Callum Turner (Frank Churchill) Anya Taylor Joy (Emma) Johnny Flynn (Mr Knightley)
Cast: Anya Taylor Joy as Emma, Johnny
Flynn as Mr Knightly, Mia Goth as Harriet, Callum Turner as Frank Churchill,
Amber Anderson as Jane Fairfax, Miranda Hart as Miss Bates, Bill Nighy as Mr
Woodhouse, Tanya Reynolds as Mrs Elton, Josh O’Connor as Mr Elton, Rupert
Graves as Mr Weston, Gemma Whelan as Mrs Weston nee Taylor, Connor Swindells as
Mr Martin and Chloe Pirrie as Isabella Knightly nee Woodhouse.
Wimbledon Odeon, Wednesday 26th February, Marilyn and myself arrived for the 11.10
performance of the new, Emma. showing in
theatre number 6. We had seats at the back. There were two people in the
row infront of us and two more further down the theatre, closer to the screen
and that was it. Theatre number 6 has a capacity of 175, the smallest of the
screening theatres. Was this an omen? Six people sitting in a space for 175? I read Mark Kermode’s review in the Guardian.
He gave it three out of five stars. Not bad but could do better.
My thoughts were, will Autumn de
Wilde’s Emma get Austen’s subtleties concerning the different relationships right? Will the actors be any
good? All is lost if they can’t cut the mustard. What might we get out of this
Emma that speaks to us in 2020? Will the film tell Jane Austen’s story well?
The film begins, focusing in
from an expansive bucolic scene of green pastures and wooded areas to an iconic
18thcentury mansion, Hartfield. We hone down to a gothic styled greenhouse and
enter to a scene of peace and calm and meditative background music as Emma,
played by Anya Taylor Joy, slowly, carefully
moves, almost like floating in a dream, examining her blooming red roses
while servant girls hover , secateurs poised ready to snip the stem of any
flower Emma thinks fit. Anya Taylor’s eyes look and roam and pierce us to our
souls. Oh! those eyes. She pauses, she considers, she moves on and decides,
“That one.” And the flower is cut. This opening scene is very clever and says
in this silent dreamlike ballet all that Austen says in the opening
words of her novel.
“ Emma Woodhouse, handsome,
clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite
some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty one years
in the world with very little to distress or vex her.”
The film is lit brightly and the colours, not just of the
costumes, but of the scenery too has a pale pastel sheen, which can only be
achieved through the cinematography. The colours have a childish quality. It
reminded me of the sherbet flavoured,” love hearts,” we used to buy from our
local sweet shop when we were children, handing these pastel coloured sweets to
each other with such embarrassing phrases as , “All Mine,” “Love Bug,” “Find
Me,” “Only You,” and “ Kiss Me,” embossed on them. It occurred to me, that that
analogy does indeed embody Emma
Woodhouse’s emotional level exactly, at the beginning of the film.
Sherbet flavoured ,"Love Hearts." Childish fancies.
Anya Taylor Joy, when I saw the adverts for Emma emblazoned on the sides
of some London buses as they drove, past
didn’t fit my imagined idea of Emma. She looked too modern, too 2020 and with eyes
that you can sink into and get lost in forever. I didn’t imagine Emma as being seductive.
I imagined her as pompous, controlling and distant, a whole ,”class,” above the other
characters in the story, certainly not seductive. Anya is very good in the part
though. She has just the right amount of intelligence, naivety and controlling confidence and a powerful self-belief, at first.
As advertised by London Transport.
We tend
to expect beautiful actors and actresses , the men always being compared to
Colin Firth and I am sure there will be those who want to make such comparisons
with this film between Colin Firth and Johnny Flynn. However, the actors in this
adaptation go against the usual trend I think. Frank Churchill, played by
Callum Turner has big ears that stick out. All the better to listen with of course
and he does listen to conversations, carefully avoiding any close emotional engagement
with anybody. Thus he keeps a distance , keeping his true intentions secret. Johnny
Flynn, who plays Mr Knightley has a battered look about him, a feint white scar
on one cheek and eyes that are not quite even sized or level on his face. A
rugged handsomeness, a face of experience, let’s say, which aids the fact that his character, Mr Knightley, is
37 or 38 years of age to ,Emma’s 21 years. The women characters tend to have no
makeup on their faces adding a plainness to their general look. Although having
said that Anya Taylor Joy does have her face made up, blush pink cheeks and red
lips, which makes her stand out.
Emma standing on Leith Hill,the hill used as Box Hill.
