Five Movies With: Georgia Oakley, Director of 'Sense and Sensibility'

[electronic sound] Uh, Georgia Oakley, welcome to Five Movies With.

Uh, I am a huge fan of your work.

Um, your, uh, debut feature, Blue Jean, came out a few years ago, and it's an incredibly powerful, uh, drama, and you have followed this with Sense and Sensibility, which is an adaptation of, like, one of the best novels.

So I think you're on quite a hot streak.

Um-

[laughs]

Thanks for joining us.

Thanks so much for having me.

Um, why was it, uh, important for you, uh, personally to make Sense and Sensibility as your next feature?

So I just fell in love with Diana's screenplay initially, and I had-- it sort of evoked such fond memories for me of reading the book when I was a young person.

And, um, it just felt sort of strangely timeless.

The, the-- thematically I feel like the central kind of wrestling match in the film, both between the two sisters and also, um, just in terms of what it means to be a young woman, f- to me felt so, um, contemporary, almost contemporary.

And, um, and so I really, yeah, I really wanted to, to see what my version of that would look like.

Oh, well, it's a, a really interesting version of it, and I...

You know, comparing your first two films is kind of-- It's kinda hard to resist that urge because they're both very much about sort of this, uh, conflict between wanting to live openly, freely, emotionally, and then societal expectations of basically being told to repress yourself.

You are not allowed.

Uh, and especially for being a woman.

Is that what you were gravitating towards, or is there more beyond that?

Yes, definitely.

[laughs]

I think, um, I was drawn to this, to the fact that, uh, you know, ostensibly things have changed quite dramatically for young women in the 200 years or so since the book's been written.

But, um, at the same time, things haven't changed almost as, you know, nearly as much as we would like to think, and that, that kind of conflict between what we tell young women that they can expect from their lives, that they can reasonably expect, and then what the world is actually prepared to offer them.

That, that central conflict really interests me, and I guess there is a crossover there with Blue Jean in terms of, as you say, um, working on yourself to sort of live a life that feels authentic to you, and then coming up against societal constraints that don't allow you to, to do that.

Um, so yeah, in that, in that way, the two films are quite similar.

Uh, do you feel like that's why we keep coming back to certain works of classic literature, just to keep exploring why they're still relevant, or do you think we need to bring that relevance to that material every generation or so to update it?

[electronic sound] Uh, Georgia Oakley, welcome to Five Movies With.

Uh, I am a huge fan of your work.

Um, your, uh, debut feature, Blue Jean, came out a few years ago, and it's an incredibly powerful, uh, drama, and you have followed this with Sense and Sensibility, which is an adaptation of, like, one of the best novels.

So I think you're on quite a hot streak.

Um-

[laughs]

Thanks for joining us.

Thanks so much for having me.

Um, why was it, uh, important for you, uh, personally to make Sense and Sensibility as your next feature?

So I just fell in love with Diana's screenplay initially, and I had-- it sort of evoked such fond memories for me of reading the book when I was a young person.

And, um, it just felt sort of strangely timeless.

The, the-- thematically I feel like the central kind of wrestling match in the film, both between the two sisters and also, um, just in terms of what it means to be a young woman, f- to me felt so, um, contemporary, almost contemporary.

And, um, and so I really, yeah, I really wanted to, to see what my version of that would look like.

Oh, well, it's a, a really interesting version of it, and I...

You know, comparing your first two films is kind of-- It's kinda hard to resist that urge because they're both very much about sort of this, uh, conflict between wanting to live openly, freely, emotionally, and then societal expectations of basically being told to repress yourself.

You are not allowed.

Uh, and especially for being a woman.

Is that what you were gravitating towards, or is there more beyond that?

Yes, definitely.

[laughs]

I think, um, I was drawn to this, to the fact that, uh, you know, ostensibly things have changed quite dramatically for young women in the 200 years or so since the book's been written.

But, um, at the same time, things haven't changed almost as, you know, nearly as much as we would like to think, and that, that kind of conflict between what we tell young women that they can expect from their lives, that they can reasonably expect, and then what the world is actually prepared to offer them.

That, that central conflict really interests me, and I guess there is a crossover there with Blue Jean in terms of, as you say, um, working on yourself to sort of live a life that feels authentic to you, and then coming up against societal constraints that don't allow you to, to do that.

Um, so yeah, in that, in that way, the two films are quite similar.

Uh, do you feel like that's why we keep coming back to certain works of classic literature, just to keep exploring why they're still relevant, or do you think we need to bring that relevance to that material every generation or so to update it?