No one yearns like an Austen man yearns. The 2026 Sense & Sensibility adaptation is here to remind audiences of that very fact. Much like Pride & Prejudice’s iconic hand flex, the palpable tension in Sense & Sensibility turns the longing up to 11.
The film, from director Georgie Oakley, leans into the romance of Jane Austen’s novel to create an adaptation that feels both faithful to Austen’s work and refreshingly modern.
Despite its setting set some 200 years ago, Oakley and her talented cast breathe life into Austen’s iconic characters in a way that modern audiences will not only relate to (yes, even with modern dating apps) but recognise in themselves.
“The themes that she was exploring are kind of the stakes of a human life,” Daisy Edgar-Jones, who plays Elinor, tells marie claire during a stop on her Australian press tour.
“Even though I really do feel like this film honours its period, it does feel really fresh because ultimately everything that the women experience isn’t that far away from what we do today, particularly within the realms of romance.”
At the heart of Edgar-Jones’ connection to Elinor was the familiar struggle between who she is privately and the woman society expects her to be.
“That strange relationship you have between what’s going on inside and the way in which you feel you should behave to be palatable in society, I find that as an experience I could really relate to – that difficult, particularly as a woman, feeling of how do I kind of fill in the gaps?”
For Esmé Creed-Miles, who plays the middle Dashwood sister, Marianne, the balance between period drama and modern retelling came down to the relationship between Oakley’s “filmmaking style” and “how we actually played these roles”.
“She [Oakley] embraces proper craftsmanship when it comes to filmmaking…we shot on film, and there’s a nostalgic texture to the actual tone of the movie. But then, the way we play these women is quite contemporary and fresh; we intentionally try to dissolve those barriers you sometimes feel when watching a period drama.”
As for what sets the Austen men apart as romantic leads still to this day? Well, it all comes back to yearning.
“I do think Austen and the world of Austen does provide a good backdrop for the yearn because there are so many barriers between the characters that do create that kind of amped up sense of yearning,” Edgar-Jones explains.
The film is as much about Elinor and Marianne’s turbulent, yearning-fuelled love stories as it is about their relationship as sisters as they navigate love, societal expectations and their contrasting temperaments.
“I really felt so proud that this film about kind of female resilience was made and shepherded by brilliant, resilient women,” Edgar-Jones tells us. “The true love story is the girls, really.”
Sense and Sensibility releases in cinemas across Australia on Thursday, October 15th.
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