When I first walked into Georgia Oakley’s Sense and Sensibility, a film adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1811 debut novel, I was instantly struck by the mise-en-scène of the film.
Mise-en-scène refers to everything within the filmed image and is the totality of what we see, and every visual element creates meaning for the audience to interpret.
Oakley’s use of mise-en-scène is essential to her adaptation as it captures the emotional intensity between Edward Ferrars, Colonel Brandon, Elinor Dashwood and Marianne Dashwood.
Unlike the 1995 adaptation, Oakley’s use of costumes and colour grading immerse the audience in feelings throughout the course of the film. I was struck by the colour grading and natural aspects that added to a warm and cozy element.
These aspects also created a romantic feeling in the film which I particularly enjoyed. Compared to Emerald Fennell’s 2026 adaption of Wuthering Heights, I found the use of scenery in Oakley’s film to tell a story beyond its aesthetics.
The rain scene, with Marianne running toward Willoughby’s estate and screaming his name, was especially well done. The mise-en-scène throughout this particular scene captured the emotional intensity within Marianne, and I noticed similar parallels between Oakley’s use of rain and Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
Rain heightens the emotional intensity in modern-day rom-coms and illustrates deep undertones of emotional reflection in film. Nature often reflects protagonists’ feelings and subconscious thoughts, while adding to the overall aesthetic and mood of a film.
The element of rain in Wright’s Pride and Prejudice captures the emotional turmoil between the two characters. Wright’s adaptation changes the proposal setting compared to Austen’s novel, where Darcy proposes in the parsonage. Having Darcy propose outdoors in the rain creates a visually dramatic effect while maintaining the romantic rain motif seen in rom-coms.
The rain scene in Sense and Sensibility has a similar affect. Once again, the motif of rain maintains a visually dramatic and romantic effect as both Oakley and Wright reimagine the scenes of their adaptations to create visually aesthetic and cinematographic films.
In Oakley’s adaptation, the rain scene also adds to Marianne’s distress and emotional turmoil upon learning that (spoiler alert) Willoughby is engaged to Miss Grey. Her refusal to eat or let people help her, with her ultimate choice of going on a long melancholic walk, illustrate her at an all-time low.
Ultimately, Oakley’s use of mise-en-scène within her adaptation beautifully illustrates situationships and captures Austen’s novel on screen in a raw, emotional and beautiful way that will bring out many emotions within the viewer.
I highly suggest running to the theatres to check out this impressive adaptation.
