My Emma binging continues with this new movie version directed by Autumn de Wilde. Yes, the screen radiates color and spectacle, ritzy Regency-era outfits and bonnets abound. England of 1815 never looked so good as de Wilde’s cameras capture the glamorized mansions with their luxurious furniture, paintings, and sculptures. Anya Taylor-Joy may be the most beautiful of all the Emmas in these film presentations of Jane Austen’s novel. Taylor-Joy plays Emma as petulant and occasionally arrogant–which makes her fall at the end of the movie much steeper than in most of the Emma films I’ve seen. The script is by Eleanor Catton who slowly builds the action throughout the movie. I’m a big Bill Nighy fan, but he is mostly wasted as the hypochondriac Mr. Woodhouse. Johnny Flynn plays Knightley without Jonny Lee Miller’s apparent aloofness. De Wilde makes it clear that her Knightley is hot for Emma early in the film. Mia Goth captures the fragility of Harriet Smith convincingly. Miranda Hart manages the difficult role of Miss Bates by making her character both a chatter-box and a woman with heart-rending vulnerabilities. Although she wasn’t given much to do, Amber Anderson as Jane Fairfax steals every scene she’s in.
Diane and I saw Emma at our local AMC theater with six other people in the audience. If this becomes typical of movie audiences in the time of the coronavirus, then a lot of movies are going to fail at the Box Office. GRADE: B