👋 Thanks a bunch for watching this! If you liked it, these might also be your jam: ○ Dear haters of Mamma Mia: ua-cam.com/video/dwMc9GHchBc/v-deo.html ○ Trying Mean Girls Outfits for a week (feat. Hannah Witton): ua-cam.com/video/FII247wXuRI/v-deo.html ○ Does Normal People work on TV? The genius of Sally Rooney explained: ua-cam.com/video/iJf2VNF943g/v-deo.html
My favorite scene from the 2020 version: Mr. Knightley running after Emma’s carriage all the way to Hartfield from the ball. Emma running down to meet him, their eyes lock into each other, Knightley’s about to say something... and Frank Churchill interrupts them. HAHAHA AMAZING
That was a cool scene, but I kind of like how the 1996 one leaves it more of a surprise to Emma when he proposes at the end. In the 2020 one, it didn't seem like she could be surprised by his feelings, between the hot dance scene and then this scene following.
@@mstie3252 I think the way it works is showing Mr. Knightley slightly snub Emma afterwards, several times. And after the "Badly done" scene where he just up and leaves, she probably thinks if he had any affection for her, it's gone.
@@rizahawkeyepierce1380 def as well as Emma's discussion with Harriet thinking Knightley likes her. Emma is left thinking Knightley doesn't admire her as much
2020 Emma gets an extra 100 points for accuracy in the hairstyles, which is so incredibly rare that it must be praised! I get those weird ringlet things aren’t aesthetically pleasing to a modern audience, but I want historical fashion and style accuracy in my period dramas, dammit! The BBC P&P in the 90s also did the ringlets, but I can’t think of any other regency drama that does them.
Agreed, but that's also why i don't understand why they went into these stringy tiny curls instead of the accurate thick and tightly coiled style that we saw in BBCP&P. Can't have everything i guess¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Emma adaptation in 2007 with Romola Garai was great but it bothered me how they gave Emma such simple, basic hair and Harriet had the ringlets. They were trying to make Harriet look “silly” but it just made her look like she had a lady’s maid and Emma didn’t!
Something I found hilarious in the 2020 version was how shocked and put out Mr . Knightley always looked when he entered a room and Frank Churchill was there. There was just something about that I found hilarious; they both just give a start like “what the hell are you doing here?!”
I love that Mr. Knightley points out to Emma that she makes it clear she doesn't like Jane Fairfax, and then we see Mr. Knightley look at Frank Churchill like he wants to murder him every time they're in the same room.
sevenfaces Oh my god, that’s so true. And men still do it to this day... Men: “Women are so dramatic...” Also men: (throws a tantrum over something stupid without seeing any irony)
I loved their first scene together, when they both enter at the same time, pause, keep walking, Emma walks between them and they both stop at the door waiting for the other to walk in. The pacing in that scene is AMAZING.
There are some points in the 2020 movie where I feel like Emma is actually a kinder, more likable person than she is in previous versions. For example, after she insults Miss Bates at the picnic, Emma immediately regrets what she says and there are tears in her eyes before she even sees the others' reactions. She feels bad because she has injured Miss Bates. In other versions it appears that Emma regrets what she said more because of the disapproval it brings from Mr. Knightley than her own conscience.
That’s what I really loved about the 2020 movie it showed a good side of her I haven’t read the book but I don’t think she was kind or at least reasonable am I right?
True, she's meaner in the book--but I respect and _like_ her move in the 2020 version because of what you're pointing out in this scene. Likewise how in 2020 she cares more about Harriet's feelings at the end, and takes responsibility for resolving the situation with Robert Martin.
idk. i kind of felt in the movie that she was upset because of what mr knightley had said. it's like she knew what she said was wrong but the thing that really comes down hard on her is when mr knightley berates her, making her seep slightly self centred. but that's just imo :)
@@shahadshd5165 I don't think that book Emma is mean or unreasonable, she is kind and very loving but she is a beautiful girl from a rich family, protected, spoiled with love and not one care in the world. She is most of all smart and witty and very much bored. Frank Churchill reads this very quickly and he plays with Emma's good nature and dislike/ jealousy for Jane , he is the devious one that never gets to be punished for his irresponsible behavior towards Emma or Jane and even towards his father. She is very rude to Miss Bates and she knows she did wrong because that is not who she is, not really. The way Frank constantly plays his mind game by provoking her using her deep dislike for Mrs. Elton, her young impatience towards Miss Bates and her jealousy for Jane brings out her immature,spoiled girl side to the surface, that is what makes her be rude. Knightly's reaction only reinforces what she already knew for herself and that is why it hurt even more and that is why she never really fell inlove with Frank, she knew in her heart that he wasn't exactly what he appeared to be.
The scene with the nosebleed should go down as one of the most brilliant cinematic choices ever. I was not expecting it, yet it made so much sense. So brilliant.
@@darthslayder6904 someone else said it was scripted, BUT Anna Taylor-Joy's nose actually started bleeding, so they ended up using her real blood instead of the fake blood they'd planned.
@@stoverboo You're right, it isn't in the book, but I would argue it works dramatically by deferring the romantic tension til the later scenes, making the emphasis more clearly on resolving Harriet before they can share greater intimacy so that the last scenes don't collapse, there are still some surprises. And yes, the Harriet rescue isn't in the book so obviously either, although I would argue it is suggested that Emma and Mr Knightley do sort Harriet subtly near the end, it is just made more obvious for the shorter film running time. It also makes Mr Knightley's suggestion that he move to Hartfield the emotional turning point scene after which they feel ready to kiss, and even in the book this probably is his noblest gesture, a genuine plot twist once we know marriage is happening, (although I think the film undermined this by showing Mr Woodhouse as compos mentis and not elderly). The Paltrow film solves this by just slicing the two scenes together, but that actually minimises his sacrifice by making it a spur of the moment thing rather than a genuine plan. The nose bleed plays with the dramatic convention of *the proposal scene*, making it messier, more of a negotiation. And the messiness is in the book; Mr Knightley doesn't intend to propose, Emma thinks he's in love with Harriet, they both confuse each other.
I kind of liked that Harriet knew right away that Emma was in love with Mr. Knightley, because it works so well as a foil for Emma in that moment. Emma thinks she's so much smarter and more perceptive than everyone else around her (which is why she's so into matchmaking at the beginning), but almost everything she perceives is wrong. She thinks Mr. Elton is in love with Harriet. She thinks she's in love with Frank Churchill. She thinks Mr. Knightley is maybe in love with Jane Fairfax. She then thinks Harriet is in love with Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax is in love with Mr. Dixon. But Harriet, though wrong in thinking that Mr. Knightley is in love with her, is able to perceive Emma in a way that Emma herself was not able to, which breaks down Emma's assumption of her own superiority. Plus, this allows the tension to continue in a different way, because Harriet has just shown herself to be more perceptive than Emma, so Emma is more likely to believe Harriet is right about Mr. Knightley, too. (Plus it makes Harriet look less like a complete idiot than she did in the 2009 miniseries).
@Karen Bartlett I liked this too, and I love that Harriet gets a chance to not be utterly dense. I like it when adaptations give characters that were idiots in the books a chance to shine and be a little bit more aware than before, and I felt the 2020 Harriet was naive rather than stupid, which I think is how Harriet was intended to be anyway.
It also gives more power to Harriet's decision to accept Mr. Martin. It helps Harriet learn to trust her own intuition, which she so severely doubted at the beginning. When she marches in and announces her betrothal, instead of asking for advice, its kind of a fist bump moment.
