Sense and Sensibility (film) Davies, the screenwriter of "Pride and Prejudice", adapted "Sense and Sensibility" for television. 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. It also features actors closer to the ages in the source material. "Sense and Sensibility" has maintained its popularity into the twenty-first century. In 2004, Louise Flavin referred to the 1995 film as "the most popular of the Austen film adaptations," and in 2008, "The Independent" ranked it as the third-best
Sense and Sensibility desires. Austen shows, according to Poovey, this conflict between individual desire and the restraint of moral principles through the character of Elinor herself. Except for Elinor, all of the female characters in "Sense and Sensibility" experience some kind of female excess. Poovey argues that while Austen does recognize "the limitations of social institutions," she demonstrates the necessity of controlling the "dangerous excesses of female feeling" rather than liberating them. She does so by demonstrating that Elinor's self-denial, especially in her keeping of Lucy Steele's secret and willingness to help Edward, even though both of these actions were hurtful to her,