A new take on Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility arrives this week and with it a new recreation of Georgian England in all its finery.
Directed by Blue Jean’s Georgia Oakley and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, George MacKay, Fiona Shaw, The Worst Person in the World’s Herbert Nordrum and a host of other British and Irish (and Norwegian) acting luminaries, it follows the Dashwood sisters and their mother (Caitríona Balfe) as they build a new, more straitened life for themselves in the wake of Mr Dashwood’s death and some unfortunate business with his will.
With umpteen TV and movie takes on Austen’s work and world already up on screen – including Ang Lee’s 1995 Oscar-winning classic – the challenge of locations that hadn’t been used a dozen times already was a formidable one.
Where was Sense and Sensibility filmed?
Austen’s 1811 novel follows the Dashwood family – Mrs Dashwood (Balfe) and her daughters Elinor (Edgar-Jones), Marianne (Creed-Miles) and Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) from their grand seat at Barton Park in Sussex to the more meagre surrounds of Devon’s Barton Cottage. Their new rural abode puts them in the orbit of Sir John Middleton (Turlough Convery), Lady Middleton (Chloe Pirrie) and his mother-in-law Mrs Jennings (Shaw) at nearby Barton Park.
Here, Marianne encounters the raffish John Willoughby (Frank Dillane) and seemingly stolid but sincere military man Colonel Brandon (Nordrum), while Elinor despairs of a lack of contact from the handsome, circumspect Edward Ferrars (MacKay)
From there, the two older sisters make a foray into London for the balls and gossipy soirées of the season. Will they find love? Will someone be make a major social faux pas and be forced into a duel? Here’s where all the romance and drama played out for real.
The Dashwood’s ancestral home was filmed at Kingston Russell House in Dorset
At the opening of the story, the Dashwoods are mourning their father in the family’s large Sussex pile, Norwood Park. Enter the sisters’ weak-willed half-brother John Dashwood (Tom Brooke) and his hissable wife Fanny (Stacy Martin) and the women are forced to move out and take residence in Devon.
The location used for Norwood Park, Kingston Russell House, a private manor in west Dorset, was a major coup for the film, having never been used for filming before. ‘Our location scout discovered it by cycling past it,’ remembers Oakley, ‘and it was so perfect because it was inhabited by a family, it was a little bit overgrown and it has this wild feeling I was looking for. It’s really difficult to find houses like that these days that don’t have a team of people making them pristine every day.’
The Dashwood’s lake was filmed at Parnham Park in Dorset
An early scene in the film sees Elinor chatting with Edward Ferrers while skipping stones on the lake at Norland. The lake can actually be found at Parnham Park, a stately home close to the Dorset coast. The house itself doesn’t feature in the movie but visitors can appreciate the Regency architecture of John Nash, who remodelled the house in the early 19th century, and book into its walled garden restaurant.
📍How to visit Parnham Park
Barton Cottage was filmed at Ditsworthy Warren House on Dartmoor
‘The building was regular, the roof was tiled, the window shutters were not painted green, nor were the walls covered with honeysuckles,’ wrote Jane Austen about the underwhelming Devon cottage the Dashwood sisters were forced to call home after their exile from Norwood. Initially derelict when Oakley and her production team arrived, Ditsworthy Warren House did come with Hollywood history: it was used as the Narracott family farm in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse.
The weather on Dartmoor was a bit of a hindrance
‘Everyone loved filming on Dartmoor the most,’ Oakley tells , ‘because there were wild ponies walking past the window every five minutes and it was breathtakingly beautiful. The weather was a bit of a hindrance. There were a lot of shots where lighting stands were clattering around in the background. It was difficult from a technical perspective but we loved it.’
Barton Park was filmed at Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire
Up the road from Barton Cottage is Barton Park, the estate belonging to the Dashwood’s new benefactor Sir John Middleton. The Devonshire house was filmed at Broughton Castle, a moated manor house in Oxfordshire. The drawing room and dining room scenes were filmed at the castle, as well as film’s duel scene. Set in 92 acres of parkland and dates back to 1306, Broughton has also appeared in Shakespeare in Love, The Madness of King George and Cary Fukunaga’s 2011 Jane Eyre. (In the Ang Lee version, Barton Park was filmed at Trafalgar Park in Wiltshire.)
📍How to visit Broughton Castle
Barton Beach was filmed at Mothecombe Beach in Devon
An ill-fated trip to the seaside leaves Marianne with a sprained ankle and introduces Mr Willoughby as a dashing knight in shining armour. The unspoiled sandy beach at Mothecombe at the mouth of the River Erme was used for the scene.
Cleveland House was filmed at Knebworth House
Cleveland House, the Somerset estate of Mr Palmer (Eliot Sumner) and his wife Charlotte (Bethany Slater), is the site of Marianne Dashwood’s recovery from a life-threatening fever. The exteriors and interiors of Cleveland were filmed at Hertfordshire’s Knebworth House, a staple in period pieces from Tim Burton’s Batman to Paddington 2.
📍How to visit Knebworth House
Mrs Jennings’ London home was filmed at Lincoln’s Inn and Rainham Hall
Marianne and Elinor stay at Mrs Jennings’ Portman Square townhouse when they travel up to London. The exteriors of the house were filmed at Lincoln’s Inn, while the Georgian interiors, including the entrance hall, bedroom and dining room, are actually Rainham Hall. The National Trust property is hosting an exhibition to mark the release of the film. If you fancy taking a look at key costumes, accessories and props from the film, head for Rainham from September 24.
📍How to see ‘Filming Sense and Sensibility’ at Rainham Hall.
The country dance sequence was shot at Penshurst Place in Kent
Another key location is the majestic 14th-century Kent estate of Penshurst Place, which was transformed into Barton Assembly Rooms and played host to 140 extras, eight dogs and a crew of 150 for the first of two big dance sequences. Penshurst, which has also played host to key scenes in Wolf Hall and The Princess Bride, is open to visitors until November 1.
📍How to visit Penhurst Place
The National Gallery stands in for The Royal Academy
As ladies of culture, the Dashwoods’ visit to London takes in a visit to Piccadilly’s Royal Academy. The real Royal Academy didn’t match the colour palette Oakley was looking for, so the National Gallery subbed in. ‘We got in there at 4am and we had to be out for the public to come in by 10am,’ remembers the director, ‘and it was quite a big scene and ah yeah, not such good memories of shooting there. Obviously we couldn’t have lighting and equipment in case we knocked over a painting, which was prohibitive but amazing. But also we got to walk around the gallery with no one else there. I love that scene so much’
What are the critics saying about Sense and Sensibility?
The most positive is The Telegraph’s, which describes this new Sense and Sensibility as a ‘wild and plangently beautiful successor’ to Ang Lee’s film, ‘astutely adapted and exquisitely directed by Georgia Oakley’. Next Big Picture picks out the film’s lead for praise: ‘Edgar-Jones has a refined quality to her screen presence that makes her a perfect Elinor.’
‘Director Georgia Oakley’s take on Austen is undeniably gorgeous,’ writes The Independent. ‘Shot on 35mm film, there’s a gentle moodiness to cinematographer Arnaud Potier’s use of natural lighting, and to the suppressed hunger sensed in Edgar-Jones’s bright, open, vulnerable features.’
The Guardian notes that ‘it always looks and sounds perfectly good, though some of the sensibility is lacking.’ ‘It’s Austen extremely undercooked, perfunctory, utilitarian, and depressingly free from personality,’ says The Times.
When is Sense and Sensibility out in cinemas?
It’s in cinemas worldwide on Friday, September 25.
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