@@emmajones5875 exactly, let's not forget Harriet is 17 years old, naive, a bit dizzy, not stupid but certainly not Emma's intellectual equal. Perfect Harriet for me.
Yeah it just felt like they emphasized the arc of both characters more effectively. Mia's Harriet didn't seem dumb to me even early on, just intimidated and out of her depth a bit. She's obviously clever, popular and well liked at her school and by the Martin's. She has some wits, and she really seems to come into her own entirely in this one, finds her place in the world, and has far more confidence and wisdom. And then you see her figure Emma out thoroughly before Emma fully understands herself. You can also imagine her and Mr. Martin being ridiculously happy together for 50 years. Anya took Emma on a pretty substantial arc too. From arrogant and mistaken, though ultimately good hearted, to really seeing herself the fool and coming pretty unglued through one of the better displays of 4-5 crying scenes in a row ever from Anya, and ultimately being a much better person for it. Really thought it was pretty poignant compared to other versions , and for the time that she'd walk up to the Martin's with her patented goose basket. I found this one benefited a lot from a few re-watches.
How at no point in this did you mention the costuming!?! I couldn't stop staring at all those incredible collars!! And the way they styled Mrs Eltons hair was perfection.The format of this one and the humour style reminded me a lot of The Favourite, I loved it!
Costumes are eye candy for me! Always important, in my opinion, and yes, deserve high praise in the 2020 version. Not that 1996 didn't have exquisite costumes.
The costumes were beautiful. Mrs Elton's hair is actually arranged in a style that was fashionable in the 1820s-30s, but I suppose they wanted her to look slightly nouveau riche and pretentious.
So the red cloaks, where actually the closest to a "Nations Dress" that england had at that time, and red cloaks where HUGELY popular and both the less fortunate and the rich would have owned one. The handmaiden reference is just accidental.
I think Autumn talks about it in an interview that it was inspired by period accurate clothing but she was aware of the parallel and didn’t back away from it.
lmao my favourite youtube trend is when we all watch the same viral videos then you see people spouting off facts, word for word, from those videos under the comment sections of other related videos, but presenting it like they're delivering rare expert knowledge
Love" Emma" and the many adaptations that are reasonably faithful to Jane Austin's wonderful sense of humor. Adored "Clueless" as a terrific film in its own right!
My favorite change in the 2020 version was how Emma herself went to convince Mr. Martin to ask Harriet to marry him again... it really showed her character development. In the moment that Emma got everything she wanted- Mr. Knightley proposing- she put aside her wishes and instead tried to fix the mess she had made for her friend. It was very sweet to me, I really loved it, especially compared to the 1996 version in which Emma is just like "oh, lol, oops, sorry I'm marrying your crush, hope we can still be friends
I added just an emoji before but I just have to further comment. You, and all the people who liked your comment are ARROGANTLY ignorant and it shows. Do you not know the history of adaptions for either film? Do you know what was excluded and highlighted in these adaptions vs others? Have you actually read the source material? Clearly you do not know at ALL what you're talking about - and in many ways neither did Greta Gerwig.. which I guess makes her adaption perfect for you. And furthermore.. just because something is written by a woman, does not mean she "gets it". Not all women relate to one another.
@@ArmednotTriggered You don't seem to be following the conversation at all. I am addressing the OP who said that the directors of those two films just seemed to "get it". I am saying Gerwig in particular did not "get it" anymore than the other several directors, writers and crew who worked on the other adaptions. I am literally saying that several of the adaptions of both works were savvy, competent and revenant to their source material - I bring up Gerwig because I'd say the legacy of Little Women films are even more so those things than her adaption. Your comment is irrelevant.
I personally loved 2020 Emma the best. It such a comical and whimsical aspect to it that 1996 Emma doesn’t really hold up to. Both movies are great though.
Yes! I feel like 2020 Emma better captured the comedy that was in the novel. I laughed so many times while watching it, and I really don’t remember laughing that much while watching the 1996 version
Ily M I love the way the movie used the servants to comic effect. They were always there, but never “seen,” and their reactions reflected the emotional temperature of the scenes. When the two male servants of Mr. Woodhouse turned around during the kissing scene at the end, it was priceless.
@@sierra4645 YES! One of the things that I got the most kick out of, and I didn't think anyone would notice because it's such a small, subtle thing, were the looks on the manservant's faces throughout the film. They cracked me up!
The discussion around Johnny Flynn's age is frankly perplexing to me. Gwyneth was 24 and Jeremy 35 in 1996. Anya is 23 and Johnny 36 (37 as of two days ago, March 14th - making him the same age as George Knightley, and providing the same age disparity between both sets of actors). I think people who viewed the 1996 Emma earlier had the privilege of being younger and seeing Jeremy as older in their view than he actually was. As someone who is a fresh-faced thirty-five-year-old and often mistaken for being ten years younger than I am... I must say it's a bit offensive that people assume if you're 35 or older you must look haggard lol. I never got the impression he was supposed to be shockingly aged - just that he was more mature, which Johnny accomplishes every bit as much as Jeremy.
I think the real age gap between the actors shows why such a large gap isn't necessarily strange or shocking (especially at the time). 16 and 30 would be weird, but 21 going on 22 is an adult and the difference really becomes less severe as the years go on. And 35 is still young!
@@adorabell4253 The real problem with Knightley is his role in Emma's childhood. It creates accusations of grooming. In scolding her he was making her the perfect wife. Its an interpretation I have sympathy for even if I don't particularly like it.
@@04nbod It's definitely an awkward thing to explain to someone who hasn't read the book. It's hard to level accusations of grooming at someone who didn't even see Emma as a romantic prospect until she was well within adult age.
@@adorabell4253 'I have no doubt. Nature gave you understanding:-- Miss Taylor gave you principles. You must have done well. My interference was quite as likely to do harm as good. It was very natural for you to say, what right has he to lecture me?-- and I am afraid very natural for you to feel that it was done in a disagreeable manner. I do not believe I did you any good. The good was all to myself, by making you an object of the tenderest affection to me. I could not think about you so much without doating on you, faults and all; and by dint of fancying so many errors, have been in love with you ever since you were thirteen at least."'
I adored the 2020 version. I recently finished the book and then watched it twice in less than a week. I feel like Jane Austen would have been happy with this adaptation because Emma is so extremely unlikable at times. And sometimes when I was reading the book, I was shocked by nasty she could be. Yeah the 2020 version does make her a tad meaner, I think it served the plot better. I think the 2020 version did a great job at letting us the viewers realize that Mr Knightly loved Emma from the start. You can see it in the little moments between Johnny and Anya. It made the intimacy of the ball room scene even more spicy
The nosebleed was actually real! Anna Taylor-Joy said in an interview her nose just randomly started bleeding and everyone else was freaking out and she was like “Keep rolling!” 😆
@@phoebe3403, I was at a Q&A with Autumn last week. It WAS scripted, but Anya's nose actually DID start to bleed right then. It was real blood and not the fake stuff they were planning to use.
Johnny Flynn is not at all how I imagine Knightley, but I did like his sexy version. I thought Anya Taylor-Joy was a wonderfully spiky Emma. I was moved by Miranda Hart's version of Ms Bates. When Emma said that nasty thing to her, I could see her heart break.
