10 Best Jane Austen Movie Adaptations

Despite only completing six novels in her lifetime, Jane Austen left a remarkable legacy, and her novels have been adapted into countless movies.

• Austen's novels have stood the test of time and continue to be popular today, with numerous film and TV adaptations.
• Movie adaptations of Austen's work vary in their faithfulness to the original plot, but the best ones capture the timeless elements and add a new perspective.
• The movie adaptations highlighted in the article showcase the comedic wit, social satire, and romantic allure of Austen's novels.

Jane Austen only completed six novels in her lifetime, but they have remained popular for centuries, and been adapted into dozens of movies and TV shows. Austen spent her entire life in England, and her novels comment upon the British aristocracy that she saw all around her. Although she wasn't afforded the same freedoms as men, she painted the world that she knew in captivating detail, and her novels wove in subtle critiques of the structural misogyny of the time. Austen had a beautifully lyrical style of writing, ensuring that her novels are still enjoyed today.

Austen's enduring popularity has spawned numerous films and TV shows dedicated to her novels. Although these works are removed from the context in which they were created, Austen's comments on marriage and the roles of women have proven to be timeless. Some adaptations try to adhere closely to Austen's work, while others use it as a jumping-off point for more original stories. Bringing Austen's novels into the modern era isn't always easy, but the best movie adaptations can extract the timeless elements of her work and breathe new life into her classic stories.

10 PHOTOS

10 Mansfield Park (1999)
A unique blend of Austen's work and personal life

Mansfield Park takes inspiration from Jane Austen's letters and diary entries, so it isn't a one-to-one adaptation. It fuses the character of Fanny with her creator, resulting in a film that is unfaithful to the plot but extremely accurate to Austen's perception of the world, and especially the place women hold within it. This version of Mansfield Park makes the family's source of wealth, slave plantations in the New World, unavoidably overt, thereby contrasting the propriety of their social rules with the brutal and violent reality that supports them.

9 Northanger Abbey (2007)
A charming coming-of-age story with fine performances

Felicity Jones shines as Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey, the sweetly naive bibliophile who struggles to get to grips with the real world around her. J. J. Field is also outstanding as Mr. Tilney, Catherine's playful yet loving mentor in high society. Jane Austen's first completed novel, Northanger Abbey taps into adolescent yearning and fantasy. Catherine doesn't always keep her feet on the ground, preferring instead to live in the comfort of her beloved Gothic romance novels. The 2007 adaptation plays on this split between reality and fiction with biting wit.

8 Emma (1996)
Less glamorous than Gwyneth Paltrow's version, but more substantial

Although the 1996 adaptation of Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow is more famous, the version with Kate Beckinsale in the titular role is both funnier and more grounded. Emma is one of Austen's funniest books, and its young, flighty heroine has stood the test of time. The production may not be as lavish as the more famous 1996 version, but Emma makes up for this with some superb performances and a keen eye for Austen's social satire. Emma is a character who needs a charming performance, otherwise she can become too meddlesome and immature, but Beckinsale makes these faults seem forgivable.

7 Love & Friendship (2016)
An inventive concoction of some of Austen's lesser-known works

Love & Friendship adapts Lady Susan, one of Jane Austen's less famous novels, although it takes its name from another Austen story, written in her adolescence. Most of Austen's works feature young heroines fretting over their marital prospects, but Lady Susan is a middle-aged woman keen on marrying her daughter off to a wealthy simpleton. Kate Beckinsale is a charming anti-hero, the embodiment of what Austen perceived as nonsensical societal pressures, more concerned with status than love. She is supported by some superb comedic actors, such as Stephen Fry, Chloë Sevigny, and Justin Edwards.

6 Pride & Prejudice (1940)
Swoon-worthy romance bathed in Old Hollywood opulence

For decades, this was the gold standard for Jane Austen adaptations. The Golden Age of Hollywood matches up with what many people want from an Austen adaptation, namely opulent sets, glorious costume design, and deeply emotional storytelling. Pride & Prejudice makes a few key changes to the novel, most noticeably in the character of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, but the central characters are presented faithfully. Greer Garson's Elizabeth is precociously graceful and stubborn, while Laurence Olivier's Mr. Darcy is arrogant and dismissive. MGM adapted Pride & Prejudice from a staged version, rather than directly from the novel.

5 Persuasion (1995)
A masterfully acted adaptation which gets to the heart of Austen's novel

Anne and Frederick Wentworth both share an unease within the elegant drawing rooms of their surroundings. Anne, because at 27 years old she has become seen as a spinster, and Frederick because his home is at sea, far from the woman who rebuffed his advances eight years earlier. Anne Elliot and Ciarán Hinds are both masters of repressed emotion in Persuasion. Austen's dialogue needs no embellishment, but Persuasion complements her words with equally emotive actions. A lot of the story between the two is told in extreme close-ups, focusing on eyes and hands which can no longer maintain the charade.

4 Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
Foul-mouthed fun for Austen fans and newcomers alike

Bridget Jones's Diary is a wonderful example of how to update Jane Austen's work for the 21st Century, while still maintaining the same focus on rigid societal expectations. Based on Helen Fielding's novel of the same name, the movie extracts the timeless essentials of Pride and Prejudice, but it has a lot of fun building a world around them. Bridget is a brash, inelegant chain smoker, but her journey toward self-improvement is boundlessly endearing. Bridget Jones's Diary is full of hilarious quotes, moments of outrageous comic misunderstanding, and a delightful street fight between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.

3 Sense & Sensibility (1995)
A stellar ensemble cast with a finely tuned script

Emma Thompson won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility, and she was also nominated for Best Actress. She plays Elinor Dashwood, one of three sisters who must find suitable husbands to ensure their family's financial survival. Thompson and the rest of the cast, including Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, and Hugh Grant, contribute to a delightfully entertaining movie that manages to inject moments of dry humor amid the desperate plotting of the Dashwoods. It remains one of Emma Thompson's best movies, not to mention an interesting departure for director Ang Lee.

2 Clueless (1995)
The 1810s and the 1990s somehow come together perfectly

Like Bridget Jones's Diary, Clueless uses Austen's work as the basis for something radically modern. Clueless was so attuned to the sensibilities of American teenagers in the 1990s that it has become something of a relic, a quintessential cultural artifact of a bygone era. But while Clueless revels in flip phones and plaid skirts, it honors Emma's sense of innocent positivity. Cher Horowitz is positive to a fault. She's a slightly foolish protagonist, but she's confident, popular, and a smooth-talker. The entire cast of Clueless understands the joy and silliness of this adaptation.

1 Pride & Prejudice (2005)
An unparalleled Austen adaptation, replete with intelligent wit and human drama

There have been plenty of film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, far more than any of Jane Austen's other novels, but Joe Wright's 2005 version is hard to beat. Wright makes a few changes to Pride and Prejudice, but they are all designed to heighten the romance. Regardless of these minor infidelities, Pride and Prejudice is a beautifully rendered adaptation, with warmth and wit to complement the sizzling chemistry between Darcy and Elizabeth. The 1995 miniseries may be more faithful, but the 2005 version is just as tender and human.