A generation before Charlotte Brontë complained that Austen’s writing was devoid of heart-rending emotion (the kind that could drive one, say, to attempted bigamy), Austen herself wrote a 122,291-word warning against letting that kind of emotion drive you to bad decisions that could ruin – or perhaps even cost you – your life.
Of all the novels, this is the preachiest. You need to read it once, after which you shouldn’t feel guilty when you mostly enjoy it through adaptations.
As with several others I’ve described, three adaptations are reasonably popular and reasonably available:
- The 1981 BBC miniseries starring Irene Richard as Elinor Dashwood, Tracey Childs as Marianne Dashwood, Bosco Hogan as Edward Ferrars, and Robert Swann as Colonel Brandon
- The 2008 BBC miniseries starring Hattie Morahan as Elinor Dashwood, Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars, Charity Wakefield as Marianne Dashwood, and David Morrissey as Colonel Brandon
- The 1995 theatrical release starring Emma Thompson as Elinor Dashwood, Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars, Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood, and Alan Rickman: Colonel Brandon
I hope to provided more detailed reviews soon, but here are my “Cliff Notes” responses to these:
If you join a Jane Austen book club or are going to take a test and simply cannot get through the book, your best bet is to watch one or both of the BBC miniseries.
The 1981 miniseries, which I confess I have not watched all the way through, first exposed countless viewers to the delights of this story. But as one of the first-generation BBC adaptations, the acting may seem overly reserved, and the action a little slow, compared to later versions.
The 2008 miniseries is more engrossing than the earlier version. It does start with a scene from a backstory that neither the book nor the other adaptations reveal until over halfway through, but that’s forgivable once you understand how it affects later events. There is more emotion in general than the 1981 version, including bits that show how the characters are feeling at each stage of the process. If you want a version that is enjoyable but also tells “the whole story,” this may be your best choice. Do you know what? You should watch it anyway. You’ll thank me later.
That said, if you want a fun version with an all-star cast and exceptional scripting and acting, and you don’t mind missing some of the minor characters or plot bits, go for the 1995 Emma Thompson production. A young Hugh Grant plays the tongue-tied Edward to a “T.” The late Alan Rickman, as the besotted Colonel Brandon will rip your heart out, and the chemistry among the cast females is unmatched.