And now we enter the final stretch of this story: Marianne’s illness, Willoughby’s attempt to justify himself, the final shocking swerve in the saga of Lucy Steele.

-I gave a pretty extensive visualization of Cleveland and bits of business for Mr. Palmer in an earlier post. We get a much gentler portrayal of Baby Palmer than in the child-hating 1995 version, with the Dashwood sisters taking turns holding him, and then Marianne turning to Brandon and discreetly asking for news of Eliza and her child.

-The thing I most want to draw attention to is that most versions make the opening of Marianne’s illness very DRAMATIC, and in the book it’s not that. This imaginary adaptation tries to honor that. Marianne wanders out one evening through the maze to look mournfully at Coombe Magna in the distance, comes back with wet stockings, Elinor nags her about having done this the evening before, and we have kind of a montage of Marianne being moderately sick, Mrs. Jennings predicting DOOM and frightening Brandon in the process, while Elinor insists that her sister will soon recover. The apothecary shows up, talks of putrid throats, the Palmers leave, Elinor continues to be optimistic about her sister’s recovery, but we can see it’s not out of unkindness but more a delusional need for everything to be okay with her sister. Brandon meanwhile, is *not* pacing around like a wild creature in a cage, but doing his best to distract the upset Mrs. Jennings and keep her out of Elinor’s hair.

–We cut away to London, where Sir John crosses paths with Willoughby and vents to him about Marianne’s illness. Willoughby is distressed enough by the news that Sir John reconciles with him; it’s pretty obvious that Willoughby means to dash off to Cleveland and be reconciled with Marianne.

–Meanwhile, Marianne becomes delirious; this is the point where Elinor panics, and sends Brandon to fetch Mrs. Dashwood. Elinor feels very guilt-stricken about underrating her sister’s illness, and says so in voiceover. Marianne, after being restless all day, finally falls into a deep sleep, Elinor coaxes Mrs. Jennings into lying down as well. Dialogue or voiceover indicates that this evening is the absolute soonest they could expect their mother to show up.

–It is at this junction that Willoughby shows up trying to justify himself. I think it’s important that he doesn’t come off as consciously trying to weasel his way out of responsibility for dumping Eliza and Marianne. He should sincerely believe that it’s not his fault that Eliza is dumb and trashy (his thoughts, not mine), Mrs. Smith is a tyrant and Mrs. Willoughby/Miss Grey is a jealous shrew. If you’ve ever run across one of the scenes from the Peter Cushing Frankensteins where Baron Frankenstein seems to genuinely not “get” why people object to him stealing body parts (or killing for them) to use in his projects, that’s the kind of vibe Willoughby should give off here. Elinor’s indulgence towards Willoughby should perhaps have some of the head-shaking “you…idiot” vibe that those Frankenstein scenes sometimes inspire in the viewer (well, this viewer, anyway. Hopefully I’m not the only one.)

—And in the background, there’s always that Sword of Damocles hanging over Willoughby’s and Elinor’s heads; Marianne or Mrs. Jennings is going to wake up and overhear them and there will be A Scene, or Mrs. Dashwood and Brandon will walk in and there will be A Scene. For this reason, the confrontation between Elinor and Willoughby should *not* be staged loudly, with raised dramatic voices; I imagine them talking in low, rather intense tones.

-Anyway, Elinor gets him to leave, Marianne wakes up much better, Brandon shows up with Margaret and Mrs. Dashwood. We see a montage of this new version of the Cleveland party going to Easter Sunday services at the Cleveland church, the Dashwood sisters in cute pastel dresses, Marianne still a bit wan, intercut with the Willoughbys going to church at the Coombe Magna parish church(1). When the following part of the Epistle is read, we cut away from Mrs. Willoughby turning a significant look on her husband, over to a steely, resolute Marianne: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.”

-Sometime later, the four Dashwood women depart for home in a carriage, and we get our first glimpse of the extremely zealous Reformed!Marianne making all kinds of plans for self improvement, and Elinor gently talking her down off this new ledge. It’s only later, when Elinor is helping her unpack, that she wishes she could somehow know what was in Willoughby’s heart, whether he was just toying with her, or whether he truly loved her. It is here that Elinor tells her the story of Willoughby’s visit to Cleveland. Thomas interrupts this conversation with a knock on the door and a question about something. Elinor is rather abrupt towards him.

