"[4] She also praised the novel for possessing "wonderful characters ... three strong love stories, surprising plot twists, good jokes, relevant themes, and a heart-stopping ending.

[24] At the same time, Thompson wished to avoid depicting "a couple of women waiting around for men";[25] gradually her screenplay focused as much on the Dashwood sisters' relationship with each other as it did with their romantic interests.

[28] Doran felt that Lee's films, which depicted complex family relationships amidst a social comedy context, were a good fit with Austen's storylines.

[32] In January 1995, Thompson presented a draft to Lee, Doran, co-producer Laurie Borg, and others working on the production, and spent the next two months editing the screenplay based upon their feedback.

"[52] They found inspiration in the works of the English artists Thomas Rowlandson, John Hopper, and George Romney, and also reviewed fashion plates stored in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

[30][61] Nevertheless, Doran considered it a "low budget film",[62] and many of the ideas Thompson and Lee came up with – such as an early dramatic scene depicting Mr. Dashwood's bloody fall from a horse – were deemed unfilmable from a cost perspective.

He showed the cast a selection of films adapted from classic novels, including Barry Lyndon and The Age of Innocence, which he believed to be "great movies; everybody worships the art work, [but] it's not what we want to do".

[16] Filming commenced in mid-April 1995 at a number of locations in Devon, beginning with Saltram House (standing in for Norland Park),[77][78] where Winslet and Jones shot the first scene of the production: when their characters read about Barton Cottage.

[79] As Saltram was a National Trust property, Schamus had to sign a contract before production began, and staff with the organisation remained on set to carefully monitor the filming.

[93] Composer Patrick Doyle, who had previously worked with his friend Emma Thompson in the films Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, and Dead Again, was hired to produce the music for Sense and Sensibility.

[111] Another character altered for modern viewers is Margaret Dashwood, who conveys "the frustrations that a girl of our times might feel at the limitations facing her as a woman in the early nineteenth century.

[112] Margaret's altered storyline, giving her an interest in fencing and geography, also allows audience members to see the "feminine" side of Edward and Brandon, as they become father or brother figures to her.

[121] During the writing process, executive producer Sydney Pollack stressed that the film be understandable to modern audiences, and that it be made clear why the Dashwood sisters could not just obtain a job.

Penny Gay observed that Elinor's early dialogue with Edward about "feel[ing] idle and useless ... [with] no hope whatsoever of any occupation" reflected Thompson's background as a "middle class, Cambridge-educated feminist.

"[135] Conversely, Dole wrote that Thompson's version of Elinor "has a surprising anti-feminist element to it," as she appears more dependent on men than the original character; the film presents her as repressed, resulting in her emotional breakdown with Edward.

[136] Linda Troost opined that Lee's production prominently features "radical feminist and economic issues" while "paradoxically endorsing the conservative concept of marriage as a woman's goal in life.

[49] Gay and Julianne Pidduck stated that gender differences are expressed by showing the female characters indoors, while their male counterparts are depicted outside confidently moving throughout the countryside.

[138][139] Nora Stovel observed that Thompson "emphasises Austen's feminist satire on Regency gender economics," drawing attention not only to the financial plight of the Dashwoods but also to eighteenth-century women in general.

[30] Believing that a limited release would both position the film as an "exclusive quality picture" and increase its chances of winning Academy Awards, Columbia dictated that its first weekend involve only seventy cinemas in the US; it opened in eleventh place in terms of box office takings and earned $721,341.

[30] The number of theatres showing Sense and Sensibility was slowly expanded, with particular surges when its seven Oscar nominations were announced and at the time of the ceremony in late March, until it was present in over one thousand cinemas across the US.

Near the time of its US release, large spreads in The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, Film Comment, and other media outlets featured columns on Lee's production.

[149][150] Sense and Sensibility increased dramatically in terms of its book sales, ultimately hitting tenth place on The New York Times Best Seller list for paperbacks in February 1996.

[151] In the United Kingdom, Sense and Sensibility was released on 23 February 1996 in order to "take advantage of the hype from Pride and Prejudice", another popular Austen adaptation recently broadcast.

The website's consensus reads, "Sense and Sensibility is an uncommonly deft, very funny Jane Austen adaptation, marked by Emma Thompson's finely tuned performance.

"[161] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle lauded the film for containing a sense of urgency "that keeps the pedestrian problems of an unremarkable 18th century family immediate and personal.

"[165] Jay Carr of The Boston Globe thought that Lee "nail[ed] Austen's acute social observation and tangy satire," and viewed Thompson and Winslet's age discrepancy as a positive element that helped feed the dichotomy of sense and sensibility.

[166] The Radio Times' David Parkinson was equally appreciative of Lee's direction, writing that he "avoid[s] the chocolate-box visuals that cheapen so many British costume dramas" and "brings a refreshing period realism to the tale of two sisters that allows Emma Thompson's respectful Oscar-winning script to flourish.

[175][176] Lee sought to avoid turning his omission into a scandal and specifically asked the Taiwan state media not to make it a "national issue", explaining that he endured more pressure when forced to act as his country's representative.

"[18] When Sense and Sensibility was released in cinemas in the US, Town & Country published a six-page article entitled "Jane Austen's England", which focused on the landscape and sites shown in the film.

As a reaction to what he said was Lee's overly "sentimental" film, this production features events found in the novel but excluded from Thompson's screenplay, such as Willoughby's seduction of Eliza and his duel with Brandon.