I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan of Austen’s Emma. It’s wonderful to teach, but on a personal level it leaves me cold--or it did until last night, when some friends and I sat down to watch the most recent adaptation of Emma on Masterpiece.
Quite simply, I loved it.
Emma is played by Romola Garai, who starred in the BBC version of Daniel Deronda as Gwendolyn Harleth, another nineteenth-century heroine in need of a good spanking. Garai was a brilliant casting choice. As in her portrayal of Gwendolyn, she plays Emma’s faults with relish while also making her endlessly fascinating. Garai’s Emma possesses just as much selfishness and snobbery as Austen’s heroine, but she, too, has her moments of grace and vulnerability. I was especially moved by how the filmmakers depict Emma walking forlornly through her home once her sister and Miss Taylor are married, each empty room—and all its vast space-- reminding her of the consequences of her successful matchmaking. Best of all, this Emma has lots of spunk. Her arguments with Knightley are simply glorious, the best part of the series thus far.
Mr. Knightley, as played by Jonny Lee Miller, is divine. Despite his early marriage to Angelina Jolie, Miller has the look and air of a man with good judgment, clarity of thought, and wisdom. And in his scenes with Emma—whether the two of them are arguing, reconciling, or holding their infant niece, we can see what a natural, inevitable couple they make. Miller and Garai may not look sixteen years apart in age (because they’re not), but who cares?
In contrast to the earthy hues of Cranford and its sequel Return to Cranford, this new Emma has a palette of soft greens, reds, and pinks: the colors of life and romance. It’s extraordinarily beautiful to watch, as if the world of Emma were a series of moving watercolors. Often, costume dramas can feel overwhelming, antique-shoppy, in their opulent beauty, but here—thanks to a delicate color scheme, uncluttered sets, and simple costuming—the film’s beauty seems as fresh as its heroine. This, indeed, is no country for old men (or women), and the airing of this new Emma on the heels of Cranford seems intentional.
Emma is replete with other, lovely touches too. The series begins with a montage of sequences showing little Emma, Jane Fairfax, and Frank Weston all losing their mothers to an untimely death. I liked this immediate yoking together of three rather disparate characters via backstory-- a backstory which also allows us to see Mr. Woodhouse’s brokenhearted response to his wife’s death, hauntingly registered in Michael Gambon’s face. In portraying this response, the film allows us to understand Woodhouse’s over-protectiveness and thus rescues him from caricature, something Austen herself didn’t do.
Rating: A!
