Jane Austen continues to be popular nearly 200 years after her passing in large part because of the wonderful characters she created. Her six novels have served as the basis for numerous television and film adaptations and each has its own legion of devoted fans. In fact, if you wanted to start an argument among Austen fans all you would have to do is pick one of the books at random and suggest that one was the best over all the others.

In the same way, Austen fans tend to disagree over which of the film adaptations of a particular novel is the best. The newest version of Sense and Sensibility produced by the BBC won't necessarily settle any arguments but it will certainly fuel a lot of discussion.

The story revolves around two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. At the opening of the story, their father has suddenly died, forcing them to find another home. In the early 19th century women typically did not inherit real estate and so the home would pass to the next male relative, so the Dashwoods must find a new place to call home. As often was the case, the two sisters look to marriage as a way to resolve the issue of where to live. Marriage was often a more practical than emotional consideration. Both sisters meet men who interest them but how their respective relationships develop are directly related to each sister's own emotional issues.

Elinor is more reserved and therefore the "sensible" of the sisters. She is introverted to the brink of being emotionally crippled. She can't seem to reveal her true feelings and some of her relational missteps are the direct result of her inability to express her emotions. In addition, she wants to marry for love as opposed to practical reasons (a sentiment that Austen herself shared). In order to secure her future, she must overcome her reticence to express herself and be willing to let others know how she feels.

Marianne, by contrast, is the far more emotional of the sisters. Where Elinor may be seen as too sensible, Marianne's fault is that she lacks sensibility. She is far too easily swayed by her feelings and as result makes decisions that have disastrous results (even to the point of putting her own life in peril).

As with all of Austen's novels, the main characters each have a major personality flaw that they must overcome in order to find true love. Such development in character takes time to unfold and so to do justice to the original novel it's important to take time to discover these characters.

Thankfully, the filmmakers took the time to really accurately capture the essence of the novel. We gradually see changes in both heroines as each learns painful lessons from their individual shortcomings and overcomes their mistakes to be able to achieve true love.

The selection of Andrew Davies as the screenwriter was a stroke of genius. With his long list of previous literary adaptations (including the beloved 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice) he seems to understand better than any screenwriter working today what it takes to bring Austen to the screen.