1995: Sense and Sensibility

Screenplay by Emma Thompson
Adapted from the novel Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

When Mr. Dashwood dies, his estate passes on to his son from his first marriage, leaving his second wife and three daughters essentially destitute. Soon afterward, the elder two daughters, practical Elinor and passionate Marianne, each fall in love, but their lack of fortune and a few other twists of fate place several obstacles in their paths to marriage.

As always when a novel is adapted into a feature film, several details had to be omitted. A few characters were completely eliminated, most notably Lady Middleton, whose husband is said to be a widower in the film, although she is very much alive in the book, and all of her children, as well as the elder Miss Steele, whose existence is never mentioned in the movie; Lucy is assumed to be an only child. Although their inclusion in the novel greatly enhanced its comedic value, they didn't really enhance the plot much, and the few ways in which they did were flawlessly transferred to other characters in the film. There were a couple of significant events in the book which did not take place in the movie, but a few other events were slightly altered to make them no longer necessary, which I thought was well done. For example (spoiler alert), in the book Willoughby shows up when Marianne is ill to explain himself to Elinor, whereas in the movie he doesn't, but earlier when Colonel Brandon tells her more details of Willoughby's villainy, the movie has him include some of Willoughby's justification, thereby eliminating the need for Willoughby's return.

The movie also added some things that weren't in the book that I appreciated. The third daughter, Margaret, is relatively unimportant in the novel, but the movie gives her more of a personality. Similarly, though the book makes it clear that Elinor likes Edward Ferrars at the beginning, it doesn't show why, at least to the extent that the movie does. The novel briefly describes his personality, but the film adds specific incidents to show what he's like, all of which are perfectly in line with the book's description. I find it particularly interesting that he is shown to interact with Margaret so much, since they were both somewhat underdeveloped in the novel. Furthermore, in the movie Edward is on the point of telling Elinor his secret before she moves away, whereas in the book Elinor doesn't have any idea until Lucy Steele springs it on her.

Overall, though the two versions have many differences, the characters and the heart of the story remain consistent, making this, in my opinion, definitely one of the better adaptations to have won this award. The eliminations didn't significantly detract from the story, and the additions enhanced it. Why can't all adaptations be this good?

Next up: Sling Blade, the first, and so far only, Best Adapted Screenplay winner that was based on a short film