Rent Emma (2020)

Emma - Emma review by JA

This version of Emma is the best I have seen as it shows the humour of Jane Austin as I interpreted it in the novel. The acting is first class as is the way the film is shot. No one looks odd in their costumes and I actually forgot it was a costume drama (I usually hate them) as I was so engrossed in the film. 

Excruciating - Emma review by Alphaville

This is awful. It’s acted like a school play, with everyone told to read their lines with perfect diction and pronounce every syllable at the expense of emotional expression. Meanwhile the intolerable score underscores every beat, like in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Despite impeccable sets, not a single frame is believable. Just watch the trailer.

Perfect - Emma review by BE

Beautifully crafted, well acted and with sumptuous scenery and locations. Who would have thought that those Regency dances could portray such sensuality?  A wonderful movie and such a lovely change from sex,  foul language and uncouth characters that are the mainstay of a lot of today’s presentations.  Very well done Autumn de Wilde. 

OK Jane Austen Adaptation - Emma review by GI

An adaptation of Jane Austen's eighteenth century comedy of manners. It's a lovely looking film, shot in delightful buttery hues and the sense of privilege of the characters in the period is wonderfully captured. Overall this latest version doesn't offer anything much that's new and it's a pretty faithful retelling of this story (the director seems to like showing buttocks which are surprisingly on offer at various times). Anya Taylor-Joy plays Emma as the bored rich girl who delights in match-making but who makes a right royal cock up when she tries to sort her friend, the low-born and gawky Harriet (Mia Goth), out with the local Reverend (Josh O'Connor). It all goes horribly wrong and affects her own suppressed love for the handsome Mr Knightley (Johnny Flynn). The first third of the film is a little confusingly told but overall there's nothing wrong here especially if you like period dramas such as this. The cast are good and include the brilliant Bill Nighy as the father and Miranda Hart as the boring Miss Bates who Emma cruelly insults.

Dreadful - Emma review by IG

Each to their own, but, we thoroughly disliked this film and turned it off after 30 minutes, maybe it improved, I doubt it and really don't care. I appreciate that the story is intended to amuse and ridicule the social mores of the period but that does not excuse the lightweight style of this film, more to the point the soundtrack is loud, intrusive and totally inappropriate: Worse than a B movie.

A new entrant but a poor one - Emma review by JM

There are many productions of Emma, but I'd say this was far from the best. The treatment is trite, the acting shallow. This might be an attempt make a complex story more palatable to a wider audience, and that is a worthy aim, but if I hadn't known the story so well, it surely wouldn't have made much sense.

The central character is played by an actress who subscribes to the modern mumbling school of acting - her enuciation is dreadful and about 25% of her speech is lost. Johnny Flynn is quite ill equipped to take on the rather sober and restrained Mr Knightley, looking more of a rakish rockstar than the character needed to anchor Emma's flighty nature. There is a notable absence of chemistry between the two - which might be forgiveable if intended to put one "off the scent" - if it weren't for the fact that in the denoument there is no sense of tension, climax or emotional release.

On the positive side, the music is excellent as is the photography. Bill Nighy makes a passable Mr Woodhouse (not irrascible enough for me) and Mia Goth is a good Harriet Smith. Most actors at least have the benefit of decent diction, whilst Anya Taylor-Joy's Emma (as mentioned) lets the side down badly with her gabbling too fast. The properties, landscape and costumes are all beautiful and well photographed.

There are many version of Emma, but this will not become a classic. People will pick their own "best" version, but the 2009 one with Romolo Garai made for the BBC (available from cinema Paradiso) would take some beating for a benchmark.

Austen Jim, but not as we know it - Emma review by SE

Enjoyable film with a recognisable plot and characters but without the subtleties of Austen herself.