Jacob Elordi Cried Over Kate Winslet Film That Beats Titanic
The Australian actor's emotional confession about a 1995 period drama reveals why critics still favor one Kate Winslet performance over her most famous role. The numbers tell a surprising story.
Jacob Elordi broke down watching a Kate Winslet movie, but it wasn't the one you'd expect. The Australian actor recently told W Magazine that Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility left him sobbing into his ice cream, moved by what he called "the hopeless beauty of us all." The 1995 period drama holds a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, nine points higher than James Cameron's Titanic.
"I watched Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, and there's a moment when Kate Winslet's character has an emotional realization. I was sitting there, eating ice cream, and then I just broke down with her character. I cried through that movie, just at the hopeless beauty of us all," Elordi admitted.
This confession carries weight coming from an actor who just won his first Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor. His portrayal of the Creature in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein earned him recognition that extends far beyond his previous roles in Euphoria and The Kissing Booth.
Why Critics Still Prefer Sense and Sensibility
The numbers don't lie. Lee's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel scores 97% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes compared to Titanic's 88%. Metacritic shows an even wider gap: 84 out of 100 versus 75. Only audience scores favor Cameron's epic, with Titanic earning an A+ CinemaScore against Sense and Sensibility's A rating.
Released in 1995, two years before Titanic made Winslet a global star, Sense and Sensibility showcased her range in a completely different context. Emma Thompson's screenplay compressed Austen's wit without losing its bite. The cast included Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, and Thompson herself, all delivering performances that trusted silence over spectacle.
Winslet played Marianne Dashwood, the younger sister who loves openly and sometimes recklessly. Her emotional honesty never begged for sympathy. The pain existed without ornament, which explains why it still connects with viewers decades later.
Elordi's Breakthrough Moment
At the 2026 Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Elordi seemed genuinely shocked by his win. "Bloody hell. I really didn't plan for it," he said before thanking del Toro. "You made my dreams when I was 11. I'm so happy to be here."
His Frankenstein performance demanded complete physical transformation. Buried under prosthetics and guided by butoh, a Japanese dance form he described as "reanimating a corpse," Elordi created a being defined by abandonment and rage.
"It was a vessel that I could put every part of myself into. From the moment that I was born to being here with you today, all of it is in that character. And in so many ways, the creature that's on screen in this movie is the sort of purest form of myself. He's more me than I am," he explained.
The industry has responded. His Golden Globe nomination and growing Oscar buzz suggest a career trajectory pointing toward serious dramatic work rather than teen romance.
Two Different Kinds of Emotional Power
Thompson spent five years writing the Sense and Sensibility screenplay. Lee, unfamiliar with Austen at the time, approached it as a study of social repression versus free will. The result appealed to literary purists and modern audiences alike, earning seven Oscar nominations and winning Best Adapted Screenplay.
The film's influence endures because it respects emotional intelligence. It allows women interiority. That's why an actor known for playing disturbing characters found himself moved to tears by Winslet's restrained vulnerability.
Titanic remains a cultural phenomenon and box office champion. But Sense and Sensibility ages with dignity, its higher critical scores reflecting a different kind of cinematic achievement. One built on writing, performance, and emotional accuracy rather than scale and spectacle.