The scene I always look out for
in any Emma film is the Box Hill picnic. This one doesn’t disappoint. Leith
Hill is used for the film set and not the real Box Hill, but I can
forgive that.Actually both hills are part of the same range of hills, The North Downs, in Surrey. Leith Hill has less roads and buildings in the panoramic view
from the top. Leith Hill however,I always associate with the composer, Vaughn
Williams and not Jane Austen’s novel, but anyway, I am nit-picking. I hope
you can all one day visit Leith Hill as well as Box Hill. I will continue. In this
Autumn de Wilde re-imagining of this iconic scene she portrays an important
example of how this Emma is relevant to today. She doesn’t deflect from Austen’s plot and action
in anyway but emphasised are things that
address the concerns of our modern age. The superficial prattle of Frank Churchill
announcing, “I am ordered by Miss Woodhouse, who (wherever she is presides), to
say that she desires to know what you are all thinking,” of course has to be
included, but those inconsequential speeches are kept to a low key compared to
the emphasise on the insult Emma gives Miss Bates. That scene is heightened. Mr
Knightley’s reprimand of Emma and Miss Bates's obvious hurt becomes the main thing.
We live in an age of online trolling and abuse and as a society we are
struggling to know how to deal with this dangerous and damaging practice. This
Box Hill scene demonstrates the hurt we can cause other people.
This is the Burford Spur on the side of the ,"real," Box Hill, the probable site of Jane Austen's picnic party in, Emma.
With Jane Austen film adaptations, we have come to expect beautiful settings and rich architecturally magnificent houses set within Capability Brown or Humphrey Repton landscapes and this film certainly does not disappoint. The settings are magnificent. The houses used in this film are, in our real world, open to the public and probably have very nice
cafes and shops. I have visited some of the houses featured over the years.
Hartfield, the home of Emma and Mr Woodhouse is Firle Place in East Sussex. The
small town of Highbury is the picturesque village of Lower Slaughter near
Cheltenham in the Cotswolds. Donwell Abbey is Wilton House near Salisbury. Mr
Weston’s house is Chevenage House near Tetbury in Gloucetsreshire. The Goddards
school house is Kingston Bagpuize House, south west of Oxford. However, I do wonder that these magnificent examples
of the 18th century British architecture and landscaping are used by
fillm companies.They were originally owned by the super-rich, the billionaires
of the 18th century and the characters in Jane Austen’s novels would
never have lived in such great luxury and splendour. Mostly they would have
been second league landowners. What a film like this and I suppose all the
other film versions and television versions of Austen’s novels become, are tourist shop windows. “Come and visit me.”
The ball at the Crown Inn in
Highbury is more than one sort of dance. In Jane Austen’s novel much of the
action is seen through Emmas eyes. She
wills interactions between people and suffers because they don’t happen
the way she would like. Autum de Wilde
creates a floating world in the mind of Emma. Emma sees people as characters that can be moved about like sailing boats on
a pond, a puff of wind here, a puff of wind there. She would like to manoeuvre this person here or to that person there, and keep everybody within her control;
Harriet to Mr Elton, possibly herself to Frank Churchill. But all goes wrong. “Breezes,”
blow in other directions. Harriet thinks, because Mr Knightley has asked her to
dance she is in love with him and he her. After the ball in a carriage with Mr
Elton he professes his love for Emma. This is not what should be. The pitfalls
of internet dating comes to mind. As for TV shows such as Blind Date and Naked
Attraction, perish the thought.
By the way,the music written by Isobel
Waller Bridge for the ball at The Crown Inn and as background music throughout
the film fits this Emma superbly. It has a country feel to it sometimes. When
required Waller Bridge has composed music that fits completely an 18th
century dance. At the same time the music feels fresh and up to date, very
enjoyable. An amazing achievement.
If Emma is about nothing else it
is about the development and growth of relationships, and is an exploration of
what love is. The tensions and problems along the way just make for good drama
and emotional engagement. Autumn de Wilde is making this Emma relevant to today in her
treatment of , love.
One love affair at the start of the story has Emma heartbroken and bereft. Her surrogate mother, teacher and eventually soul mate, Miss Taylor
marries Mr Weston. A scene in the film shows the two of them either side of a
door (powerful symbolism) heads touching the opposite sides, centimetres apart
and speaking from their heartfelt emotions about what each means to the
other.The new Mrs Weston will only be half a mile away but a universe as far as
their changed relationship.
