I am always interested in how a movie is received on both sides of the Atlantic. This is a film that won the top award at Berlin, but picked up a well deserved academy award for Emma Thompson--not for her acting skills but for her writing skills. Turning Jane Austen into delectable cinema is not an easy chore.
The film is unusual. Chinese director Ang Lee ("Crouching tiger, hidden dragon") is not an obvious director that could have brought this literary work on screen--yet he deserves full credit in making the film as a top notch Britisher would have done. Even the executive producer is an American director of no mean repute--Sidney Pollack, who must have known that he was investing in a winner.
I applaud Mr Lee for working with cinematographer Michael Coulter to make a film with so many shots that could have made so many picture-postcards. English landscapes have rarely looked so lovely. Details like ladies negotiating horse droppings make the film realistic or the silent appraisal by Willoughby's lady friend of Mariannae Dashwood (Kate Winslet) at the dance are executed with care and intelligence, not common in Chinese cinema. Mr Lee is truly international.
Alan Rickman, for once, restrains his histrionics and is a pleasure to watch him interact with well chosen cast.
What this film achieves is not merely introduce Jane Austen to new readers, but also argue that literary works can be modified intelligently on screen, without losing authenticity of the original, not just by the English but by people from far away lands. The Berlin Festival jury realized this very well.
The film is unusual. Chinese director Ang Lee ("Crouching tiger, hidden dragon") is not an obvious director that could have brought this literary work on screen--yet he deserves full credit in making the film as a top notch Britisher would have done. Even the executive producer is an American director of no mean repute--Sidney Pollack, who must have known that he was investing in a winner.
I applaud Mr Lee for working with cinematographer Michael Coulter to make a film with so many shots that could have made so many picture-postcards. English landscapes have rarely looked so lovely. Details like ladies negotiating horse droppings make the film realistic or the silent appraisal by Willoughby's lady friend of Mariannae Dashwood (Kate Winslet) at the dance are executed with care and intelligence, not common in Chinese cinema. Mr Lee is truly international.
Alan Rickman, for once, restrains his histrionics and is a pleasure to watch him interact with well chosen cast.
What this film achieves is not merely introduce Jane Austen to new readers, but also argue that literary works can be modified intelligently on screen, without losing authenticity of the original, not just by the English but by people from far away lands. The Berlin Festival jury realized this very well.