Emma (1996)

reviewed by
Kristian Lin


                                    EMMA
               A film review by Kristian Lin
                Copyright 1996 Kristian Lin
Emma and Empathy

It's great fun finding out that a dramatic actress (which Gwyneth Paltrow has been heretofore known to us) has an unsuspected comic talent. As a con artist and grave robber in FLESH AND BONE, she gave a dose of self-assurance in a meandering film filled with aimless characters. As Brad Pitt's wife in SE7EN, she was a welcome source of light amid the gloom of a pseudohip SILENCE OF THE LAMBS knockoff. Now, her richly funny performance in EMMA promises to be the first in a long career as a leading lady.

Adapted from Jane Austen's novel, EMMA is set in Regency England. Emma Woodhouse (Paltrow), the daughter of a member of the landed gentry, plays matchmaker for her younger adoring friend, Harriet Smith (Toni Collette). When Emma isn't busy believing that the wrong man has fallen for her, she's busy believing that the wrong man has fallen for Harriet. She tries to pair off Harriet with the vicar, Mr. Elton (Alan Cumming), only to find that he's more interested in her. Meanwhile, she flirts with Frank Churchill (Ewan McGregor), the dashing stepson of her best friend, but doesn't see that her lifelong friend Mr. Knightley (Jeremy Northam) is in love with her.

Paltrow has been criticized for being too transparent an actress to project the schemer in Emma Woodhouse, which is true. Emma's plotting is motivated by an innocent desire to do good, a quality that Alicia Silverstone nailed in CLUELESS, the updated version of EMMA. Paltrow's inability to convey this does mar her performance and the film, though not as much as others have claimed. It robs Emma of an extremely appealing character flaw, leaving us with her more unpleasant ones. However, it doesn't severely drag down the whole film, which testifies to her strength as an actress.

She has a pretty sure grip on everything else about the character: Emma's quickness of mind growing into complacent superiority at the beginning, then the ensuing confusion followed by her spiritual growth (of all Jane Austen heroines, Emma Woodhouse is the best role for a comic actress because Austen subjects her to so many unpleasant surprises). When Silverstone tries to look puzzled by her mistakes, she essentially squints. By contrast, Paltrow's eyes register everything. It leads to hilarious scenes like Mr. Elton's proposal to her in the carriage, where her brain simply locks up, leaving her only enough composure to fend him off. It also leads to affecting moments such as her realization of how she's insulted Miss Bates (Sophie Thompson). Paltrow's a smart actress with a sense of fun and a way with a joke, but she's also capable of expressing deep emotions. This is a born romantic comedienne.

It's too bad, though, that she completely swamps Jeremy Northam. Mr. Knightley does come off as rather drab in the novel, and Northam has a raffish appeal to compensate for it. He also catches fire when he becomes jealous of Frank Churchill. Compare, though, Alan Rickman's similar role in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (that performance looks better and better over time) and you'll find Northam lacking in the gravitas that perhaps only age could provide.

If Jane Austen hadn't been English, the British theater might well have had to invent her, as the last three films of her novels, PERSUASION, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, and now EMMA have all been distinguished by great supporting casts. No other country's actors could match Austen's detailed portraits of minor characters with the Brits' technical exactitude. Chief among the role players here is Thompson, who has done excellent work before, particularly as the hypochondriacal Mary Musgrove in PERSUASION. Here she creates a compelling and wholly realized personality. Her tiny, bespectacled Miss Bates gradually pulls all your attention toward her as her nervous, self-effacing manner continually apologizes for whatever it is that compels her to talk so much. And then, when Emma makes fun of her and her satirical wit cuts too deep, Miss Bates's chatter dies into a bewildered silence that's devastatingly effective.

McGregor is an immensely likable Frank Churchill and has a glorious moment when he joins in a song. Cumming and Juliet Stevenson are a well-matched pair of Eltons, while Greta Scacchi's Mrs. Weston strikes the right attitude of benevolent wisdom. Less well off are Collette and Denys Hawthorne as Mr. Woodhouse; perhaps because of the writing or the direction, they fall into caricature. I wish Polly Walker hadn't been such a drab Jane Fairfax. Jane's virtues are meant to come off as dull next to Emma's brilliant wrongheadedness, but even so, the character should have some luster of her own to give Emma something to dislike.

This film is the directing debut of screenwriter Douglas McGrath, whose previous scripts include a co-writing credit with Woody Allen on his marvelous BULLETS OVER BROADWAY. Jane Austen is so subtle a writer, you hate to fault anyone else for falling short of her standards, but McGrath stretches her finely nuanced humor into some unAustenlike broad gags - Emma misses an archery target and sends Knightley's dogs scattering, while Mr. Elton compliments Emma's sketch of Harriet when she's only finished the outline of Harriet's head. The filmmaker seems afraid that Austen's humor is too delicate for modern audiences. It isn't necessarily inappropriate to have Mrs. Elton talk with her mouth full of cake, but Jane Austen conveyed the character's vulgarity without resorting to this unimaginative touch, and we feel McGrath could have done it, too.

Tonally, EMMA most closely resembles the 1940 MGM film of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, though it doesn't commit any sin as egregious as the latter film's sympathetic portrayal of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. It's still fun, but we devotees of the novelist's dry, incisive social commentary will find the bright-hued farce a poor substitute (in this regard, Roger Michell's PERSUASION, the least amiable of the recent Austen adaptations, is also the most faithful to her spirit). Nevertheless, EMMA has much to recommend it, not the least of which is seeing a major actress in the making.


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