
than a novel. The screenwriter’s task is to transform written words, feelings, desires and
thoughts into sights and sounds, action and movement, in other words, moving pictures.
Besides there is the crew: the producer, actors, cameramen, technicians, among others.
They are also authors of a film. At last there is the budget. The budget determines sets to be
rented, other professionals to be hired and even scenes to be added or cut.

So, what can we say about Emma Thompson and Ang Lee’s adaptation of Sense
and Sensibility? What decisions have they made when cutting, adding, changing elements
of the written novel to fit in the movie? Shall we consider a good adaptation, even though
there is some criticism in regard to her choices? In order to answer the questions above I
will perform an analysis of Emma Thompson and Lee’s film adaptation of the novel. My
main sources will be Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Emma Thompson’s screenplay,
dailies as well as Emma Thompson and Lindsay Doran’s commentaries of the scenes.
These sources will contribute to the analysis of the decisions made by the team while
filming. When I mention the team I mean to include, not only the director and the
screenwriter, but the camera man, the producers, the sound engineers, location manager,
the art department, historical advisors, and so on.

Emma Thompson, in her diary, makes several comments on decisions that the crew
has made in order to adapt the novel into film language. Those decisions have been taken
throughout the process, from the pre-shooting to the editing. Although she concludes her
diary notes on the last day of shooting, she comments the work of editing will be going on.
Additions, cuts, changes make part of the process of making a film, and happen all the
time. In the very first meeting, some members of crew, as for example, the producer,
coproducer, the location manager, and the director, went through the whole script adding
and cutting scenes, and making a series of decisions, due to, either, the more practical
aspect - the cost or the difficulty in finding places, people, and even some animals to
actually record those scenes - or the artistic aspect. Emma says that she spent a whole
month after this first meeting, and before recordings started, revising and rewriting drafts,
making changes in order to fit the budget and the artistic purposes. In the audio
commentary Emma Thompson says the scene in which the father fell off his horse and was
dying due to the fall had to be cut because of the budget. She mentions they had to take out
“that wonderful information”. That was what we call adaptation.
 Emma also writes about the hiring of actors to perform each role and rewriting
scenes with the actors in her head. One of her choice, which I would like to discuss, is the
hiring of male characters, more specifically, Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars. I believe this is
an important discussion since his role was strongly criticized by some intellectuals who
find some male characters characterization, and above all, Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars in
Emma Thompson’s adaptation, do not fit Jane Austen’s description in the book.

Gerald Mast says that in novels and plays the physical existence of a character comes after
the psychological characteristics and their narrated actions. In films, “existence of the
physical precedes and determines the traits that the human figure will demonstrate in the
work” (MAST, 1982, pg. 292) Mast adds that film stars have a narrow range of
personalities and usually act themselves. This is positive when making films because the
audience soon recognizes the character’s internal traits for resembling to a previous
character. The audience’s recognition helps film narratives because it allows them to
shorten the parts that delineate the character’s personality and intentions. So, the
intelligibility of the actor by the public is a great advantage in films. Well known stars
attract audience. Mast also says that “to expect character in films to conform to our models
in literature is to inflict yet in another normative literary prejudice on judgment of films”
(MAST, 1982, pg. 294).

