This week's throwdown asks you to choose your favorite Elinor Dashwood: the witty, charming, and talented Emma Thompson, or quietly beautiful and talented Hattie Morahan. Let the votes begin!
Favorite Elinor Dashwood
Emma Thompson, Sense and Sensibility, 1995An academy award winning actress when she played Elinor, Emma "scored one of her biggest hits with Sense and Sensibility, a pleasing, literate adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. Thompson not only stars as Elinor Dashwood but also scripted—and earned an Academy Award for her effort—lending to the material a refreshing contemporary air." - Film Reference
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Hattie Morahan, Sense and Sensibility, 2007Interviewed by Jasper Rees from the Telegraph.Uk.Com, Hattie Morahan said about her role as Elinor, "People would say, 'Why are they making it again?' I kept saying, 'It was 12 years ago.' I deliberately didn't watch the film again and decided not to think about Emma Thompson. Because you would go mad. It would distort your work. I thought, it'll be original by virtue of the fact that it's me doing it and there is only one me."
Posted by Vic, Jane Austen's World
11 comments:
Hattie did a great job of portraying Elinor but Emma Thompson will always be my favourite, not only for her performance but because the '95 S&S led me to discover Jane Austen. To this day, I'm shocked when friends don't know who Jane is but I shouldn't be surprised when I didn't really know myself just a few years ago. The Canadian curriculum doesn't necessarily include Austen...
Dear, Vic
May I vote on both? I love Emma, but Hattie is so lovely too...
I love Hattie. I think she, and all the other characters in the movie, are younger and better fit for the characters.
Yes, she is a much closer fit in age to Elinor than Emma. However,to give the 1995 production its due, Kate Winslet was only 19 when she played Marianne.
Raquel, I am in the same boat as you. I cannot choose between them.
This is the first throwdown where I seriously can't decide!
Emma Thompson. No contest. I guess I am in the minority, but I disliked the new version from top to bottom, although Miss Morahan was the person I liked best in the whole affair. Still, as someone who identifies with Elinor Dashwood, Emma Thompson's brilliant, nuanced, and restrained performance -is- Elinor for me, regardless of "accurate" ages.
Hattie is exactly how I always picture Elinor to look and sound, so I chose her. Nothing to do with talent or who gave the better performance! :)
~S.
To me Emma's performance--and her screenplay adaptation--is exquisite. She hits all the right notes, with gentleness, humor, pathos, and sparkling intelligence. She earns the happy ending. A great actor can play any age, folks.
I prefer the 1995 film, its witty script echoing Jane Austen's fine writing, but I was not disappointed with Hattie's performance.
Hard choice. Karen
I have to agree with Charleybrown here. It's all Emma for me for the same reason. The 1995 film led me to discover Jane Austen. I have always been an avid reader and I had heard of Jane, but it wasn't until I saw this movie that I became a lover of Jane's writing. This movie was also my first exposure to Kate Winslet as an actress and led to a loyal following of her career as well. Her portrayal of Marianne was both fresh and heartbreaking.
Loved them both but must give the edge to Emma...she is a personal fav of mine, excellent and totally amazing to watch no matter what the material !
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