I just finished listening to Nagio Marsh's "Singing in the Shrouds" which also includes an unlovely woman who is doing the best she can with the pain of being unloved. I have always been irritated by Miss Bates, even as I was terribly hurt for her and her and her hopeless situation.
Yes, I agree that Miranda Hart was an excellent choice for this part. I do agree with the video that splitting Miss Bates from Mrs Bates ruined a lot of the comedy springing from their relationship. The Miss Bates in the 1996 version gave a fine performance.
I was slightly disappointed the video didn't cover another pivotal scene: "Badly done, indeed!" But I think 2020 wins that scene as well so it wouldn't change the outcome. Johnny Flynn is just so emotional in that scene, and you can see that he's acting out of love: the minute the words are out of Emma's mouth you can see that she feels stricken for how much her frustrated words have genuinely hurt Miss Bates, and she's looking for someone to at least tell her she's done something wrong so she can argue with them. Mr. Weston just tells her she's perfect (she doesn't look thrilled) and Frank Churchill just calmly eats an apple and ignores the whole thing. Mr. Knightley on the other hand checks his natural desire to just exit the situation and be heartbroken and disappointed, and instead calls her on it, because he loves her--both he and she expect better things from themselves than what she just did, and having that argument (and losing) is exactly what she needed, not Frank Churchill's blithe unconcern. It's a _very_ romantic scene and both Anna Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn nail the delivery.
When Mr. Knightly starts running to Emma's after the dance, and you know then and there he wants to propose, but it goes wrong, and he just rips his clothes off and lays by himself. Just a brilliant sequence.
I agree. Knightly ripping his jacket off and throwing himself on the floor in frustration was so good. I also loved the scene where Harriett lies on the couch after being carried there. Pure comedy. And when Knightly is jealous when Emma calls Churchill back and not him. “ We’ll both go!” When he alone was sent to fetch the doctor.
Yes I feel like i finally 'got' Emma as a character with this 2020 version, i felt she was perfectly mean and super unaware of her privilege. It also made me realise why she was soo pissed at Jane Fairfax. Loved how Emma was slightly less of a trash human at the end and how fucking sexy was that dance 😍!! All round loved this version and so glad i saw it
Book Emma was very much aware of her privileged. Issues sort of stem from that, she starts to consider that her position means that she's more qualified to decided how people should act and who they should associate with.
I love that we get to explore Jane Fairfax's relationship with Emma in the 2020 version. In the 1996 version we mostly see Jane as someone to feel sorry for, and Emma is jealous of her. But in the 2020 version we hear that Emma is annoyed that everyone keeps trying to set them up as friends and that the jealousy of how highly everyone thinks of Jane really grates Emma because she gets hounded so often. It's this moment where the shiny veneer gets chipped away and you see that Emma has been a bit jaded by never meeting people's expectations. She's never kind enough, never genteel enough and I kind of like that. I have problems being nice to annoying people... It's a very empathetic moment.
@@adorabell4253 I feel like her character development is so good though because she starts out with being prejudiced and she ends up with acknowledging her privilege and being responsible with it (I think the turning point was the mean remark about never stopping at saying 3 dull things) like inviting Harriet’s father over even though he was a lower class (tradesmen were, even if they had money, newly rich and looked down upon by aristocracy)
I've really never liked Emma, but the 2020 adaptation won me over. There was more personality and wit on show than in any previous adaptations and I love the look of the film too. Everyone also feels more human and fallible in the new film, more like real people.
I actually really liked the Churchill casting. I felt it showed how naive Emma was. We could see how terrible, rakish and manipulative he was but Emma was completely charmed. Because ultimately this is a story where she thinks very highly of her intuition but is shown that she that maybe she sees things wrongly. P.S. I read the book last year, say the 2020 version first and then watched the 1996 version to watch your video so I don't have nostalgia for the 1996 one. P.P.S. Ewan McGregor's hair is ridiculous and I hate it.
Lol I watched the 1996 version first then book and now 2020, followed by the 96 w Kate & Mark, all during quranatine so 96 does have a special place for me (esp Knightley) but 2020 is my favorite.
I liked the scene where she is questioning him about the piano. He knows he's a question away from being rumbled by her and so cleverly distracts Emma with her own jealousies which were clearly apparent.
God I actually couldn't believe how hot it was during the first watch - had to watch it again. Reminded me very much of the Pride and prejudice adaptation with Keira Knightley and the hand flex - aaaah, I actually cannot explain to anybody who doesn't read Jane Austen or watches adaptations of her books how sexy some of this stuff is
I’m not gonna pretend I didn’t instantly develop a crush on Johnny Flynn as Mr Knightly. Never seen or read Emma before so I had no idea what was going to happen but during the ball dance scene I was just kinda yelling “oh my god marry HIM he’s cute af!!!”
Red cloaks were a standard item of female provincial outdoor clothing in the late 18th and early 19th century. Historical accuracy rather than a Handmaid’s nod I would think.
Do you know if the marching in time would have been a school thing? That's what tipped me into thinking of handmaids tale - they never seemed to stroll but March in two straight lines.
It could be both, and Margaret Atwood definitely took from period clothing when she was writing. It could also just be an emphasis on how few options women had at the time, and how marrying well was one of the better ones because you'd be secure for longer than a governess position.
LOVE this video 😍 Also, let’s talk about how in the new version it’s Emma who goes to Robert Martin and inspires his second proposal, rather than it just being happy coincidence that it all works out perfectly. YES proactive heroines who make their own happy ending possible 👌
Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale did great movies of Emma - each in her own style. But IMO the best one was Romola Garai - it was more complete and rounded, possibly helped some by being a miniseries.
I love the 2009 BBC Emma but you're winning me over to watch this one. Also, I'm pretty sure Amy March and Emma are kindred spirits who are both misunderstood.
@@Melanie-jy2nw Then it probably depends on who gets to be Humpty Dumpty and define "too harshly". Too many adaptations over-rehabilitate characters to suit modern sensibilities. The revolutionary aspects of Emma and Persuasion, especially the former, get badly watered down that way.
I never thought the age difference between Emma and Mr Knightly was that weird, especially for those times. Emma was 20/21 years old and Mr knightly May have been friends with her father but he was much younger than him too! Also, Mr knightly brother and Emma’s sister got married so they’re connected as brother and sister in law rather than a father figure!
I think the problem is not the age gap, but the fact that Goerge was an older brother to Emma all her life. He has known her since she was a baby, and he constantly gave her discipline (since Miss Taylor and her father didn't) and in the book he says he loves her since she was 13 yo. For that time it was ok, but it didn't age well
@Catleya Sherbow It's irony! That line is irony, my God. Read in context. Just before we are told that he did not know that he loved her until the events of the book.
