Emma

[funmummy48]

I saw this afternoon and thought it was lovely. I’ve seen other adaptations so was a bit ambivalent about going but it was raining & horrid outside so it seemed a good way to fill an afternoon. So pleased I went as I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm actually watching the series of Emma on Netflix,it's SO much better than the recent film or the Gwenyth Paltrow one.

I loved it! I was very ambivalent and not a jane Austin fan but it was a miserable day so I took myself off to the cinema on my own and had a fabulous time!
Still need to see little women!

Tasmin Greig is Miss Bates,she's fab!

I may be wrong, but I thought Jane Austen had intended Emma to be entirely unlikeable. It’s been a long time since I read the book, but I have no memory of Emma becoming more likeable by the end

IIRC - which admittedly is unlikely -I think there is a comment in the book that her good qualities and bad are inextricably linked and you can’t have one without the other

I wasn't sure whether to see this or not;the trailer put me off. I've got a DVD of an old bbc adaptation from the 70's which is my favourite version. It's quite studio bound and stagey but they give it plenty of time for detail and nuance, Harriet is suitably pretty and naïve and there's a big age gap between Emma and Mr Knightly. He isn't gorgeous but is quite attractive and his character feels right.

@1066vegan - maybe just watch it online than get disappointed by a Reid to the cinema ? or go to the cinema with low expectations and try not to compare it with the version you like?

Btw - what is the version you’re referring to?

Wrt Churchill fawning all over Emma, does he do it to deflect attention from Jane Fairfax and him or is he just a player?

A bit of both, I think

Thanks,that makes sense.

@Davespecifico - the quote I was thinking of was about Emma being “faultless in spite of her faults”

@Aridane I think that watching it online is probably the best bet. If an adaptation doesn't feel quite right, it always seems more disappointing when you've made the effort to go to the cinema.

I've seen a few different versions of Emma but the one I posted about was a bbc version from way back in 1972. Doran Godwin was Emma and John Carson was Knightly (No, I'd never heard of them either).

Will see if I can find the 1972 one online!

Thanks,it’s on You Tube

I hope you're not disappointed. The production values are very different from modern tv adaptation of the classics. Smaller budgets back then I suppose. I'm not old enough to have seen this first time round but did grow up watching the old bbc classics that were often on on Sunday evenings and they were usually very set-bound.

I thought it was wonderful. I really enjoyed it.

@Nofoolfornoone
loved it! I was very ambivalent and not a jane Austin fan but it was a miserable day so I took myself off to the cinema on my own and had a fabulous time!
Still need to see little women!

Are you me? I will set a side a day for Little Women. Are you free a week on Friday?

@1066vegan

I’ve start watching - casually, not glued to the screen.

A big plus - compared with the film - that Harriet is PRETTY, that Knightley is 16 YEARS OLDER, that Miss Bates is IRRITATING (rather than the star of the shoe Miranda style ), that Emma is LOVELY, PATIENT & LOVING to her father (who would try the patience of a saint) and her baby niece, that her treating Harriet SELFISHLY like a plaything is a bit shocking and you get a sense of the STULTIFYING NARROWNESS and boredom associated with being a bright and vivacious young woman - even a rich woman - in that milieu.

Of course though I miss the lavish film sets, countryside, clothing, housing etc. This one is quite drab in comparison visually

@Aridane I'm glad that you found a lot to enjoy.

I think that the age gap between Emma and Knightly is crucial to their relationship. He talks about how she was as a girl (e.g. wanting to be a great pianist but not bothering to practise, drawing up reading lists to improve her mind but then not reading the books on her lists); it's partly why he feels entitled to rebuke her when her behaviour lets her down and why she accepts his criticism; it explains why - even after she has accepted his proposal - she finds it difficult to call him by his first name.

Now, if you could combine the casting and interpretation of that version with decent costumes, locations etc then you'd have a perfect interpretation.

I just saw it, and quite liked it. Very surprised at so many people mixing up Mr Eltham and Mr Churchill, one was an awkward dork and the other very handsome. Not as delicious as the gorgeous Mr Knightly though.
Miranda was suitably irritating, Emma suitably unlikable. I didn’t understand Emma and Harriet’s friendship. I had a vague memory that Harriet was a plaything and distraction, but they were very affectionate all the time. Also didn’t recall from the book, or understand from the film why Harris didn’t know Who her father was. Why not? Was those common at the time?

I can’t remember the book well, but i thought this adaptation was quite sketchy on characters and their backgrounds, I was left with a few question marks.

@Ohyesiam in the book Harriet is illegitimate but has been placed in a school, so there is an unknown relative who wants her to be educated and brought up respectably.

Emma is a romantic, decides that Harriet must be the secret child of a member of the gentry and thus deserves a good match; she is too good for Robert Martin.

Mr Knightly, on the other hand, knows that Robert Martin is a yeoman farmer from a respectable family who is financially secure; if anything, he is too good for Harriet.

Mr Elton is aware enough of his social position to look down on Harriet and dismiss the idea of marrying her because of her illegitimacy. However, he in turn pursues Emma although her social status is above his.

Vegan, I remember John Carson very well, considered him to be quite a dish when I was young. I didn't see the 1972 Emma though.

If anyone wants to see the 1972 Emma, it’s freely available on YouTube

there are thirteen years age difference between Flynn and Taylor-Joy, so not a massive difference to the book?

But he doesn’t look much older than her, just like another young man of her generation