Emma is not perfection.
Okay so here’s the thing about Emma 2020. It’s an odd kettle of fish in that the costume design, sets and acting are flawless, first off.
The visibility of the servants was great, that they really had to bend to their employer’s every will and were invisiblely visible except when doing something such as dressing their boss, catching something or running around trying to make things perfect.
The pace is hard going, because it’s SLOW at the start but that shows how slow life was back then for the gentry, because literally the only thing to do was read unless you were going out and even if you were out, the slightest trace of snow had everybody running to their carriages. The majority of the action happens in the last 30 minutes and they could have cut the first 40 minutes easy.
The funniest bits was the deadly fucking silent opening but that could just be because my mum and I had forgotten to open the bag of chocolate buttons so there was this loud crackle during the production cards (sorry everyone) and then we were sat clutching the bag waiting for the fucking music to start in deathly silence.
When Knightley stripped off and about seven women across the cinema all gasped ‘My goodness!!’ really loud
As I say, the actors were fantastic and Bill Nighy was a gift. Miranda Hart was pleasantly brilliant.
Knightley’s brother rolling his eyes every five minutes and then trying not to cry when Emma and Knightley get married gave me life!
But things get wierd. The most iconic place in the film where the majority of stuff happens is the haberdashers, after Hartfield. Which I was not expecting. All going on in the fabric shop.
The music was not great, throughout.
Anya Taylor Joy played Emma as a fantastic and ultimate bitch and you could see that the only people she remotely gave three shits about were her dad, Knightley, Harriet and the Eltons who with the exception of Knightley all think she’s perfection and rush to please her. I could have applauded at Box Hill when Emma went home in tears.
But there’s like zero growth to Emma. There’s this horrid scene where she seems really contrite in front of Knightley about asking whether Robert Martin’s upset about Harriet. And after Knightley leaves she does this nasty little ‘ah well sucks for him’ shrug. Which makes her apologising to him later so fucking hollow sorry. She makes the same mistakes again and again and does actually learn anything. Talk about Frank Churchill using everybody ill, Emma’s been doing it for years. She didn’t even offer Jane the carriage at Donwell, it was more alright then, laters. The problem is, Emma’s not remotely likeable, the way she is in the 2009 adaptation. You’re not rooting for her at all, you’re waiting for the servants to spit in her tea.
Mind, her fights with Harriet and Knightley about...Harriet and Knightley were very good.
And then things get a bit random. I mean I’m all for a knowing glance in a period drama but Christ, you’d think the people of Highbury were telepathic from how many knowing glances they were throwing around. How the ever loving fuck was Emma meant to know that Harriet fancies Knightley? ‘You can’t mean Mr Knightley?’
And did Knightley propose? Did Emma accept him? Because apart from his confession, her getting a really random nosebleed and yelling at each other about misconceptions in the bushes, it didn’t actually get said. Also Emma never actually apologised to Miss Bates for what she’d said, just that she was sorry Jane was ill and then shoved a basket at her.
Essentially it has not replaced Emma 2009 and that’s the tea