@@evelinmenezes9313 I think he may have fallen in love with her at 13 for similar reasons to why he loves her by the end of the story, but he just doesn't realize how much he loves her until he notices how much he dislikes Frank Churchill, which happens near the beginning of the story. The age gap is icky to me but those were different times, they're both adults and know each other well
I thought that the opening of the 2020 version was an interesting riff on setting the terms and boundaries of the world. Emma is controlling and calculating and curating from the very start, and we don't just see that happen in Highbury or even Hartfield, but in the greenhouse of Hartfield. It sort of shrinks the scale of Emma's 'world' and the attempts at authorship she engages in in the story, and signals the questions of scale here to the viewer. It's interesting, because the things in this video I disagree with you most on are your opinions about Harriet and Emma, but I agree with almost everything else you say! I think that in my mind, Emma is a book about reading and misreading--it's about learning to be literate in people and in relationships. Emma is a bad reader--Mr. Knightley tells Mrs. Weston that Emma never reads and how when she reads with Harriet she's just pretending to read or putting on airs of being well read. That's a really literal statement of the themes of reading and misreading in the novel. Moreover, they play a bunch of word games. That's one of the reasons I think Harriet and the relationship she has with Emma are spot on in the 2020 film--Harriet is, for lack of a better word, stupid in the book. She's naive and silly and she isn't a good reader. She gets stuck on big words and she can't play word games because she's too slow and always gets the answers wrong. And she is a pet for Emma--Emma is lonely, yes, and desperate for companionship, yes, but Emma does manipulate Harriet and treat her like a plaything. Mr. Knightley is constantly framed as a better reader than Emma in the book--he is always observing, listening, watching. He always catches on to some version of the truth sooner than Emma does, he sees the connection between Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill before anyone else. He puts it together that they have some kind of connection during a word game in the book! That's also during the only chapter where the free indirect discourse enters Knightley's perspective, and Knightley is the one who tells us that Emma doesn't read but wants people to think she does, and he's also the one who tells us that Emma is 'no friend to Harriet.' Knightley is framed as an effective reader and the cues he gives us are so often true, and I think he's right that her friendship is disingenuous. I also think that Emma's behavior is socially coded for the book's audience at its time in the same way that Emma's behavior in the 2020 version is socially coded for us. By that I mean that while this is in some ways a pricklier or more flippant Emma, I actually just think it's because it's really difficult to have her act the exact same way as she does in the book and also understand how cutting and rude and snooty she is. Because she is! Unbelievably so! Like she really truly does look down on people and she really truly does think she is a better, more perceptive person than everyone else--it just comes across more subtly to modern audiences because the way she communicates that is within a certain social language that we aren't necessarily literate in. So I think having Emma behave the way she does in the 2020 version is a really interesting choice that really, really works to communicate what's happening. Also, I think in line with what you said about the female gaze--it's so refreshing to see a female character who is able to be so truly vile and make so many severe mistakes in the way she treats the people around her, and then see her genuine emotional response to that and see her be able to try and make it right. Women are so often not given the opportunity for redemption, and are so often branded as difficult and then disregarded. I loved that they took her flaws to an extreme and still walked her back from them and showed her being loved, even by a man who detested her actions, and having agency in that love. I also think that might be part of the reason that the end is reordered in the way it is. One of the problems of Emma, the novel, is that Emma basically doesn't talk or have agency of her own as soon as she and Knightley confess their feelings. Knightley does all of the talking in a didactic, prescriptive way from there. But with the way the film is reordered, there is a lot of active action left for Emma by the time she realizes how she feels and that Knightley feels the same. She has things she has to take care of, she has time and space left to be an agent. And it defers the resolution of the relationship until the end, so you don't run into the issue of having to show that Knightley and Emma are together while also tying up loose ends, which is sort of what the book does and why Knightley essentially narrates the end. Also, re the Handmaid's tale imagery, it was so weird! And with Emma in the cloak which is the color of the wives' clothing! The only thing I could really think of is that Emma is using Harriet as a kind of proxy for her own loneliness, deferred desire for marriage, and the sexual and romantic relationships she can't seem to work out her feelings about. That's not to say that she tries to pair Harriet with people she wants to be paired with, obviously. However, Harriet does become a proxy through which Mr. Elton and Emma enact the misguided versions of the relationship they both believe themselves to be having--Emma a friendship with a man who fancies her friend, and Mr. Elton a courtship with Emma. And later, when Emma believes that Harriet is in love with Frank Churchill, she does sort of use Harriet as a proxy through which to try to enact the pairing which everyone seems to expect of her. Because Harriet is in love with him, or so Emma thinks, she is able to straddle the line between her flirtation with Frank and her purported desire to be single by attempting to ingratiate Harriet and Frank with one another, however briefly. There's also a class element to it where Emma consistently uses people of a lower class to try and establish narratives about herself, which is in part what she's doing with Harriet. So I wonder if the handmaids imagery is supposed to point to us that Harriet is being used as a kind of romantic and social surrogate in the way the handmaids becomes sexual and literal surrogates? It certainly illustrates, I think, that there are class tensions and power dynamics which complicate their friendship. I also think it serves as something of a reminder that even though this story is told by women about a woman, these women are still entangled in a world defined by men's rules and privilege, as are we. Emma sees herself as outside of that, and in some ways she is, given that she has money and no real pressure or obligation to marry, so it makes sense that she would be in the teal. But then, of course, despite her individual circumstances, she's still affected by and oppressed by the systems which shape her life. Just like the wives are in HT? I'm just spitballing now. Anyway, I've accidentally written an essay. I loved this video, and now I want to watch everything on your channel.
To build upon your last point of the HT dresses, while both Emma and the orphan girl are wearing red dresses (or jackets?? idk the name) similar to HT, Emma is the only one in that scene who isn't wearing a bonnet. In HT the bonnets were important because it hindered the views of handmaidens, making it so they can't see their surounding properly. I think it's there to show that because of her class and privilege, Emma is able to look around and be aware of not only her position, but other positions in society while the orphan girls can't. They have to marry well otherwise they will be left with nothing (and they therefore have eyes only to that) while Emma has the option of not marrying, which can make her more aware of the diferent class struggles around her. She's still in red because she is still a woman but she doesn't wear a bonnet because she is rich and is able to see it. Maybe jshdsjhs I'm also spitballing
@@dotkiarika1026 ooooh that's such an interesting idea!! As another commenter pointed out, the red capes were obviously an incredibly popular look at the time period and even beyond it, and some particularly famous depictions of the style come from Diana Sperling's artist's sketchbooks from the period. But! It feels totally impossible to me that everyone in this film was totally unaware of the imagery they were evoking for modern audiences, especially given the bonnets (again, certainly appropriate for the period but still part of a cinematic dialect for 21st century audiences), the point you've made about them, and the color of Emma's dress in the scenes at Mrs. Goddard's. But I don't know--it's all so interesting! Hopefully someone asks the costume designer or the director about it in an interview.
I enjoyed your essay very much. The thing I miss about teaching is the conversation with other educated people about books. You have inspired me to reinvent a part of my life to include those relationships. Thank you.
I’m obsessed with the new Emma, so well done. Johnny as George for me was perfect & I appreciate that he cried & went further with the emotional side of Mr. Knightley. Jane Austen movie dance scenes steal my heart, they are always my favourite. “Women win the war” yes, yes we do.
You didn't bring up all the little details in the 2020. I loved the clothing, the HAIR, the CAKES..., the bobbles at the shop. Oh my gosh...those in itself made this a better movie. But, I do agree with a lot of your points.
I just saw the film and I loved the starkness of it. The awkwardness of the characters made it even more funny. The problem I have with most period movies and dramas is that they forget to let them have flaws. That is my favorite part of Jane Austen's legacy. Her storytelling was real and honest.
