Emma. review

EMMA.:

CLASSIC JANE AUSTEN STORY GETS AN ELEGANT AND HUMOROUS UPDATE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

FOCUS FEATURES

Anya Taylor-Joy as Emma. 

            The beloved Jane Austen novel is retold in Emma, the latest film adaptation of the 1815 book of the same name. Much like Little Women, Emma has been adapted numerous times in both film and television, most notably the 1996 film version released by Miramax and starring Gwyneth Paltrow as the titular character. 

            Granted, I haven’t watched the Gwyneth Paltrow version in a long time and the only other exposure I had with this story is the 1995 comedy film Clueless starring Alicia Silverstone which was a modern retelling of Emma set in modern day Los Angeles and revolving around a valley girl, which was both very funny and smart at the same time, it still holds up today. However, from what I remember of the 1996 adaptation I remembered it being a solid, relatively entertaining version of the story and featured star power like Toni Collette, Alan Cumming, and Ewan McGregor, but it never really left a huge impression on me. 

            Now, we have this new adaptation of Emma by Autumn de Wilde in her directorial debut and starring Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Split/Glass, Thoroughbreds) in the lead role. So, how does this new version of Emma hold up? Can a photographer turned director capture the spirit of its source material while also making it accessible to a wide audience? The short answer is Yes. 

            Emma is an absolute delight from beginning to end and one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had so far this year. The film tells the story in a very tongue-and-cheek way leading to some genuinely funny moments and performances without shying away from the dramatic elements, the production and costume designs are gorgeous, and Anya Taylor-Joy shines as the titular Emma Woodhouse. 

            The film follows Emma Woodhouse (Taylor-Joy), a young, beautiful, and rich woman who lives in a mansion on the Hartford estate of her elderly father Mr. Woodhouse (Bill Nighy-Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1) in the village of Highbury. She enjoys pairing her family despite having no desire to marry herself, but Emma along with her friend Harriet (Mia Goth-The Survivalist, A Cure for Wellness, Suspiria) begin to experience friendship, love, and heartbreak in this exquisite satire of social class and the pain of growing up. 

            The film also stars Johnny Flynn (Song One, Clouds of Sils Maria, Beast) as George Knightley, Miranda Hart (Miranda, Call the Midwife, Spy) as Miss Bates, Josh O’Connor (God’s Own Country, Les Miserables (2019), The Crown) as Mr. Elton, Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Queen and Country, The Capture) as Frank Churchill, Amber Anderson (We Are the Freaks, The Riot Club, Strike) as Jane Fairfax, Rupert Graves (A Room with a View, The Madness of King George, Sherlock) as Mr. Weston, Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones, The End of the F***ing World, Prevenge) as Mrs. Weston, Tanya Reynolds (Delicious, Outlander, Sex Education) as Mrs. Elton, and Connor Swindells (Sex Education, The Vanishing) as Robert Martin. 

            Overall, Emma is a funny, well-acted, and beautifully filmed adaptation of Jane Austen’s book and a solid first directing effort from Autumn de Wilde that is sure to please both fans of the source material as well as casual moviegoers. Given this film is brought to us from someone who used to be a photographer, the movie is gorgeous to look at whether we’re talking cinematography, production design, or costumes. 

            The entire movie is saturated with bright, lively colors to set a welcoming, almost dreamlike tone which is an absolute feast for the eyes. In fact, it’s just as much fun to look around the movie and admire the scenery, production design, and costumes, you can literally pause any part of this movie and it’ll look like a work of art. 

            The costume design also integrates the lively colors that the sets and cinematography have resulting in attire fitting for the time period, but the colors give them a modern feeling as well. Many of the costumes range from elegant and eye-catching to ridiculous and comical with none of them ever feeling out of place or distracting, all I have to say is there better be some Oscar nominations for this film in the future. 

            All the actors play their parts very well especially Anya Taylor-Joy has Emma who adds a lot of charm and likability to a character who can be charming but is also spoiled and cynical and even when she has to act mean it’s never to the point where she becomes an unlikable character, Anya finds a perfect compromise in her performance and also shares wonderful chemistry with Johnny Flynn’s Mr. Knightley. Other performances such as Bill Nighy as Emma’s father and Josh O’Connor as Mr. Elton have their moments in the spotlight and both actors bring their own unique personalities to these Jane Austen characters, Nighy as Emma’s clueless elderly father and O’Connor as this eccentric vicar who aspires to secure Emma’s hand in marriage but is rejected with hilarious hijinks, they made me laugh every time one of them was on-screen, even Miranda Hart’s supporting role of Miss Bates is memorable and has some genuinely funny moments. 

            While I thought the 1996 version was a decent effort, this adaptation of Emma is a lot more entertaining to watch and closer in tone of a Jane Austen story. A welcoming but also quirky and humorous perspective on social classes, I’m not saying the 1996 adaptation of Emma didn’t have any of this, this version just handled it better and made it more appealing to a wide audience. 

            Emma is an absolute delight from start to finish and captures both visually and narratively how a Jane Austen story should feel like, add in some very witty dialogue and show-stealing performances by Anya Taylor-Joy, Bill Nighy, Johnny Flynn, and Josh O’ Connor and you got yourself a perfect match. It may not be as captivating or powerful as Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women from last year, but if you’re looking for a comedic perspective on period pieces then you got a date with Emma.