10 Best Jane Austen Movies, Ranked

There’s a new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility on the horizon (starring Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones and Hanna’s Esmé Creed-Miles), ready to plunge viewers across the globe back into the world of Jane Austen’s classic Regency romance. And why not? Even though she only wrote six finished novels (two of which were published posthumously), Austen is one of the most adapted authors of all time, so it’s only ever a matter of time before the next period adaptations or modernization shows up on the horizon.

Before a new drop is added to the ocean of Austen, let’s break down the 10 best movie adaptations of her novels up to this point.

10. Persuasion (2022)

Carrie Cracknell’s Persuasion, which stars Dakota Johnson and Cosmo Jarvis, gets a bad rap because it’s not a “serious” Austen adaptation. Even though it’s a period piece, it doesn’t shy away from modern storytelling by adding on some Fleabag-style fourth-wall breaking and winks toward contemporary life (most notably - and hilariously - in a “playlist” that is actually a sheaf of sheet music).

However, the BBC has made enough serious adaptations of Persuasion to last a lifetime, and this one has a spark of humor that is worthwhile. Personally, I’m always chasing adaptations that feel sarcastic, which is an important quality in Austen’s prose that is often overlooked in adaptations. This isn’t the best of those (hence the #10 position), but it’s definitely underrated.

9. Sense and Sensibility (2024)

Speaking of serious adaptations, 2024’s Sense and Sensibility - which stars Deborah Ayorinde and Bethany Antonia - doesn’t have a lick of humor, but it’s still an intriguing experiment. In addition to being a rare Black-led Austen adaptation, it’s the Hallmark Channel’s first proper period piece. While Hallmark has mounted many adaptations of Austen novels (usually modernized Christmas rom-coms), this is by far the best thanks to their efforts to bring the era to life, a collection of solid performances, and the way the racial element adds a new dimension to the novel’s themes about class in Regency England.

8. Northanger Abbey (2007)

Northanger Abbey is a woefully underrepresented novel in the Austen cinematic canon. This ITV adaptation, which stars Felicity Jones and JJ Feild, is by far the best attempt at capturing its charms. This is in large part due to the memorable supporting performance from a pre-Oscar-nomination Carey Mulligan, who chomps the scenery into dust as one of Austen’s greatest divas, Isabella Thorpe.

7. Pride and Prejudice (1940)

1940’s Pride and Prejudice, which was co-written by Aldous Huxley of all people and stars Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, doesn’t nail the Lizzy-Darcy dynamic, which is damaging. Both stars are too old for their characters and fail to bring their sparkling chemistry to life. However, this movie is so much more than Lizzy and Darcy, believe it or not. On top of the lush classic Hollywood sets and costumes, the script is a fleet-footed work of adaptation, reinterpreting scenes in a variety of satisfying ways. Also, Mary Boland is a particularly buoyant and hilarious Mrs. Bennett, which serves this broader rom-com version of Austen’s novel particularly well.

6. Bride & Prejudice (2004)

Bride & Prejudice, Gurinder Chadha’s delightful reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, transposes the action to modern-day India. This musical adaptation, which stars Indian superstar Aishwarya Rai opposite Martin Henderson, is full of sparkling Bollywood-style musical numbers and uses the original text as a springboard for its satire of India’s relationship with marriage and motherhood.

5. Love & Friendship (2016)

Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship is an adaptation of the epistolary novella Lady Susan, which Austen wrote before any of her novels but was not published during her lifetime. That work, which I highly recommend, gives the Regency era its best female antihero in the form of the social-climbing title character, who is brought to life with wicked aplomb by a perhaps never better Kate Beckinsale in this fun, confidently directed film.

4. Sense and Sensibility (1995)

If you only watch one version of Sense and Sensibility, let it be Ang Lee’s adaptation. The 1995 film stars Emma Thompson (who also wrote the screenplay) opposite Kate Winslet, and it’s one of the most sweeping and epic romances in the Austen canon. However, it also maintains the snarky satire that’s dripping from every page of the novel, in addition to using every aspect of its filmmaking (particularly sound design) to create one of the most effectively immersive period settings in history.

3. Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Joe Wright’s adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, which stars Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, is another example of period romance done right. While it’s a bit less funny than 1995’s Sense and Sensibility, it makes up for that with sheer cinematic spectacle. I always say that you can judge the quality of a Jane Austen film by how they decide to handle the obligatory ballroom sequence, and the dance here - where everyone else in the hall vanishes as Darcy and Lizzy dance, highlighting how it seems like nothing else in the world matters but their connection - is beyond compare.

2. Clueless (1995)

In addition to being a classic high school comedy that rearranged teen fashion and slang at an atomic level, Amy Heckerling’s Clueless - which stars Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd - is a startlingly faithful adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. This is true both in terms of its plot (you can practically trace the novel scene by scene in Clueless, even with all its modern trappings) and the way it lives up to the legacy of Austen’s satirical pen by putting the idle rich of Beverly Hills under a microscope.

1. Emma. (2020)

For a long time, I didn’t think it was possible to evoke the spirit of Jane Austen more beautifully than Clueless. However, when it came to her first and somehow only feature, music video director Autumn de Wilde said: “hold my beer.”

This period adaptation of Emma, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn, is heartbreakingly perfect. It brings the romantic and historical aspects to life with aplomb, but it never skimps on the biting humor on the page. It elevates this element of Austen’s work more than any other straight adaptation, delighting in the hilarious self-indulgence of the characters on-screen, most notably refusing to hide the fact that machinations of a horde of servants are responsible for pretty much anything you ever see in an Austen movie.

Runners-up for this list include 2020’s Fire Island, 2000’s Kandukondain Kandukondain, and 2003’s Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy. What are your favorite Jane Austen adaptations, and did they make the list? Sound off in the comments below!