Emma was my first and has always been my absolute favorite Jane Austen book!! I’ve never understood why everyone is so obsessed with Elizabeth & Darcy when Emma & Mr. Knightley are the clear otp! That being said, I’ve always been a little unsatisfied with previous representations of Knightley onscreen. But as soon as the trailer for this new Emma was released and I found out Johnny Flynn was taking up the role, I knew that I was going to love it!! And he’s a good bit older than Anya, even though he looks so young, so it actually matches the books really well in that sense too. Anyway, I absolutely can’t wait to see this film!! ❤️
I have a confession to make, I am not really into romantic movies, but this movie (Emma 2020) was so adorable. I loved the way it was cut and I ADORED Mr. Knightly, he was so kind and he definitely makes Emma a better person. While the book might make Harriet be the reason she becomes a better person, I feel like the movie shows how to accept criticism from someone that loves you and grow from it. Also, another confession, I have not seen the older version. I really liked this video, I love how excited you got from talking about this.
I cant stop going to the cinema and seeing Emma - it’s a problem, I’ve been three times now. 🥰 I think I was most excited to go for Johnny Flynn as Mr Knightley - and because Emma is my absolute favorite, but I keep going for the fascinating directorial decisions and for Emma herself. the first time, I was so on the fence. I think I really wanted to sympathize with Emma the entire way through and it was only towards the ending (post dance!) that first time that I came to sympathize with her. But then I went again, and actually realized that, as you said, that is exactly how Jane Austen would have wanted it. That is why I love Emma! I realized as I watched Anya Taylor-Joy play Emma that second time that she was incredibly deep, and Emma is this layered person that is a product of her time and situation, a young woman with a little too much free time, and also an intelligent and loving human being. WOW. This movie has so many layers - it’s not just a love story, it’s not just a comedy of manners, it’s not just a clever witty tale. It seems like escapism when you enter the world, doll-house-like and picture-perfect. What you actually get when you watch this Emma is a big dose of reality. That’s what reading Austen’s novels is like - we expect escapism, and what we get are these insights into human nature that are at times inescapably close to our own selves. I loved it! I feel like seeing this Emma has made me live my own life a little more vividly. I went for Mr Knightley, I stayed for Autumn de Wilde and Anya Taylor-Joy. Ok, and Johnny Flynn and that dance scene 😉😅
In my opinion, the 1996 version is more sentimental, which is a common trend in those days, the trend that time is to sympathize with the character early on, which is coincidentally similar to "pre-austen era" and Jane grew tired of those trends in her time so.. Although the movie is true to the book, the sensibilities back in the 90s, is more similar to "1790s" era which leans towards sentinmental stories. Meanwhile in 2020 version, sentimental movies, and stories seem to fall out of favor and we now have characters who are created not to be particularly liked but to have a wider character development. I think that is the trend nowadays and such sensibilities perfectly fit for Emma's somewhat unlikeable yet irresistable personality. The 2020 movie is simply made at the right era, which has similar sensibilities with the 1810s-1820s.
good point. I think the version with Paltrow was influenced by 'it girl' status of the actress at the time too and the image of her they wanted to sell. They were scared the audience wouldn't like an Emma who is more like the book while in 2020, people aren't scared to have female characters that might challenge old expectations of what a good female heroine should be like (that is what Austen herself did). It also is a movie completely made by women so they really didn't care about telling you to like Emma. It's up to you to understand she's flawed but she's good and her character growth in the end is all the more evident because she's kept unlikable at the beginning.
Johnny Flynn is so good in this. A real breathing feeling human being. Also, he's 13 years older irl than Anya Taylor-Joy. So I think it's a pretty close to the original age gap.
Your take on Harriet is interesting, and I wonder how much of it is influenced from the movies rather than the book itself? From the book, I always got the impression that Harriet was supposed to be exceptionally pretty but with nothing else really going on there - no intellect, no talents, no social standing. And this is why Mr. Knightley, and to some extent Mrs. Weston, didn't think Harriet had much to bring to the friendship, other than stoking Emma's ego. Thus, they tried to push Emma towards befriending Jane, who, with her "accomplishments" and ties to local friends, they believed to be more worthy of having Emma as her champion to elevate her towards an advantageous marriage. However, as the story progresses, Mr. Knightley grows to see that there is more to Harriet than he originally thought. (And, in the book, I felt it was even implied that by the end they believed Harriet to be the moral superior to Jane because she didn't mislead them all as Jane and Frank Churchill did.)
I think a lot of people don't realize how, at the end of the day, Jane Austen wasn't quite as radical as we want her to be. Like, Harriet and Emma's relationship arc is as much about Emma learning to recognize that Harriet's place in society is to marry a farmer as it is about her recognizing that Robert Martin isn't a terrible dirty person unworthy of her friend. Even with something like Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice, where there are financial gaps between the couples, they are all gentlemen and the daughters of gentlemen, as Elizabeth puts it so indignantly. Everyone has their place in Austen's world -- it's just not always where other characters insist it must be. I'm saying this, to be clear, as someone who loves Austen but also as a critique of her.
I watched the 2020 version yesterday, and this morning I watched the 1996 version. I have not read the book, so the 2020 version was my first introduction to the story. I thought it was fantastic. I appreciate period pieces that can look and feel so alive - the colors were magnificent, and the blocking of each scene felt like a dance. The 1996 version felt more stiff to me after all the brightness and drama of the 2020 version (especially in terms of the camera movement). I also appreciate the pacing of the 2020 version. Sometimes period pieces can just feel like endless talking and not much else (I sort of felt that way with the 1996 version), but the new Emma took time to establish characters and setting more through visuals. And can we talk about those transitions!!!? The use of the score/soundtrack was, in my opinion, GENIUS. Each transition to someone other than Emma had the lovely folk(?) songs, but Emma's score was this crazy Italian opera music??? I thought that was such a clever way to set her apart and really show how she views the world. I'm probably an outlier, having watched the new version first, and I tend to get more attached to whichever version I see first, so this is definitely a biased opinion.
Loved your blog but I have to disagree with you about the relationship between Emma and Mr. Knightley. The relationship here is not IMO between him and her father. He is the brother of her sister's husband, so as her brother-in-law, they are of a generation, despite the age difference. Yes, he is the older brother of her sister's husband and her sister is older than her, but the two families have known each other for ever and the Knightley's lived nearby.
Agreed. Mr. Knightly is friendly with Emma's father, but it's obvious his frequent visits are to see her. ..... Emma's father must be about 30 years older than Mr. Knightly and seems to spend most of his time sitting in front of a fireplace.
Maybe it did start out between Mr Knightley and her father though. In the book Mr Woodhouse seems to have some form of dementia, but years ago when Mr Knightley started visiting he might have been more alert; it makes sense that their friendship is quite established, and Mr Knightley wouldn't give up on an old friend. Even with dementia, Mr Woodhouse is super concerned about others, perhaps he took an interest in young Mr Knightley after his parents died? Emma always sees Mr Knightley as this confident figure because he's confident around her, but there are hints in the book that Mr Knightley is actually quite shy, he doesn't dance etc. He is comfortable with the Woodhouses because they are family, and living on his own because his parents have died and his only brother moved away is possibly more difficult than Emma immediately understands - the book is mostly set in her head, remember. I think you got that sense of underlying anxiety in Mr Knightley from the film, just a slight suggestion that he, like Emma, is more comfortable in a little village circle than a big city crowd. Also, both he and his brother have this strong emotional response to things, which is less canon but again makes sense.
@@kahkah1986 Mr. Woodhouse is a hypochondriac with a bit of a weak constitution giving him just enough colds and headaches as to confirm to him that everything is constantly going to make him sick. He's constantly preoccupied with it.
they've got a few andrew davies alumni in there: josh o'connor, callum turner, johnny flynn! who'd have thought that a jane austen film would somehow simulatenously source from both the king of austen and from sex education
I've seen the film. Twice. It's wonderful. Beautifully shot, wonderfully scripted and the acting is just superb. And yes, Johnny Flynn is the one true Knightly.