Emma comments she is glad Hugh Grant accepted the role because she has written
Edward for him. Using an actor whose traits would be recognized and understood by the
audience, seems exactly what Emma Thompson intended to do. Her purpose was to make
a film out of the novel with the characteristics of a film. For Ms Thompson, the cast should
be witty. So, Ms Thompson turned the Austen’s impulsive and deceiving Edward Ferrars
into Elinor’s quite clumsy romantic pair. Edward Ferras represents Elinor’s opposite
personality. Whereas Elinor has sense, Edward has sensibility. In the film, the couple break
with the old values and morals of their society by choosing their destiny and, eventually,
kissing each other. Thompson comments in her diary: Kissing Hugh was very lovely.
“Glad I invented it. Can’t rely on Austen for a snog, that’s for sure”. Although Ms Austen
is known as a novelist, whose sharp and sarcastic commentaries about the British society
have turned her into one of the most widely-read and best-loved writers in Britain, kisses
are never mentioned in her novels. The moral codes of the early nineteen century did not
allow public kisses in families of English gentry neither allowed farmers of middling social
statues to marry their daughters to someone from a higher position. Austen broke up with
the mobility codes; Ms Thompson, in the film, broke with the kissing code. This scene was
eventually cut off from the main movie and is only shown in the deleted scenes. This
romantic pair finally embarks into the new values of Realism of the second half of the
eighteen century and let the contemporary audience delighted with the kissing scene, but
only in the deleted scene. Thus, by reading Emma’s diary we understand that even though
intelligible actors are important to the movie flow, studying the character is also important.
Ang Lee asked the actors to study the background and inner life of the characters they
would perform. Knowing the psychological traits help actors incorporate the characters
they are performing.
Emma Thompson comments that the language in Sense and Sensibility is complex
and more arcane then in the later books. So, she has had to simplify the language, but at the
same time keep the elegance and wit of Jane Austen. Jane Austen’s had the ability to
express herself in humorous manner when addressing and modifying the lack of mobility in
the English society. In fact, she mocked the class division and the falseness of the gentry,
as well as the cult of passion which was always related to money. Emma Thompson
mentions: “Sense and Sensibility is all about love and money. Perhaps its main question is,
can love survive without money? In the end of the film when the Dashwoods realize all
the excitement about Willoughby and Edward Ferrars is gone and they are back to their
poor standard of living at Barton Cottage, Elinor takes Marianne for a walk. When they
approach the place where Marianne saw Willoughby for the first time she says “He would
have had a wife he loved but no money – and might soon have learned to rank the demands
of his pocket-book far above the demands of his heart”. In the book it is Elinor who tells
Marianne that [her] marriage would have been poorly supported by affection, on his side,
much less certain. Had [she] married [she] must have been always poor. His expensiveness
is acknowledge even by himself and his whole conduct declares that self-denial is a word
hardly understood by him”. Thompson says “A pithy question. Romantic love teaches us
that love conquers all. Elinor disagrees. You need a descent wage, a competence.
The novel is full of satiric signs. When Emma Thompson and the Director Ang Lee
adapted the novel into a film they had to find some strategies to elicit the ironic
commentaries of the narrator in the novel. Through out the film the irony is conveyed by
misunderstandings. One example is when Lucy Steele tells Fanny about her secret love for
Edward Ferrars. Fanny has a nervous breakdown and beats Lucy. This scene is very
amusing. On the other hand, in the novel, Fanny gets to know about Lucy’s interest in
Edward through Mrs. Jennings. Another humoristic strategy used in the film is Edward
Ferrars’s behavior. The character in the film is clumsy, weak, and, in some extend,
antisocial. He lacks attitude towards others. There are three moments that we can observe
his weak will. The first one is at the stables when he obeys his sister. The second one is
when he meets both Elinor and Lucy Steele in London. The last is when he visits the
Dashwoods back in Barton Cottage. He hesitates when speaking, he looks extremely
confused and stammers during the conversation, and he again acts awkwardly until actually
telling them it was Robert who got married to Lucy Steele.
The use of some cinematic devices also elicits irony in the film as for example the
use of interpolated scenes to show opposite behaviors. One them is the scene of Elinor,
before departing from the Norland estate, explaining to Margaret why they have to leave
their house as well as telling the servants about the new Lady of the house’s generosity,
followed by the scenes where Fanny and her husband John are in the carriage going to
Norland and are discussing the provision of extra money to his step-mother and sisters and
their prompt removal from the estate.

