Advertisement
Become a member of the Big Issue community
JOIN
Film

Respectful new take on Emma is Austen powered

A new adaptation of 19th-century literary classic Emma is fresh, smart and a visual feast – even with the surprise bum flashes.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn in Emma

First, a confession. I have a movie-loving friend who whenever they see a bare bottom on-screen – be it male or female – feels compelled to exclaim “cheeky!” aloud as if they were in a particularly fruity episode of Hi-de-Hi! You might think I could safely chaperone this friend to a matinee of Emma (just the latest Jane Austen screen adaptation and one that, judging by Anya Taylor-Joy’s fetching bonnet on the posters, seems pretty faithful to the source material) without fear of disturbing other patrons. But you’d be wrong. There’d be an involuntary “cheeky!” within the first 15 minutes, and then another not long after.

That is not to say this version of Emma – adapted by Booker-winning Kiwi author Eleanor Catton and directed by veteran US rock photographer Autumn de Wilde – is some sort of gratuitously sexed-up reimagining or scorched-earth reboot. Instead it feels extremely respectful to Austen’s text.

Unlike Greta Gerwig’s lightly remixed Little Women, there is no tinkering with the timeline: Austen’s linear structure of an eventful year of matchmaking in the country hamlet of Highbury is retained, with the turning of the seasons tracked via Laura Ashley-ready title cards. The dialogue, refracted through the circuitous maze of 19th-century social mores, remains poised and elegant.

Anya Taylor-Joy’s luminous eyes scan and assess targets like a romantic Terminator

Emma Woodhouse (the excellent Taylor-Joy, whose luminous eyes scan and assess targets like a romantic Terminator) is still a self-assured young meddler. She is introduced symbolically picking the right blooms for a bouquet before embarking on a campaign of rampant cupidity as she seeks to slot Highbury’s singletons into her grand design.

As the worldly family friend who despairs over her schemes, the musician and actor Johnny Flynn brings a moral authority and some damn fine britches as Mr Knightley. And as Miss Harris, the ingénue adopted as Emma’s pet project, Mia Goth projects a heartbreaking vulnerability at odds with her mentor’s confident calculus.

Elsewhere, the cast is smartly populated by actors with deft comic timing: Bill Nighy as Emma’s hypochondriac father Mr Woodhouse, The Crown’s current Prince Charles Josh O’Connor as social-climbing drip Mr Elton and Miranda Hart as the kind-hearted but prattling Miss Bates.

Advertisement
Advertisement

There is no stinting on the pleasures of landed leisure, from grand houses in bucolic settings to a parade of ravishing cakes that threaten to distract from the various amorous set-ups and fallouts. De Wilde has previously collaborated with The White Stripes, Wilco and Sonic Youth but instead of anachronistic needle drops, the soundtrack remains period-appropriate, although her leading man’s tousled haircut does make it look as if Mr Knightley may at any moment regretfully take his leave from the Woodhouse parlour to strap on a bass guitar and join The Charlatans on stage.

The two hour-plus running time is luxurious enough to accommodate interludes that read between Austen’s lines. Those early and unexpected bum flashes offer enlightening glimpses of characters when they are not putting up the front required for society.

Later, both Taylor-Joy and Flynn have separate moments of anguish after freeing themselves from restrictive costuming that invest you in their relationship more than any verbal fencing.

These seemingly ancillary and often wordless scenes inject a valuable sense of real life into the whole thing. You might think it impossible that there was anything more to be wrung from Austen’s endlessly pored-over body of work – goodness knows there are other literary sources out there. Still, this fresh adaptation will win you over with its undeniable charm, wit and emotional verisimilitude.

Emma is in cinemas from February 14

Advertisement

Become a Big Issue member

3.8 million people in the UK live in extreme poverty. Turn your anger into action - become a Big Issue member and give us the power to take poverty to zero.

Recommended for you

View all
Timestalker review – digging deep into how love makes fools of us all
Alice Lowe in Timestalker
Film

Timestalker review – digging deep into how love makes fools of us all

Why the problems of this remote Kenyan community are the problems that face us all
Film

Why the problems of this remote Kenyan community are the problems that face us all

Joker: Folie à Deux says nothing meaningful about living with mental illness
Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck (aka Joker) and Lady Gaga as Harley ‘Lee’ Quinn in Folie à Deux
Film

Joker: Folie à Deux says nothing meaningful about living with mental illness

Actor Adam Pearson: 'I wake up every morning, let the universe kick my arse and then carry on'
Adam Pearson in A Different Man
Letter To My Younger Self

Actor Adam Pearson: 'I wake up every morning, let the universe kick my arse and then carry on'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know