I agree that Brandon in the novel is very obviously a man of sensibility. I never had any trouble accepting this. That said, I’d argue (and I have argued, very recently) that the connection between Marianne and Brandon is, in many ways, more pronounced in this film than it is in the book. For one thing, the movie wastes no time in establishing that Brandon is very emotionally affected by Marianne, or at least her music.
I actually have a bit of an issue with Brandon’s introduction in the movie, in terms of its accuracy to the novel; in the book, Brandon pays Marianne “the compliment of attention” (Chapter 7), which Marianne appreciates in light of everyone else’s talking through her performance and being generally inattentive. But Austen is careful to point out that he listens “without being in raptures” (Chapter 7). In the movie, everyone is already paying attention to Marianne’s performance, and Brandon’s reaction stands out because he clearly is silently “in raptures,” of a sort, and we later learn from Mrs. Jennings that he loves music as Marianne does.
The other adaptations -- 1971, 1981, and 2008, all from the BBC -- depict this scene far more accurately. However, to be fair, the 2008 adaptation, like the 1995 film, changes Brandon to be musically competent. I also am not overly fond of the fact that, after Marianne is finished playing in the 2008 version, she, Elinor, and Brandon stand around and talk over Margaret’s performance. Seems a bit hypocritical of them. (I was perusing old threads yesterday, so I want to thank rizdek for drawing my attention to this.)
Another bizarre change is having Brandon carry Marianne through the rain. In the book, Marianne doesn’t need to be dramatically “rescued,” because her illness strikes after she walks through wet grass and neglects to change her stockings. The 1995 and 2008 film versions both have Brandon dashing around on horseback in multiple scenes, and show him doing stereotypical period romance novel-esque things like poetry reading (1995) and engaging in falconry (2008). I enjoy these scenes, but I think I could do just fine without most of them, since they are a little too on the nose.
As for the suggestion that Marianne should have married Edward in this 1995 film, um, why? She criticizes him for being boring, and never seems the least romantically interested in him. I could more easily see Elinor and Brandon getting together -- I feel this way about the characters in the book, as well, because they do seem to have a fairly good rapport. Even so, they don’t share any real spark. In the film, Brandon values Elinor as a confidant, but he is not any less melancholy when he’s in her presence -- a sharp contrast to the obvious joy and contentment he feels whenever Marianne interacts with him in a positive way; he completely disagrees with her about Marianne’s romantic nature (which we clearly see in the "Do not desire it, Miss Dashwood" scene); and he doesn't have a very good understanding of her emotional state, given that he fails to detect that she has feelings for Edward (to be fair, he’s not the only one who doesn’t notice that Elinor is in love). For her part, Elinor is happy to be of use to Brandon, but she never confides in him the way he does with her in the film, and she clearly isn't interested in him romantically.
"Courage is found in unlikely places." ~ The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien
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