I honestly adored this version. The photography was increcible and the acting was fantabulous. Also, it is far more brutal about Emma's failings early on compared to other versions. Yes, including Clueless. I loved your final rundown at the end. I think it is a more accurate Emma, and an Emma from the female gaze...this really hit me while watching, I *felt* it as a man that this felt like an intimate and genuine insight coming from "another place". A place that saw these characters in a way I hadn't but still from understanding.
When I initially saw the film I really didn't know how I felt. There was so much I liked but a lot I didn't so I left the cinema quite confused. I then went home and mulled it over and soon became obsessed with Johnny Flynn because I couldn't stop thinking about that bloody dance scene. So I watched all of lovesick (preciously scrotal recall) became further obsessed with him and went and saw the film again. I enjoyed it so much more second time around and enjoyed this slapstick, offbeat, beautifully shot version. Mia Goth still irritated me tremendously as Harriet though, just very over the top and not at all the charmingly naive character that she should be.
A friend took me to see the 2020 version for my birthday (just before lockdown started), we were the only people in the theater under 40, and I giggled like a teenager throughout the movie because I was so delighted by how well it captured Austen's satirical tone and sense of humor. I felt like it was really effective in translating Austen's style for a modern audience. It doesn't hurt that I've been crushing on Johnny Flynn since Lovesick as well. I interpreted Emma's coldness and even meanness to be tied to a need for control that I've always read in the character, she seeks to control how people see her and have influence on their lives because she is so afraid of being alone or not well-regarded. I felt like this version really captured the underlying loneliness and distance Emma feels due to her station. I remembering reading the book for a book club when I was 14 and all of my friends hated Emma, and I was a bit indignant that they didn't try harder to understand her, because to me she was a character who was misguided and a bit arrogant about her own intelligence on the surface, but deep down was just trying to figure out her role in society and in relationships. I also felt that Harriet's portrayal was really effective in reminding the audience how young she really is, to me seeing so clearly that she's a teenage girl, and the Emma isn't much older really makes sense of their relationship. Always love these videos, Leena!
@@Zimuahaha Its the time that they have. Emma eats a strawberry in this but its not stated that they are strawberry picking at Donwell because they just don't have time. Its a few lines and then they are on Box Hill.
You literally voiced my opinion on the film. I love it so much. I saw it yeasterday (which was the premiere in my country) and can't stop thinking about it ever since. I'm so tempted to see it again for the dance scene alone. It was SO good. My Knightley in this version is really close to my heart. He looks so tormented but he is also very human in his emotions and behaviour. I love the scene when he lays on the floor from the frustration. I'm kind of surprised that you didn't mention the kiss scene. I'm really curious of your opinion.
I've been rewatching the dance scene on UA-cam until I buy the Blu-ray. I too want to know her opinion on the kiss scene. It was so perfectly done here
I definitely disagree on the Harriet one; I read the novel right before watching the movie, and I got the impression that Harriet is almost a caricature of the young, naive girl trope in order for Emma to appear “better” to the others in Highbury and the reader. I think the 2020 Harriet was superb and added an important layer of humor
Scarlet wool cloaks worn while visiting or to church became so popular among English women in the 18th and 19th centuries that they are the closest England ever came to having a traditional folk costume.
I love your take! I went into this film with low-to-moderate expectations and enjoyed it immensely. Emma's redemptive arc was probably the one thing that stood out the most to me. I also loved how we as an audience go on that journey with her because the performances appear so over the top for the first half of the movie and become more nuanced and complex by the end.
This was the first Emma adaptation I have ever seen and I loved it! I think that the aesthetics really elevated this one for me as nearly every frame was perfection, the whole movie had a slightly glossy, picture-perfect look to it which was really interesting for me. The sound design and score were also really good. I think the casting was great too and a good fit for this more intentionally comical take on the story.
I've never actually seen a movie of Emma - my experiences with Emma have been the UA-cam series Emma Approved and the BBC miniseries version. But you've just convinced me I need to see both movie adaptations.
The red capes are probably based on a famous painting from that time period. In interviews with the costume designer from the BBC P&P adaptation, they mentioned the same painting as inspiration for the younger Bennett sisters
Yes, I read somewhere that red capes for girls were so iconic in the Regency period that it was almost considered a form of national dress. I think that perhaps Margaret Atwood may have adopted it because of the imagery.
even though technically Johnny Flynn is the right age to play Mr. Knightly, is his youthful appearance detracting from the story, or does it make the romance between Emma and Knightly more plausible?
Up until now my favourite Emma adaptation was the 1996 made for TV movie with Kate Beckinsale, but the 2020 version has definitely topped it. It took me a little while to warm to it as well, but that dance scene won me over, I literally swooned in the cinema. I loved all the casting except Mr Elton, in the book you really feel that friendzone danger about him where I was almost worried for Emma's safety when she refuses him which I did not get from Josh O'Connor, and Frank Churchill was so bland. But Anya Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn were perfect for me. I particularly loved the inclusion of the servants, the way they're treated like part of the furniture by everyone, it was a great way to show the character's privilege without sidetracking from the story. I think someone could make an Emma that I'll love better than this one, but this has definitely become my new favourite.
I thought the servants were excellent too! Both as a privilege highlighter, and sometimes a comedic foil (with the footman when Mr Knightley is lying on the floor). I'm glad someone else enjoyed it!
I reallyyyyyyyyyyyy love the 2020 version for all the extra scenes, the dance (THE DANCE!), the nosebleed, and yes bc Emma is mean and very selfish and I love her for it!
Love both versions but I agree 2020 wins! I loved Emma’s transformation and I thought they added a lot to Knightly’s character. The dynamic between them in the beginning and then to the end was so well done. It was clear when they each began to feel more even when they didn’t realize it.
I'm almost certain Harriet's most precious treasures are in the book because in clueless I remember Brittney Murphy tries to burn a cassette tape in the same scene.
I hear you. But I felt the knock at the door and saying how much she will miss her was done in a very heartfelt way. There was not much time spent on it though, that's true.
The answer is: The TV-series from 2009. Especially when it comes to describing Miss Bates, the social conditions that make children be sent away and the difference between the two who have been brought up away from home; Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax. But apart from that, the new film MUST be better than the Gwyneth thing.
but it's unfair to compare a movie to a multi-episode TV show. There's just more time to explore elements of the story in TV series format. In good conscience, I can only compare this movie with the two 1996 movies and this one wins without breaking a sweat. (And yes! Anything is better than Gwenyth Paltrow!)
