‘Sense and Sensibility’ boasts a top-notch cast and a remarkable pedigree. Emma Thompson not only stars but also won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, while Ang Lee – who would later direct ‘The Ice Storm’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’ – brings the kind of outsider’s perspective that John Schlesinger brought to ‘Midnight Cowboy’. Lee’s sensitivity to interior drama, filtered through a different cultural lens, enriches the film and heightens the sense of worlds colliding.

Released in early 1996, it arrived only months after ‘Clueless’, another Austen adaptation, albeit a modern high-school reimagining of ‘Emma’, and around the same time as the BBC’s landmark ‘Pride and Prejudice’ miniseries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. This was very much a period when Austen’s work had cultural currency, and Lee’s film felt both timely and timeless.

At its heart, the film wrestles with enduring questions of status, wealth, and suitability in relationships – concerns not so different from those explored in contemporary films like ‘Materialists’. Like ‘Howards End’, it begins with a family displaced after the death of the father, forced to make ends meet in straitened circumstances while confronting obstacles, rivalries, and shifting allegiances.

What is striking today is how modern some of the dynamics feel. We might now call Greg Wise’s character a gaslighter, a term that wasn’t in common use in the mid-1990s, and certainly not in Austen’s day. On the surface, he appears the perfect match for Kate Winslet’s passionate Marianne, but his charm masks manipulative tendencies. By contrast, Alan Rickman’s Colonel Brandon initially seems surly and burdened by a mysterious past, yet proves to be the more steadfast and compassionate suitor. The film probes how appearances deceive, what qualities we value in a partner, and how easily love can be mistaken for infatuation.

The narrative thrives on misunderstandings and limited knowledge – after all, this was an era long before telephones, let alone social media – where characters must guess at one another’s motives, with rumours of engagements spreading confusion. Austen’s comedy of errors plays out beautifully, from heartbreak over presumed betrothals to the joy of sudden reversals when those assumptions unravel.

Lee also avoids the overly lush visual palette that often characterizes period dramas. Instead of endlessly sunlit landscapes, we get stormy, windswept countrysides and costumes more restrained and realistic than the opulent wardrobe we might expect. The result is a world that feels lived-in, textured, and emotionally authentic.

Hugh Grant’s charm, the wit of Austen’s dialogue, and Thompson’s sharp script all combine to create a film that balances comedy with sharp social critique. ‘Sense and Sensibility’ is not only a faithful adaptation but also a deeply human exploration of love, money, and hierarchy – one that still resonates today.