Of all the thoughts sent spinning through my noggin when I watch director Ang Lee’s splendid screen adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, none of them were centered on puzzling out which character is actually the main protagonist. In that rendering — which is, I’m content to admit the version of Jane Austen’s classic tale of the Dashwood family that I’m most familiar with — the division of narrative labor is fairly clear. In the newly released film Sense and Sensibility, featuring direction by Georgia Oakley and a screenplay by Diana Reid, a different sister than I expected steps to the forefront.

Perhaps the plot doesn’t need recounting, but I’ll go ahead and lay out the basics. The Dashwood family is in a rough place. The death of the father who served as provider results in them being effectively ousted from their comfortable home, taking up residence in comparatively humble accommodations only because of the generosity of the mildly off-putting family friend Mrs. Jennings (Fiona Shaw, liberally deploying a bleating laugh that’s both posh and crass). As they adjust to this diminishment of social stature, the two older sisters, Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles), endure very Austenian trials of courtship.

In many respect, Oakley’s film hews closely to all the standards of this sort of upstanding British literary adaptation. The set, costumes, and cinematography are all properly polished, and the overbearing score by Roger Goula could have been delivered on a CD with “GENERIC PERIOD PIECE MUSIC” Sharpied onto it. Oakley does bring a little more edge and energy to the visuals, extended the ingenuity of her otherwise markedly different debut feature, Blue Jean. I suspect Sense and Sensibility will largely satisfy the sizable subset of moviegoers who crave this sort of fare.

What truly elevates the film is the way Oakley shifts the balance of the story. Marianne’s headstrong, impulsive personality is always going to command attention — there’s a reason Kate Winslet’s performance in the Lee film was a career breakthrough — but I didn’t expect the character to become the film’s axis. Bolstered further by the vividly charismatic performance by Creed-Miles, Marianne is so fully alive that she drives the plot is a way that exceeds all others. There’s a lot to like in Oakley’s Sense and Sensibility; the revelation of Marianne is the element worthy of adoration.