-Sometime later Thomas tells the story of meeting Mrs. Ferrars in the village. I didn’t realize Old Mrs. Ferrars had business in Devonshire, one of the Dashwoods says. No, this was young Mrs. Ferrars, Thomas clarifies. Miss Lucy Steele that was. Was Mr. Edward Ferrars with her? Here we see Thomas’s eyebrows go up, and him decide not to set that hoity-toity Miss Dashwood straight. Yes, her husband was with her, he says, and describes the meeting in more detail.

-Elinor and Marianne go out walking. Elinor is clearly unhappy, but Marianne doesn’t know what to say. She just takes her sister’s hand. If we haven’t already had the imagine spot about Lucy and Edward at the Delaford parsonage, we have it now.

-The day that Edward comes to visit, Margaret and Mrs. Dashwood are down in the village for…reasons. He finds Elinor sketching, and Brandon turning the music for Marianne as she practices a new piece. We get the cross-talk about Mrs. Ferrars, Edward explains about Lucy marrying Robert, Brandon takes a long look at Elinor and asks Marianne if she could show him their mother’s garden.

–Brandon reproaches himself for causing Miss Dashwood so much grief over the business of the living. She knows you meant well, Marianne says. I’m sure she’s already forgiven you. Besides, she adds, a little pensively, those who are lucky in love tend to be generous in their forgiveness. It’s clear she’s thinking of Willoughby here, and her own unluckiness in love. You have always struck me as someone who could never love by halves, Brandon says awkwardly. I’m sure you will find someone worthy of you. Perhaps I will, she says, with a look that means perhaps I have. He notices, and we see hope dawning on his face.

–If we were short on time, we could end it there, but instead we cut back to the drawing room and Edward’s proposal to Elinor. Some people see something sinister in him picking up a pair of sewing scissors and absent-mindedly using them to cut up the sheath for the scissors, breaking them in the process. I think it’s supposed to be more Rule of Funny, myself: nervous person absent-mindedly fiddles with prop until it breaks, is filled with chagrin. Maybe an actor who was really good with props could pull it off. But it’s not really consistent with my idea of an Edward who’s been, in some sense, matured and purified by the ordeal with Lucy, so we don’t do it here.

–Elinor’s imaginings that Lucy mislead Thomas out of spite against her, are told in voiceover as we see the Robert Ferrarses in London. Won’t she be shocked when Thomas tells her you married me, eh, Robert says. After all, Miss Dashwood first knew you as Edward’s beau. She might be surprised, Lucy says, but not *shocked*, I think. An impish smile. I think she will be very happy for us.

-Epilogue: Margaret’s coming-out ball, held at Barton Park a year plus after these events. We learn through dialogue that the Brandons are lately married, and Mrs. Edward Ferrars has been making some improvements to Delaford parsonage. Edward himself shows up, freshly arrived from London. We learn that his mother has relented and made him an allowance, due in part to a good word from his sister Fanny Dashwood, who has quarreled with Lucy Ferrars again and is backing him to spite Lucy.(2) Elinor speaks forgivingly of her brother and his wife. The two couples watch Margaret dance; Mrs. Jennings comes by and rejoices that Margaret has reached an age “not very ineligible for falling in love.” As long as she doesn’t make a fool of herself over the first promising man she meets, Marianne says. It depends on what’s promising about him, Elinor says indulgently. The dance ends, another one strikes up, and the two lead couples join in. The camera tracks into the next room, where a slightly drunk Willoughby is playing cards with some of the other men. He insists that Miss Margaret Dashwood, although very pretty, is not nearly the equal of her sister Mrs. Brandon. He realizes Mrs. Willoughby is behind him, and freezes, but she is rather sweet to him, saying only that he should go to bed now if he wants to be fresh for the hunt tomorrow. He agrees, and a friend offers to take his place in the card game. This vignette is interspersed with Elinor’s voiceover about him, using the book’s last narration of him. We cut back to the ballroom, where our leads dance together, finally united, as the credits start to roll.

(1) It’s best to “cast” the two parish churches differently, with the parish church adjacent to Cleveland being the prettier one.

(2) In the book they need the allowance from Mrs. Ferrars to marry comfortably; it may be necessary to tweak the income from the living slightly to make this unnecessary.