Arts Award.  Bronze.

This is my review of the 2020 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1816 novel, Emma, directed by Autumn de Wilde.

This is, in my opinion, an excellent film.   I have to admit, I was more than ready  to criticise anything amiss when I sat down to watch this film, (being a Jane Austen book fan, and having very high standards for cinematic adaptations in general!)  but I was very soon swept up in the fun, light-hearted and joyous feeling which provides the central core to this splendid film.  For me, it seemed to hit exactly the right note, including enough original dialogue to remain faithful to the book, (and thus soothe the easily-outraged souls of Austen Book Fans!)  but presenting it in an  intriguingly new (and extremely humorous!) way.

Emma tells the story of  Emma Woodhouse “handsome, clever and rich” (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) , a young woman of good family, large fortune and small acquaintance, somewhat bored by the confined society of her native village of Highbury, and prevented from traveling to anywhere more lively by her beloved father, a valetudinarian who not only worries for his own health, but that of everyone else as well.  After her governess marries, delighted that she “made the match” herself, Emma decides to take up matchmaking  as a hobby, selecting her new friend Harriet Smith ( Mia Goth) as her first project, against the advice, and much to the dismay, of her life-long friend and neighbour Mr Knightly (played by Johnny Flynn).

This was a very interesting take on Emma, as it managed to be fundamentally true to the book while also somehow feeling wildly different, such as silently underlining the often absurd roles of servants through slightly exaggerated portrayals  and comical expressions.  Using servants to add humour isn’t something that I’ve seen done much before,  and I thought it was a brilliant idea,  although I have to say, you lose a lot of respect for a person after you see someone else putting their socks on for them!

There were so many beautiful art forms to admire;  the costumes, the music, jewellery, millinery, embroidery, textile design and even the speciality knitting and crochet which were required for the clothing were fabulous!

Every detail of a character reflected who they were, from the cloth, to the colour scheme, to the make-up and hair design to the gestures they used.

Two particularly good examples of this are Emma and Harriet.

Emma’s clothes are quite often fairly simple, usually white, but there is always something that shows that this is a very expensive piece of clothing,  such as the gorgeous green embroidery with matching ribbons on a white empire waist dress (a particular favourite of mine), and on one or two occasions she wore something delightfully sumptuous like a lovely deep blue, or pink, which really stood out.  In contrast, Harriet’s clothes are noticeably simpler, and in a duller sort of colour, showing that she is considerably less wealthy than Emma.

The colours also reflect something of Emma’s personality, like the bright yellow pelisse with black hat and shoes, that she wears for the promotional poster, symbolising her persona as “queen bee”  of Highbury. 

 Her hair and make-up were also extremely well done, with not much in the way of cosmetics, in keeping with the time, although she seems to be the most made-up of the characters, reflecting her status as decidedly upper class.   I liked Emma’s hair very much.  It was done in the traditional Regency curls, but styled slightly differently for each day, which made it look a lot more lived-in than styles of that time usually do,  really helping to form her personality.   Emma’s hair was also striking in that it was white-blonde, which really stood out in a cast that was mainly quite dark haired, and helped to single her out as the protagonist.  Harriet’s hair was a lot less elaborate, and looked more practical than elegant, although as the film went on, there was a scene in which Harriet’s hair was obviously copied from Emma’s earlier style, a clever touch, showing how much Emma has come to influence her.

Lastly, Emma’s body language was very expressive, her gestures in particular giving life to the confidence of her character in numerous small gestures, such as in the way she held her hands while walking, clasped at her waist, giving her a calm, elegant and unflustered look.  This contrasts with Harriet, whose body language showed off the youthful  and impressionable aspects of her character to perfection, with her holding her hands much lower than Emma does and twisting them together when she is nervous or embarrassed, indicating her lack of confidence,  and mimicking other people, (especially Emma)  indicating that she is easily influenced.

I also loved the musical score, which suited the film excellently, with bouncy, perky tunes for the whimsical scenes and beautiful sweeping melodies for the more emotional parts (especially the dancing scenes),  as well as containing that miracle of miracles,  a desirable earworm!

Unfortunately, I am unable to find the soundtrack on CD.  Ah, the modern age.

I  would highly recommend this film.   It was so well made and had such a lovely visual effect, but I think what I really loved about it was that it left me with a really up-beat, happy, bubbly, feeling afterwards;   it just had this atmosphere of nice, rather humorous, perfection, with the worst  event that could happen being a cancelled ball (for the most part),  providing an air of cosiness,  and I felt like I was able to sigh over Emma’s arrogance without being too annoyed by it,  just settling in to watch her character arc unfold.

I feel like it would have been nice if some of the other characters (who shall remain nameless; I don’t want to give away.any spoilers!) had more development, but I do appreciate that it isn’t really possible to simply transfer the whole of Jane Austen’s longest book onto the screen, and I think it’s really amazing, actually, that they managed to convey so much of it in two hours and four minutes!   It was definitely an effective use of time.

Looking at it in a more ‘Arts Award’ way, it made me want to design an elaborate, luxuriant Regency costume of my own on paper immediately after I watched it, and left me fizzing with ideas about the colour scheme!

In conclusion, I really liked this film, and found it a fun, enjoyable watch that I strongly urge you to see if you are even a little bit interested in Austen (and maybe even if you aren’t!),  and it made me excited to watch any other Emma adaptations, starting with the 2009 TV series!