Another 'Emma'? Thankfully, This One is Worth Your Time
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
These are the opening words of Jane Austen’s novel Emma, first published in 1815, and which appear on the screen at the beginning of the shiny new feature film adaptation, Emma.—yes, its official title includes the seemingly stuffy punctuation. But writer Eleanor Catton (New Zealand novelist and 2013 Man Booker Prize Winner) and director Autumn de Wilde (who comes from a music video and photography background) have crafted a fresh, funny, fast-moving version of this much-loved novel. The fidelity to Austen’s words continues throughout the movie with much of the dialogue taken straight from the novel, and even though the storyline deviates from the original at various points, the changes are thoughtfully done.
I have to admit that when the movie opened, I was appalled at its prettiness. I didn’t want pretty, I wanted to see the serious business of an Austen novel, which is always there beneath the elegant veneer. So when I saw Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy, Peaky Blinders) picking gorgeous flowers—she’s not a girl into heavy lifting, so she has a servant doing the arduous clipping and carrying—my heart sank. But when Emma coolly tells the servant to not pick a particular flower, but the next one, I almost cheered. This is Emma—an autocratic perfectionist, who believes she can manipulate people as well as she does flowers, but who can also be endearingly silly. Remember, the 1995 teen movie Clueless is based on Emma.
Emma’s newest interest is matchmaking, her major triumph (in her eyes) being the recent pairing of her former governess Miss Taylor, (Gemma Whelan, Gentleman Jack, Game of Thrones) with a neighbor Mr. Weston (Rupert Graves, Last Tango in Halifax, Sherlock). She isn’t interested in marriage herself, of course. And one major obstacle is her father, played by Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Their Finest) in top form; he’s a professional and easily-panicked health nut who barricades himself behind screens, snatches away dangerous food from his guests, and hates change. “Poor Miss Taylor,” he laments as they attend the wedding.
This is a scene that isn’t in the novel, but neatly serves the purpose of introducing us to the other members of the village of Highbury, except for their neighbor Mr. Knightley (Johnny Flynn, Les Miserables, War and Peace) who calls at their house, Hartfield, after the wedding, and that's the beginning of the book.
He actually spends most evenings with them, reading by the fire, while Mr. Woodhouse fusses about the room temperature and furniture placement. Knightley’s relationship with Emma is longstanding, affectionate, and combative, and we realize early on that he’s in love with her and she’s oblivious. Despite the bickering, there is much tenderness: “Let us be friends again,” Emma says after one notable quarrel, and it’s a gorgeously melting moment. This trailer uses the "Papageno/Papagena" aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, an aria of two rather oddball characters teasing each other, dropping their disguises, and falling in love—what could be better?
