I just watched Sunday’s PBS Masterpiece (Theatre) version of “Emma”, with Kate Beckinsdale in the title role. It seemed to me to cut the Miss Smith/ Vicar not-romance resolved too quickly. In the book, the machinations to put them together seemed much more drawn out. I thought the performances were good, particularly Mr. Knightly, who drew a good line between disapproval and sincerely wanting her to grow up and be the person he knows she can be.
The thing that gets me about Austen’s books is that the cads are always welcomed back into the family, even when they do awful things. Wickham is called “brother” by Lizzie and Frank Churchill is forgiven for not only leading Emma on, but also leading her into bad behaviour. I’m not nearly so forgiving.
I like the Gwyneth Paltrow version a little better than this one, even though I do like Kate Beckinsale.
As for forgiving the cads - wouldn’t it drag the whole family into disgrace if they admitted that something inappropriate had taken place? I thought they forgave in order to make the best of a bad situation. It always bothers me that Lydia Bennett, fool that she was, is stuck married to Wickham for the rest of her life.
Frank Churchill is probably the least villianous of Austen’s villians. He hides his engagement and leads Emma on, but that is really all…He’s not eloping with someone for their money, or knocking up someone’s ward. I never had a problem forgiving him. He was also very young and had been spoiled his entire life. Hopefully Jane helps him grow up.
Jane in this production reminds me a bit of Jane Eyre. Quiet, self-effacing, reserved. Perhaps it’s the knowledge of dependancy and having to work for a living.
Ugh, I disliked it immensely. Beckinsale was so charmless and bitchy and Strong’s Knightley was dour and in a perpetual hissy fit. I had no sense that Knightley and Emma had a longstanding affectionate friendship; all he did was snipe and yell at her. And Frank was such a hateful snot. I felt that Andrew Davies emphasized all the characters’ negative personality traits and lost the book’s vivacity and humor. It was so slooooow, despite being less than two hours. And can someone explain the pointless repetition of the hen-stealing scene? Bleah. My favorite Austen novel turned so turgid!
The Doug McGrath version w/Paltrow & Northam errs on the side of fluff, but that’s something I can deal with when McGrath kept Austen’s wit. I’m shocked that Andrew Davies of the brilliant Pride and Prejudice managed to drain all the funny out of Emma.
The McGrath Emma gave us such a warm, loving and believable relationship between the two leads. Northam’s Knightley shows disappointment and love toward Emma, unlike Strong’s pissed-off contempt. And Paltrow was ten times more lively and charming than Beckinsale. Her Emma is understandably adored throughout Highbury, despite being so vain and wrongheaded. (I also missed the daffy sweetness of Sophie Thompson’s Miss Bates, who’s way more sympathetic than Prunella Scales’s version. Scales is talkative and that’s it; Thompson shows us the Miss Bates who is kind and cheerful, as in the book. This makes the Box Hill insult far more painful to watch, enhancing the impact of Emma’s thoughtless comment.)
In the A&E version I did like Bernard Hepton’s Mr. Woodhouse, and Olivia Williams was a good and sympathetic Jane Fairfax. But all in all it was a poor production, IMHO.