] Do you think in the past Brandon may have been more like Willoughby when he was younger??

As I'm not sure how far in the group read everyone is, I won't discuss Brandon's past here.

But as for opposites: Elinor and Marianne are the dearest of sisters and they are the contrasting sense and sensibility. This cannot be all attributed to sisterly affection as we can see by Jane Austen's many other sibling relationships. And I think the movie shows it up very well, in the way that Elinor almost depends on Marianne's spirit or idealism to sooth her own rationality.