Emma also has a relationship with
Harriet, played by Mia Goth, who brilliantly portrays innocence, wonder and
bewilderment in equal measures, an orphan from Mrs Goddard’s School. This relationship
too grows ever more intimate. Emma tries
to control who Harriet marries against Harriet’s own feelings. Harriet’s fleeting fancies for Mr Elton and
then Mr Knightley are not where her true heart is of course. It is with Mr
Martin. Mr Martin portrayed steadfastly
by Connor Swindells, shows admirable patience in love. This is another relationship
Emma has to contend with or perhaps struggle against. Harriet really loves Mr Martin and Emma finally does accept this situation once she has gone through her own Damascene revelations.
Another relationship that comes
to fruition eventually is that of Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax. Frank goes through a lot for his love for Jane Fairfax and although this is not approved off by many, that relationship
is accepted by all in the end including of course Emma. All these relationships
other people have are also steps along the way towards Emma’s own emotional maturity. The relationships
and how they are portrayed in this film and how they develop make it a very modern story.
A further development for Emma occurs
after her atrocious treatment of Miss
Bates on Box Hill. She, in atonement for her awful behaviour, visits Miss
Bates. Few words are spoken but Emma shows her sorrow and Miss Bates shows her
unwavering love of Emma. Visiting those she has slighted and showing her
awareness of what she has done are markers in the development of Emma's emotional intelligence and Autumn de Wilde continues to highlight these moments.
Miranda Hart as Miss Bates
surprised me. Miranda is an excellent comedic actress and has created her own comedy
sitcom. On TV we laugh out loud at her because she is hilarious. Her Miss Bates is a funny
character in the sense of being quirky but really she manages to portray somebody who requires our sympathy. Miranda Hart who has a
genius for making us laugh played the part extremely well without resorting to
slapstick. She created a sense of the ridiculous but not in a laugh out loud
way. She achieves pathos and emotional hurt. Miranda makes us feel for her
Miss Bates. The only thing I cannot overcome is the fact, I have always thought of Miss Bates as short and squat, ( Jane Austen does not describe her as such) Miranda Hart is tall and gangly. Not
everything can be perfect.
By the end of de Wildes, Emma, Mr
Knightly and Emma develop a powerful love for each other which they both become
aware of ,suddenly, and it seems almost as a surprise. Their deep connection was there all along, of
course. Both Austen and de Wilde provide the clues, from the start of the novel, in
the case of Austen and from the start of the film in
de Wildes case. Although the main crux of the film is of course
about Emma passing through a time of self-refection and change to become
Mr Knightleys equal in love. Mr
Knightley does not merely hang around waiting for Emma to grow emotionally; he too has had to change. His awakened perception of Emma has
taken much understanding, patience. empathy and emotional intelligence on his part. Emotional
intelligence is what the film, is about
after all.
Emma is often described as a
comedy, perhaps a comedy of errors. Bill Nighy who plays Mr Woodhouse, uses his
usual repertoire of looks, pauses , tics, gasps, twitches and physical comedy
to portray a neurotic but loveable Mr Woodhouse. His overarching concern with moving
fire screens to shield the heat emanating from his blazing fire or sometimes, on the other
hand, to concentrate the fires heat to certain places in the room illustrates Mr
Woodhouses hypochondria to excellent effect. His servants are forever trying to
discover the source of a draft that only Mr Woodhouse can feel. Mr Elton’s big animated grin, which is a little disturbing, enhanced by his wearing
of high white winged collars, is quite surreal. The eventual Mrs Weston, played
by Gemma Whelan, is continually on the verge of disapproval, not quite reaching
a level of anger, and has a ludicrous essence about her. Do you laugh or frown
at somebody like that? Gemma Whelan does it very well anyway. As I suggested
earlier Miss Bates, played by the consummate comedy actress Miranda Hart is not
the clown you would suspect in this Emma. She plays the part at a much deeper
emotional, subtle level. I was very impressed with her performance. “Miranda”
of the sitcom would be so excited and ecstatic at that analysis. She would
whoop about the room, prancing like a horse. I kid you not.
This Emma is really worth seeing.
It is an Emma for our time highlighting issues about love that are relevant to us now. Autum de Wilde
in an interview was asked how she thought her, Emma, compared to other, Emmas.
She replied that she considered that one film was not better than another. Each
brought something different to our understanding. I think I would agree. This
Emma is very good. Emma, with a full stop? I’ll leave you to think about that
one. Nudity? Pah! Nicely rounded buttocks and elegant thighs for
mere fleeting moments. Surely nobody could possibly complain? We see more on
the beach or at an athletics event.