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Sense and Sensibility
Screenplay by Emma Thompson
Based on the novel by Jane Austen
EXT. OPEN ROADS - NIGHT - TITLE SEQUENCE
A series of traveling shots. A well-dressed, pompous-looking
individual (JOHN DASHWOOD, 35) is making an urgent journey
on horseback. He looks anxious.
EXT. NORLAND PARK - ENGLAND - MARCH 1800 - NIGHT
Silence. Norland Park, a large country house built in the
early part of the eighteenth century, lies in the moonlit
parkland.
INT. NORLAND PARK - MR DASHWOOD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
In the dim light shed by candles we see a bed in which a MAN
(MR DASHWOOD, 52) lies his skin waxy, his breathing laboured.
Around him two silhouettes move and murmur, their clothing
susurrating in the deathly hush. DOCTORS. A WOMAN (MRS
DASHWOOD, 50) sits by his side, holding his hand, her eyes
never leaving his face.
MR DASHWOOD
(urgent)
Is John not yet arrived?
MRS DASHWOOD
We expect him at any moment, dearest.
MR DASHWOOD looks anguished.
MR DASHWOOD
The girls--I have left so little.
MRS DASHWOOD
Shh, hush, Henry.
MR DASHWOOD
Elinor will try to look after you
all, but make sure she finds a good
husband. The men are such noodles
hereabouts, little wonder none has
pleased her.
They smile at each other. MRS DASHWOOD is just managing to
conceal her fear and grief
MRS DASHWOOD
But Marianne is sure to find her
storybook hero.
MR DASHWOOD
A romantic poet with flashing eyes
and empty pockets?
MRS DASHWOOD
As long as she loves him, whoever he
is.
MR DASHWOOD
Margaret will go to sea and become a
pirate so we need not concern
ourselves with her.
MRS DASHWOOD tries to laugh but it emerges as a sob. An older
MANSERVANT (THOMAS) now enters, anxiety written on every
feature.
THOMAS
Your son is arrived from London,
sir.
MR DASHWOOD squeezes his wife's hand.
MR DASHWOOD
Let me speak to John alone.
She nods quickly and he smiles at her with infinite
tenderness.
MR DASHWOOD
Ah, my dear. How happy you have made
me.
MRS DASHWOOD makes a superhuman effort and smiles back. She
allows THOMAS to help her out. She passes JOHN DASHWOOD as
he enters, presses his hand, but cannot speak. JOHN takes
her place by the bed.
JOHN
Father...
MR DASHWOOD summons his last ounces of energy and starts to
whisper with desperate intensity.
MR DASHWOOD
John you will find out soon enough
from my will that the estate of
Norland was left to me in such a way
as prevents me from dividing it
between my families.
JOHN blinks. He cannot quite take it in.
JOHN
Calm yourself, Father. This is not
good for you.
But MR DASHWOOD continues with even greater determination.
MR DASHWOOD
Norland in its entirety is therefore
yours by law and I am happy for you
and Fanny.
JOHN looks torn between genuine distress and unexpected
delight.
MR DASHWOOD
But your stepmother my wife and
daughters are left with only five
hundred pounds a year, barely enough
to live on and nothing for the girls'
dowries. You must help them.
JOHN's face is a picture of conflicting emotions. Behind
them is the ominous rustling of parchments.
JOHN
Of course
MR DASHWOOD
You must promise to do this.
A brief moment of sincerity overcomes JOHN's natural
hypocrisy.
JOHN
I promise, Father, I promise.
MR DASHWOOD seems relieved. Suddenly his breathing changes.
JOHN looks alarmed. He rises and we hear him going to find
the DOCTOR.
JOHN
Come! Come quickly!
But it is we who share the dying man's last words.
MR DASHWOOD
Help them.
EXT. JOHN AND FANNY'S TOWN HOUSE - LONDON - DAY
Outside the house sits a very well-to-do carriage. Behind it
waits another open carriage upon which servants are laying
trunks and boxes.
FANNY (V.O.)
'Help them?'
INT. JOHN AND FANNY'S TOWN HOUSE - DRESSING ROOM - DAY
JOHN is standing in mourning clothes and a traveling cape.
He is watching, and obviously waiting for, a pert WOMAN (FANNY
DASHWOOD) who is standing by a mirror looking at him keenly.
FANNY
What do you mean, 'help them'?
JOHN
Dearest, I mean to give them three
thousand pounds.
FANNY goes very still. JOHN gets nervous.
JOHN
The interest will provide them with
a little extra income. Such a gift
will certainly discharge my promise
to my father.
FANNY slowly turns back to the mirror.
FANNY
Oh, without question! More than
amply...
JOHN
One had rather, on such occasions,
do too much than too little.
A pause as FANNY turns and looks at him again.
JOHN
Of course, he did not stipulate a
particular sum.