Thoughts on BBC's Sense and Sensibility 1971

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BBC’s Sense and Sensibility 1971

BBC Mini-Series

Runtime- 4 episode series, total time- 2hr 58min

Air date- January 9th, 1971

Director- David Giles

Writers- Denis Constanduros

Filming locations- United Kingdom

Where to watch- Purchase DVD on Amazon

Starring Joanna David as Elinor Dashwood and Ciaran Madden as Marianne Dashwood

Source

When BBC produced Jane Austen adaptations in the eighties, there was a lot of poor cinematography. It came with the expectation that it was the production standard until that point. So when I was watching Sense and Sensibility 1971, I was really pleasantly surprised.

Cinematography

I wouldn’t consider this adaptation a phenomenal art of cinematography. But compared to what BBC was putting out in the eighties, it is significant. I didn’t have any issues with lighting, granted I did not think they used lighting with any creative integrity. I just did not have an issue with lack of lighting, or even too much lighting. There were a lot of cut scenes with landscape and scenery which were beautiful and very on-brand with videography during the seventies. Overall I could tell that there was a sense of care put into this production.

Styling

I like the costuming, for the most part, it fits the Regency-era style. There may have been a few details on some of the dresses where I am not too sure if that fit historical accuracy, but I don’t think it was anything atrocious that is anything worth noting.

My favorite thing about this adaptation was the hairstyles of Elinor and Marianne. In a general sense, the style did fit the hairstyles worn during the Regency era, except for the fact that both girls had volume upon volume with their curls in their updo. It isn’t historically accurate, but I do love the styling in my personal preferences.

Elinor and Marianne

I thought both leads did well for their respective parts, except for one characteristic from both of them.

For Elinor, I felt that the whole time she was in Norland with Edward, she really did not interact with him well. Edward showed much interest in her, but Elinor kept pushing him away or denying engaging in any activity with him.

As for Marianne, it made me realize that she could be very rude and immature. I gave it a bit of thought and concluded that it could be seen as rude and immature if she was so very blunt with indifferent to society in general. The actress that played her provoked me to see a different aspect of the character. I am not too sure how I feel about it though.

Steele Sisters

The last thing I want to touch upon is the Steele sisters in this adaptation. Like the novel, there are two sisters in this edition, but unlike the book, they are Lucy and Nancy, not Lucy and Anne. I thought it was a little weird that they changed Anne’s name to Nancy, as I do not understand why they would do that, but they did.

These sisters were mean. Mean to Marianne and even Lucy to Elinor. I understand the jealousy, but to confide in Elinor with such a secret that Lucy had only to be nasty to Elinor any chance she gets. I felt it made their characters even worse people than what they should have been seen as.