Emma

Rating

Director

Douglas McGrath

Screenplay

Douglas McGrath (Novel: Jane Austen)

Length

2h 0m

Starring

Gwyneth Paltrow, James Cosmo, Greta Scacchi, Alan Cuming, Denys Hawthorne, Sophie Thompson, Jeremy Northam, Toni Collette, Kathleen Byron, Phyllida Law, Edward Woodall

MPAA Rating

PG

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Review

Jane Austen is one of the most popular 19th century romance novelists and her books have been adapted countless times. Emma saw its first adaptation on television in 1948, but it wasn’t until this 1996 feature film that the book saw a big screen elevation. With Gwyneth Paltrow in the lead, Emma finds a charming focus and an amiable, approachable adaptation as a result.

Paltrow found her niche in British costume dramas before making the big time with David Fincher’s Seven in 1995. From there, she went on to headline Douglas McGrath’s adaptation of Austen classic Emma. Better than her Oscar-winning work in Shakespeare in Love, Paltrow seems most at home in a corset, giving the title character charm and wit with a dollop of insecurity, her stock in trade.

The story revolves around a carefree matchmaker whose ability to perfectly assign future couples meets a stumbling block with the local vicar’s (Alan Cumming) designs on a new young lass in town (Toni Collette). This leads to confusion and ultimately disappointment while her best friend and brother-like confidant (Jeremy Northam) watches from the sidelines forecasting every issue and failure she’s about to commit.

Northam and Paltrow work very well together and Cumming is at the top of his game. However, it’s Collette, who has since taken on some very strong and potent roles as an actress, who shines in the film. Her quiet, embarrassed charm effortlessly leads the moderately domineering Emma to work so hard to accomplish so little. McGrath’s direction is akin to James Ivory’s superior work in nearly every way, but never develops the passion for life Ivory was always able to evoke. There’s little depth or purpose to the film, which exists for itself and is delightful for that duration, but is too easily forgotten a short time later.

As far as style goes, seldom do costume dramas and comedies not look resplendent with their period settings and frocks, Emma doesn’t subvert our expectations, giving the audience a gorgeously draped frame, both for the actors and the settings. One has to expect such successes, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t welcome or are artistically inferior.

Emma is a film that plays well both in and out of its time. That’s the loveliness of a period feature, the shine lasts long after the period in which it’s released. This is a movie that is as handsome and approachable as the day it was released even if it isn’t one of Austen’s best works in terms of its adaptation.

Review Written

May 25, 2021