When adapting a written text into a film, a great deal of written language is changed
into movement and action, and body language. Written texts use code systems that can be
denotative (literal meaning) or connotative (implicit meaning). Films use the same code
system of written texts, but these code systems are visual. They are sets, actions, continued
movement, and special effects. Some elements are framed to signalize the intended
atmosphere. The weather is one of those elements mentioned above. It exerts important
functions through out the film. If we analyze Marianne’s feelings, we are able to see that
whenever she acts in a desperate way, she does that under a storm, a dark atmosphere, and
strong wind. The scenes in which Marianne is recovering from her illness and gaining
sense at the Barton cottage are the ones of good weather, clear sky, and mild wind. Emma
Thompson makes several comments about the bad weather they had to face while filming
and the decisions of shooting scenes under bad weather. She even mentions that Marianne
is taken away from a storm twice, while in the book it happens once. Ang Lee grasped the
well known British weather and used it as a visual element. Moreover, both Ang Lee and
Emma Thompson say that the landscape is very important in the film. If there were lots of
close ups the film would be ordinary.
Gestures and body language are other elements used to convey what is narrated in
the text. There are some examples of body language that can be mentioned here. Marianne
and Willoughby’s attachment always causes impact in the society. If we observe the faces
of the people surrounding them we see they show astonishment and disgust. It also
happens when Marianne sees Willoughby in the ballroom in London. Her face changes
from excitement to deep pain and disillusion when she learns he is with his wife to be, a
very rich woman. At the same time the camera shows the society’s expression of scorn
while she is being led out of the ballroom by her sister. Elinor’s feelings are also shown by
body Language. She is the one who possesses sense. She never expresses her emotions
through speech, but the audience sees them through her gestures and faces. Whenever
Elinor encounters Edward she acts nervously even though she appears to be confident.
Emma comments gesture says much more. Elinor and Edward never touch each other. The
scene in which she is telling Edward about the offer Colonel Brandon has made is the one
in which body language says a lot. They are sitting close to each other and yet they keep
sitting steady but the audience understands it would take a word for them to fall into each
other’s arms. When they are walking in Norland gardens, Elinor’s shawl falls off her
shoulder and Edward rearranges it on her shoulder. They cannot touch each other, but he
touches her shawl. The way Elinor bursts into tears when she learns Edward is not
engaged also gives a strong effect, since it is the first time she exposes herself openly, and
it is rather unusual for a lady to lose the absolute control over her feelings. In the end of the
film when the Dashwood ladies are told Mr and Mrs Ferrars are in the village, silence says
all. According to Emma Thompson, Mrs Dashwood has a moment of realization that she
should have paid more attention to Elinor.
Fanny’s disgust and feeling of superiority towards the Dashwoods is also clearly
seen. When Edward shows affection to Elinor, she promptly tells Mrs. Dashwood that their
mother wants him to get married to a person of the same social level. Her face of disgust
and superiority towards the Dashwoods is unmistakably perceived. When Lucy Steele tells
Fanny she is fond of Edward, Fanny’s facial expression changes completely from friendly
to hostile. Colonel Brandon’s grief by seeing resemblance between Marianne and Eliza,
and later, by seeing Marianne dying of love is shown by his facial expression. His face
changes completely when Marianne begins to express some contempt for him, back at
Barton cottage. In the beginning Marianne looks very immature. Whenever she is with
Willoughby, she looks juvenile. In the end of the film, her face has changed completely.
She looks more mature. These are some of several examples of body language used in the
film which substitute the task of the omniscient narrator in the novel.

Conveying an eighteenth century society in the pictures is also important. The

written language describes manners as well as rules of the society. The film shows them
through acting. Emma Thompson tells in her diaries they have learned root and meaning of
bowls and reverences and have rehearsed them in sessions of historical manners. When
Edward Ferrars visits Elinor in London, she does the honours and invites him to sit down,
even though the house is not hers. That only happens because the owner is absent and
Edward comes to see her. On the other hand, when Edward arrives in Norland, after Mr
Dashwood’s death, both Mrs. Dashwood and Fanny invite Edward to sit down. The
audience understands the estate does not belong to the Dashwoods anymore, and the new
owners are the ones who do the honours. This scene also shows the fastness of which
Fanny embodies her right and duty as the landlady, depriving Mrs Dashwood of her
property.
Colour is another technique used by the director to convey happiness or sadness.
Whenever Marianne is suffering or ill the colours are dark. When Marianne recovers, back
at Barton, the Dashwood girls spend long hours outside enjoying sunny days. At Marianne
and Colonel Brandon’s wedding, the sun is shinning, and the “coins that spin and bounce
catch the sun like jewels” (THOMPSON, 1995, pg.202). Colonel Brandon and Marianne
look extremely happy.

