EMMA
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: It may be that the Jane Austen craze
is nearing the end of its course, at least with me.
The title character plays with people's emotions
and even their lives. In the end her punishment is
she is a little contrite for a few scenes before
all her dreams come true. Ms. Austen's all-too-
visible hand sets everything right in the end, as
she always does. A well-acted and well-
photographed film, but the story is not Austen's
best. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4). WARNING: some minor
spoilers.
EMMA is an exquisite recreation of early 19th century country life. Seeing one scene after another is like looking in on historical rooms recreated in a museum. It is not that every scene is ornate, but each has a feel of authenticity. One almost feels that a guide taking the viewer around the room and telling the viewer what each of the items is might have been nearly as interesting as having the actors play out the scene. And at the end of the film one almost feels that might have been a better use of time. I am afraid that it will take some effort to convince me that this is really a better story than even INDEPENDENCE DAY has, as boorish as that might sound.
As is frequently the case in a Jane Austen story, EMMA is concerned with the vitally important issue of which of Ms. Austen's generally shallow characters will marry which others. Especially of interest is how will Austen's main heroine get together, after some tribulation of course, with the man who it is so obvious from the beginning is the perfect choice for a husband. At least in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY the main character was in some ways admirable. The self- satisfied Emma Woodhouse (played by the elegant Gwyneth Paltrow) is merely attractive and rich. I rather hoped through the film that there might be some semblance of a morality tale here and Emma's meddling would lead to her not getting her Mr. Right. Of course, that is not Austen's style and in the end Austen arranges that there is no permanent damage done by Emma.
Mr. Right in this case is Mr. Knightly (played by Jeremy Northam), Emma's sister's brother-in-law. And Knightly really is knightly. He is the voice of conscience and the advocate of restraint ("Better to be without sense than misapply it as you do.") as Emma goes madly running about trying to run the lives of all her friends. Her best friend is Harriet Smith (Toni Collette), afflicted with just average looks. And worse, she is afflicted with a friend like Emma. The persuasive Emma has decided that a local farmer who is interested in Harriet is not good enough to marry Harriet. Emma decides to quash that match and to instead set up a marriage with Reverend Elton, the local rector. Soon two eligible unmarrieds come on the scene. One is the callow Frank Churchill (Ewan McGregor of TRAINSPOTTING), stepson of Emma's governess and confidant. The other is Jane Fairfax (Polly Walker, who had far more engaging roles in ENCHANTED APRIL and RESTORATION), niece of the region's second ranking busybody. Soon all the wrong people are attracted to all the wrong people from Emma's point of view.
The novel was adapted to the screen and then directed by Douglas McGrath and some of the film has some undeniably witty moments. The acting is all sufficiently convincing. Gwyneth Paltrow looks extraordinarily long-necked and elegant. Jeremy Northam would look very good except for the fashions of the day that seemed to go in for extraordinarily large hats and other exaggerated clothing features. It is something of a surprise to see Greta Scacchi in a smaller role as the ex-governess. Also a familiar face is Juliet Stevenson of TRULY MADLY DEEPLY in a small role. More than once I found the sets upstaging the action with apple-filled harvest scenes, Christmas party scenes, crocheting rings, and views of odd decorations on yard furniture. In fact, there is little in this film that is not top-notch but the story itself. (I have to admit, I did like the film better than the recent CLUELESS, loosely based on the same novel. But at least there it was easier to like the main character in CLUELESS because the results of her actions would have been less permanent.) The only thing really wrong with EMMA is Emma herself. With a main character that there was some reason to care about, this could have been a much better film. I give it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
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