Kate Beckinsale version was imo truest to the book, just because it wasn't afraid to go to some of the dark places the book does actually go to; Mark Strong was horribly overbearing as Mr Knightley at certain points, but then in the book Mr Knightley does say and do some objectively horribly overbearing things. He admits it in the book at the end; most other adaptations do try and soften this aspect, they make it about him being modest about his flaws rather than that the flaws are there. Then at the end in the Kate Beckinsale one, you suddenly see his vulnerabilities and the shouting makes sense. He is, rightly, being punished for his complacency by being in love and unsure of its being returned, and he has no idea whether Emma will accept him. You know they will have a long and fractious marriage. The 2020 version is its own animal though, it isn't frightened to go off piste and comment on the underlying story by changing it a little. They do soften Mr Knightley imo, but the undertow of mansplainy disapproval is still there and the slightly different delivery and pacing made me reimagine some scenes in a pleasingly meta textual way; the book comes primarily from Emma's viewpoint, but in a play you can more easily suggest her reading of everything is wrong and add extra layers to the narrative, I think that's the best part of the 2020 version. Mr Knightley is made much more fallible than Emma has the capacity to acknowledge or explore. Emma thinks he's always right, we can see he's jealous, not just of her or Frank, but even Robert Martin. He's lonely too. The only downside is the way they simplify some of the story arcs, so there are fewer plot twists and we know Mr Knightley loves Emma much more quickly, although that was there in the Jeremy Northam one as well a bit. It was made very obvious as well in the 2009 adaptation, but I always found that part a little clunky, while in the 2020 film it is more polished, and more integral to the plot. Jeremy Northam version is too nice, lovely to watch but too much of a fudge; Emma the story is a mean, weird beast. The ITV version showed that sense of narrow social circle and isolation as well as the extraordinary deep friendships of the book. Emma and Mr Knightley love each other because they have no one else.
i want to thank you for this video!! had i not seen it, maybe i wouldn't have watched Emma 2020 so soon. it was the best timing for this film to come out (and i hope financially it did well, too!). one day while biking from work i was thinking of the film and smiling to myself like an idiot and i was sspotted by a friend of mine who said "i saw you from afar and i was wondering who that extremely happy person was". this film just gave me something precious, something that i want to treasure in my heart for years to come. everything in it was perfect to me. i love Bill Nighy's entrance when he just jumps off the stairs, and it's all the funnier when you later see how hypochondriac he is. or his not so subtle roasting of his son in law! and the way he reacts to the way Ms. Bates starts flailing her fan when Jane plays the piano! and Johnny Flynn was just w o n d e r f u l.
I saw the 2020 version a few days ago and I felt much the same! I didn't grow up with the 1996 one so the BBC 2009 version was what I was primarily comparing it to in my head, but not far in I just stopped comparing. The 2020 is by far my favourite adaption of Emma now, excluding only Clueless, and I thought it was delightful :)
I ADORED this!! Made me want to go and watch both versions of the film instantly. Pleasssssse make this a series of remakes of your favorite classics!!!!
You are fantastic! And can I just say having someone talk about their love for Johnny Flynn makes me so happy. Unfortunately there are not many people here in the states that I know who love him such as I.
I believe that Jane wanted us to like Emma despite her faults, and at first in the 2020 version, I found Emma hard to like. I warmed up slowly. Just adored Bill Nighy.
The red cloak was a totally ubiquitous part of English dress, so much so it was as close to a national traditional "costume" as England ever really got - all well before Handmaid's Tale appropriated the image. This film has the most outstandingly accurate costume design I've ever seen, and this is just one example of it! Perhaps lost on people who aren't hardcore historical dress nerds, but it made me smile!
i've read the book and watched the 1996 version so many times, it'll be very hard to accept the 2020 version. That said, I love the story so much that I watched this review to help me go into the 2020 version with a fair expectation. Thank you for this comparison and review.
I am super late to seeing this video, but upon 2023, I decided to read all of Jane Austen's work for the first time and I started with Emma. I just finished it today and I love both adaptations for different reasons. The one scene that stuck out to me ever since I was young was when Emma is rude to Miss Bates. My heart literally broke when I watched the 2020 version for sure, but I harbor a soft spot for 1996 Miss Bates. She's exactly like the book. Also I am reading a companion novel to Emma about Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill because I always believed that there was some fishy business going on in the death of his aunt...I have to say that the casting of Jane Fairfax was pretty darn close to Book Jane. I could go on forever about this book and these characters. Love the video!!!
Anya Taylor-Joy was incredible as Emma. And I don't agree with the "I don't get my supermodel Emma", Anya's portrayal is more distanced, but that does not detract from her beauty and elegance. Also, the build-up to the nosebleed is a lot nicer, than in the 1996 version, which has its momentum arrested with Emma having to chase Mr. Knightly.
actually ... i prefer the 2009 version with Romola Garai. Really beautiful, tthoughtful and slow paced, not as hectic as the 2020 version or shallow as the 1996 one.
"And you see how uncomforperiod clothes were for men, too." Wowowow!!! I feel like Zack Pinsent will have a few thing to say to this. (He only wear recency clothes. Voluntarily. Because he likes them and thinks they're more comfortable)
I loved it. I do think it would be interesting to throw the 2009 BBC Emma into the mix of comparison, as it's still probably my favorite, but what struck me about this one and it's choices was how they made Emma truly feel her age (at times like a teenager, really). I felt her loneliness and desperate need to be admired and the cracks in her weird-ass family. While I agree with your assessment of Mia Goth's Harriet, I still got a much better sense of WHY Emma was so essentially ruthless in keeping her by her side. I also liked the reversal on Jane Fairfax, actually having her be more talented/a little bit intentionally competitive with Emma, so we could see the chasm between Emma's outward display of confidence vs. her actual vulnerabilities (that she's WAY less talented musically, oof). Saint Jane in the 1996 version has always annoyed me (especially with how awful Frank ends up being--why would Jane even be with him? As poorly cast as this Frank was, the Jane was spot-on, IMO). But I too had trouble warming to this Emma in the first third, but then her arc was just stunning. Also the movie was just so funny. Bill Nighy KILLED me with the running draft joke. I also loved everything with him and Isabel and their very obvious INSANE anxiety, which also helped to better round out Emma and her weirdly co-dependent relationship with her dad + her arrested development, emotionally. Anyway, I hope this inspires Focus Features to rattle off a bunch of other period adaptations, because I think we are ripe for another run of those. It's so refreshing to see something so different, yet familiar.
I just want to say that, amazingly, Johnny is 37 and Anya is 24, but the age gap just isn't that noticeable on screen because Johnny is so freaking adorable!!
I have Always loved both book and the original 1996 version very much so I was very nervous to watch it but wow they did it. This might actually be the best Jane Austen adaptation I've seen so far, I loved it so much!! I specially like the odd câmera angles, the color pallete and just how mean Emma is at the start of the movie. Also, finally Jane Austen's best love interest got the portrayal that he deserved. I'm glad you liked it too!
I've never been a big fan of Emma - either the book or the previous adaptations - but the 2020 version is EVERYTHING. And I loved how you can tell how much the filmmakers loved their own film - down to the smallest details, everything was chosen and put together in such a particular and quirky way. And dang, if it doesn't make my heart flutter to know it was adapted and directed by WOMEN writers and filmmakers. Finally, a female narrative told and given to us by our fellow SISTERS. 🙌🙌🙌
I had never read or seen any of the Emma film adaptations. Emma 2020 was my first and I ADORE it. It's my comfort film. I've watched it many times already. I watched the 1996 and it just didnt stand out to me. I love how Emma is portrayed in this new adaptation. She was feisty, fake polite, kind on the inside but you could feel it was a front she put up to guard herself. That was all thanks to Anyas talent. There were so many funny moments that made me lol that dont feel over the top or silly. They all felt like regular beings. But Johnny Flyns Mr. Mr. Knightley was A BREATH OF FRESH air. Not your conventional handsome but his sweetness and kindness makes you fall in love with him. The way he gets extremely flustered when he cant hide his love for Emma is just 💛💛 cant speak highly enough about it.
