As Jane Austen drafted Sense and Sensibility in the late 1790s, Britain was experiencing a huge financial crisis. Despite its publication nearly 215 years ago, the novel’s most recent screen adaptation highlights the surprising relatability for a gen Z audience of the heroines’ economic and romantic struggles.

The novel follows sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood (played here by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles) after the death of their father. When their elder half-brother, John Dashwood, inherits their family home, Norland Park in Sussex, they are forced to move to rural Devonshire with a meagre allowance. The novel’s darker exploration of the sisters’ fractured relationship to property, succession and dependence on men are presented with more grit than previous adaptations.

One striking difference is the decision to give more screen time to the oft overlooked third sister, Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). Several times we see the young girl struggle to face the loss of Norland Park. In one scene, she breathes on the window and traces an “M” on the glass, reclaiming a sense of ownership over the property that is no longer her home.

Margaret and young Henry, John’s son and the future “master” of Norland Park, fight over her dollhouse in the playroom, which is then left behind in the move to Devon. At Barton Cottage, Margaret only has a small replica of her dollhouse that sits on the windowsill.

Unlike Ang Lee’s 1995 film, which romanticises Barton Cottage as an idyllic and peaceful home, director........

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