Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 period drama film directed by Ang Lee and based on Jane Austen's 1811 novel of the same name. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay and stars as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays Elinor's younger sister Marianne. The story follows the Dashwood sisters, members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry, as they must deal with circumstances of sudden destitution. They are forced to seek financial security through marriage. Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman play their respective suitors.

Plot

When Mr. Dashwood dies, his wife and three daughters — Elinor, Marianne and Margaret — are left with an inheritance of only £500 a year. The bulk of his estate, Norland Park, is left to his son John from a previous marriage. John and his greedy, snobbish wife Fanny immediately install themselves in the large house; Fanny invites her brother Edward Ferrars to stay with them. She frets about the budding friendship between Edward and Elinor, believing he can do better, and does everything she can to prevent it from developing into a romantic attachment.