Music is also an important source of showing feelings. It was specially written for
the film by Patrick Doyle. It focuses on Marianne for almost the whole film and develops
as her personality unfolds. She shows to be very passionate and immature. Music describes
her personality. Most pieces of music are played by Marianne in the piano. When she
suffers for Willoughby, music becomes more orchestral and the tune is melancholic. In the
end, music becomes calmer as Marianne grows to be more sensible. Also when Edward
proposes to Elinor the tune is soft and then becomes very cheerful as it unfolds into the
wedding scene. When the Dashwoods leave Norland for Barton cottage a mournful tune is
been played while they are on their way to Barton. Nobody in the carriage speaks but a lot
is being communicated without words. Despite the fact that music was used to convey
meaning, music was little used in the film. According to Emma Thompson there is only
twenty minutes of music in the whole film.
There is a good number of scenes that differ from the novel. In the novel Colonel
Brandon does not offer his hunting knife to Marianne for her to cut the bulrushes. Nor has
he a private conversation with Sir John, for Jane Austen did not know what men talked
when they were alone. Marianne does not walk close to Willoughby’s state and says his
name or Colonel Brandon fetches her from the rain. Colonel Brandon neither gives a piano
to Marianne nor pays frequent visits after she goes back to Barton Cottage. His first visit is
mentioned after Edward Ferrars drops in and tells the Dashwoods it was his brother who
got married to Lucy Steel. It takes Edward Ferrars some visits and a week in the cottage to
resume his relationship with Elinor and to become friends with Colonel Brandon. Besides,
in the novel, Marianne gets married to Colonel Brandon two years after Elinor and Edward
Ferrars’ wedding. Marianne and Colonel Brandon’s wedding is commented by Emma
Thompson. She says this scene makes her feel it would look like a double wedding, but
Elinor and Edward are already married in the novel.
It is understood that it is necessary to cut long narratives in the written text when
adapting it into a film. The time lapse can be conveyed through visual scenes. The time
lapse was not conveyed in the wedding scene. So should we consider the adaptation of that
specific scene an example of flaw? Or did Ang Lee want to convey a double wedding?
Long complex verbal narrative need to be adapted into the film length, and even though
this overlap of time had to be done, the general meaning of the novel was kept unchanged.
This divergence was made necessary when adapting from one medium to another. Paul
Schrader, the screenwriter of Taxi Driver, once said “a film scene should be like a party:
You arrive late and leave early."
The analysis of the adaptation of Sense and Sensibility by Emma Thompson and
Ang Lee shows that the content of Austen’s literary work has not been changed by both
screenwriter and director. The description of morals and codes of the eighteenth century
English society as well as the ironies, misunderstandings and contradictions the narrator
employs are kept in the film adaptation.
 Choice concerning actors with narrow ranges of personalities is validated by the
film audience’s recognition of the characters’ profiles. Well known actors help the film
become more intelligible to the contemporary film goers, especially the ones who have not
had access to the original text.

Besides, the artistic values of literary novels are different from the artistic values of
films. The values of literary novels are based on the written words while the values of
films are based on actions, sights and sounds. Thus, when adapting a film from a novel, it
is necessary to take out words and put sights, sounds and actions. As I have exemplified in
the text above, words to entire narratives were changed to body language, colors, settings
and music, but the film still conveyed the meaning of Jane Austen's novel.

Concluding, film is a complex communicative system for making and conveying

meaning which differs from the novel verbal language system. It is the product of the
screenwriter and director’s artistic interpretation of the original text; thus it becomes an
original work of its own right. So, a film adaptation of a literary text should preserve the
ideas and central meaning of the novel but, at the same time, should be faithful to the
artistic values of the film. This means that the changes the crew have made when adapting
Sense and Sensibility to the wide screen were necessary because it is impossible to
reproduce the integral text. Film is part of an art with its own values and rights, and a film
adaptation of a novel is the manifestation of the creative effort of the director and
screenwriter’s artistic interpretation.