‘Jane Austen is for everyone’: novelist Diana Reid on adapting Sense and Sensibility – and surprising Brits with her accent
Australian novelist Diana Reid has adapted Jane Austen’s *Sense and Sensibility* for a new film, arguing that Austen belongs to anyone who wants to engage with her work. Reid says her Australian nationality did not make her question her right to adapt the novel, though some British audiences and media have been surprised by her accent.
Reid wrote most of the screenplay’s dialogue herself, using about 25 lines from Austen’s 1811 novel and studying its rhythm and sentence structure. Directed by Georgia Oakley, the adaptation follows sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood as they face financial insecurity and complicated romances; Reid sees their bond as the story’s central relationship. The project revisits the novel on film 30 years after Ang Lee’s 1995 adaptation, which Reid greatly admires.
In short
- Diana Reid has adapted Austen’s *Sense and Sensibility* for a new film.
- She wrote most of the dialogue, drawing on Austen’s style.
- Reid sees the sisters’ relationship as the story’s central love story.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Austen’s work belongs to readers and artists across national boundaries, and a thoughtful adaptation can keep it alive for new audiences. Reid studied Austen’s style and reshaped the story for film, so her Australian background need not limit her authority to interpret it.
The case against
Austen’s novels are closely tied to British history, language and social context, so some may feel adaptations should show particular care with that inheritance. Viewers may also question whether a modern reworking preserves the original’s distinctive voice, even when its writer has studied the text closely.
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