Scents and Sensibility

Their badly photoshopped faces will haunt my dreams.

Scents and Sensibility is a modernized adaptation from 2011. It's set in Utah, and I saw some indications online that it's a Mormon adaptation, which I could easily believe. The movie opens with Mr. Dashwood being arrested by the FBI for running a large-scale Ponzi scheme, leaving sisters Elinor and Marianne to fend for themselves financially. Along the path to financial independence, Elinor starts selling magic healing lotion that Marianne cooks up in their apartment, but Elinor's boss, Fran Farris, plots to steal the formula and sell it to pay off her many debts. With the help of their new love interests, the sisters fight back against Fran and sell the formula themselves, making plenty of money and then marrying their respective gentlemen.

What's different

I was immediately shocked that Margaret Dashwood exists, which I know is not different from the book, but it is different from every other modernized adaptation I've seen so far. However, giving Margaret a "type of leukemia" that is treatable with very expensive medicine seems unnecessary. I guess the writers thought one illness was enough, though, because Marianne never gets sick or injured.

"She has vague cancer but it's fine, don't question it."

From Prada to Nada

This 2011 rom-com stars Camilla Belle and Alexa PenaVega as sisters Nora and Mary. They find out they're bankrupt after their father's death, and they're left with nothing. They move in with their aunt in East LA and spend the rest of the movie adjusting to life in a low-income neighborhood with a large Latino population, where they eventually develop an appreciation for their Mexican heritage and also find hot boyfriends.

What's different

I was worried this would be another Material Girls situation, but this movie does actually seem to be a modern Sense and Sensibility adaptation. Nora, the Elinor character, is a law student who takes their change of circumstance in stride and seems willing to do whatever is necessary to just keep on keepin' on. She wears glasses so you know she's smart and serious. Mary, the Marianne character, is an aspiring nothing until they lose their wealth, then she becomes an aspiring gold digger.

Sounds like marriage material to me tbh.

Sense & Sensibility (2008)

This 2008 BBC miniseries is probably the second most popular S&S adaptation after the Emma Thompson version. This one was written by Andrew Davies, directed by John Alexander, and stars Hattie Morahan as Elinor and Charity Wakefield as Marianne. 

What's different

This is a straight adaptation, so it follows the book pretty well. It's too easy to get lost in cataloging minute differences, so I'm going to stick to the big ones. The biggest of all, in my opinion, is the inclusion of several scenes depicting events that happen out of sight in the book. The opening scene is Willoughby seducing Brandon's ward, which came as a real surprise to me. It was so steamy, I thought at first it was a commercial for something else! It seems like a weird choice to include that scene at all, much less open the series with it. It had me worried that this was going to be one of those ~sexy~ period dramas, but I was relieved to find the rest of the series completely lacking in sexiness.

Nothing sexy about that.

Material Girls

This 2006 teen movie directed by Martha Coolidge follows sisters Ava Marchetta (Haylie Duff) and Tanzie Marchetta (Hilary Duff) as they navigate a scandal that strips them of their wealth and reputation. They are heirs to their late father's cosmetics company, which is being run by co-founder and interim CEO Tommy Katzenbach (Brent Spiner). When a media scandal ruins their father's reputation and devalues their company, it looks like Marchetta Cosmetics will have to be sold to competing brand Fabiella. The ditzy, self-centered girls are determined to clear their father's name and save the company, even though they're broke after their company assets are frozen and homeless after accidentally burning down their mansion. They eventually uncover the truth that Tommy orchestrated the scandal so the company would be sold to Fabiella, who had promised him a job. The movie ends with both girls dating cute, low-income boys and running their father's company themselves.

You know they're serious businesswomen because they're wearing blazers.

What's different

Almost everywhere that this 2006 Hilary and Haylie Duff movie is mentioned online, there is a passing reference to its being loosely based on Sense and Sensibility. I'm not sure I believe it, though, because honestly, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a better adaptation than this.