I had to pause your review just before the spoilers to go and watch both versions (first 2020, then 1996 the next day). And after finishing your breakdown, I can say you explained everything I noticed and more, in what was better or lacking in both of these adaptations. Well done! I agree so kuch with what you said. But if you're biased towards the nostalgic 1996 version, I'm biased towards 2020 for watching it just before 1996. The contrast really made the 1996 fall flat for me. I think the comparison of the dance between Knightly and Emma can sum up my general feelings on the two films respectively: one sizzles, while the other follows the rehearsed steps and little more. Aside from 1996 Harriet's adorable keepsake bag and a bit more Miss+Mrs. Bates, the 2020 version was infinitely more charming. Now, I haven't read the novel, so I'll have to take your word for the book-accuracy of Emma's characterization. Regardless, I did find 2020 Emma's character arc so much more interesting, because she starts ao selfish and vain, and then we watch her struggle, break down, come to terms with herself and grow. Plus that nosebleed haha. It's very satisfying.
the nosebleed IS iconic. Hats off to you for pausing and coming back, that's dedication. I think you'd love the book if you love Emma a lot. Glad the 2020 version sparks joy !
I recently re-read Emma in anticipation of this film, and am so excited about it now! As a result, I can confirm that Harriet burning a piece of cloth and a pencil is 100% in the book as well - and very nicely adapted in Clueless too, where she tries to burn a cassette tape and Cher has to discourage her because of the plastic xD
👋 Thanks a bunch for watching this! If you liked it, these might also be your jam:
○ Dear haters of Mamma Mia: ua-cam.com/video/dwMc9GHchBc/v-deo.html
○ Trying Mean Girls Outfits for a week (feat. Hannah Witton): ua-cam.com/video/FII247wXuRI/v-deo.html
○ Does Normal People work on TV? The genius of Sally Rooney explained: ua-cam.com/video/iJf2VNF943g/v-deo.html
"MOTHER! YOU MUST. SAMPLE. THE TART!"
Aria Antoinette ritcherson omg such an iconic line!!!
Lol I died when I saw that part! Loved Miranda Hart
😂 This is reason enough for me to check it out. I'm convinced now.
Literally laughed out loud at this comment 💕
My favorite scene from the 2020 version: Mr. Knightley running after Emma’s carriage all the way to Hartfield from the ball. Emma running down to meet him, their eyes lock into each other, Knightley’s about to say something... and Frank Churchill interrupts them. HAHAHA AMAZING
That was a cool scene, but I kind of like how the 1996 one leaves it more of a surprise to Emma when he proposes at the end. In the 2020 one, it didn't seem like she could be surprised by his feelings, between the hot dance scene and then this scene following.
@@mstie3252 I think the way it works is showing Mr. Knightley slightly snub Emma afterwards, several times. And after the "Badly done" scene where he just up and leaves, she probably thinks if he had any affection for her, it's gone.
indeed
My favorite scene from the 2020 version: THE ENTIRE FILM!!!!
@@rizahawkeyepierce1380 def as well as Emma's discussion with Harriet thinking Knightley likes her. Emma is left thinking Knightley doesn't admire her as much
Her not even mentioning Jane Fairfax in the casting segment is the most Emma thing I can imagine.
😂
I still want to know who she liked better as Jane and why lol
2020 Emma gets an extra 100 points for accuracy in the hairstyles, which is so incredibly rare that it must be praised!
I get those weird ringlet things aren’t aesthetically pleasing to a modern audience, but I want historical fashion and style accuracy in my period dramas, dammit!
The BBC P&P in the 90s also did the ringlets, but I can’t think of any other regency drama that does them.
Agreed, but that's also why i don't understand why they went into these stringy tiny curls instead of the accurate thick and tightly coiled style that we saw in BBCP&P. Can't have everything i guess¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I also loved how the state of her hair expressed the stability of her image of herself!!
Neartmhor I ended up being totally in love with the tiny ringlets!!
The Emma adaptation in 2007 with Romola Garai was great but it bothered me how they gave Emma such simple, basic hair and Harriet had the ringlets. They were trying to make Harriet look “silly” but it just made her look like she had a lady’s maid and Emma didn’t!
@@seventhsheaven OMG YES!!
Something I found hilarious in the 2020 version was how shocked and put out Mr . Knightley always looked when he entered a room and Frank Churchill was there. There was just something about that I found hilarious; they both just give a start like “what the hell are you doing here?!”
Sarah Ogborn hahaha i loved this non verbal tension between the two of them
I love that Mr. Knightley points out to Emma that she makes it clear she doesn't like Jane Fairfax, and then we see Mr. Knightley look at Frank Churchill like he wants to murder him every time they're in the same room.
sevenfaces Oh my god, that’s so true. And men still do it to this day... Men: “Women are so dramatic...” Also men: (throws a tantrum over something stupid without seeing any irony)
@@sevenfaces I'm surprised it didn't end with bodies TBH. If looks could kill this movie is a massacre
I loved their first scene together, when they both enter at the same time, pause, keep walking, Emma walks between them and they both stop at the door waiting for the other to walk in. The pacing in that scene is AMAZING.
There are some points in the 2020 movie where I feel like Emma is actually a kinder, more likable person than she is in previous versions. For example, after she insults Miss Bates at the picnic, Emma immediately regrets what she says and there are tears in her eyes before she even sees the others' reactions. She feels bad because she has injured Miss Bates. In other versions it appears that Emma regrets what she said more because of the disapproval it brings from Mr. Knightley than her own conscience.
That’s what I really loved about the 2020 movie it showed a good side of her
I haven’t read the book but I don’t think she was kind or at least reasonable am I right?
True, she's meaner in the book--but I respect and _like_ her move in the 2020 version because of what you're pointing out in this scene. Likewise how in 2020 she cares more about Harriet's feelings at the end, and takes responsibility for resolving the situation with Robert Martin.
idk. i kind of felt in the movie that she was upset because of what mr knightley had said. it's like she knew what she said was wrong but the thing that really comes down hard on her is when mr knightley berates her, making her seep slightly self centred. but that's just imo :)
@@shahadshd5165 I don't think that book Emma is mean or unreasonable, she is kind and very loving but she is a beautiful girl from a rich family, protected, spoiled with love and not one care in the world. She is most of all smart and witty and very much bored. Frank Churchill reads this very quickly and he plays with Emma's good nature and dislike/ jealousy for Jane , he is the devious one that never gets to be punished for his irresponsible behavior towards Emma or Jane and even towards his father. She is very rude to Miss Bates and she knows she did wrong because that is not who she is, not really. The way Frank constantly plays his mind game by provoking her using her deep dislike for Mrs. Elton, her young impatience towards Miss Bates and her jealousy for Jane brings out her immature,spoiled girl side to the surface, that is what makes her be rude. Knightly's reaction only reinforces what she already knew for herself and that is why it hurt even more and that is why she never really fell inlove with Frank, she knew in her heart that he wasn't exactly what he appeared to be.
zauza marisa I agree with your assessment of Emma. I think that both movie versions showed Emma in this light.
The scene with the nosebleed should go down as one of the most brilliant cinematic choices ever. I was not expecting it, yet it made so much sense. So brilliant.
it was an accident. the actress get them frequently. BUT A WONDERFUL ACCIDENT NONETHELESS
@@darthslayder6904 someone else said it was scripted, BUT Anna Taylor-Joy's nose actually started bleeding, so they ended up using her real blood instead of the fake blood they'd planned.
It was great because it showed how truly the character changed as a person. The ultimate in unpredictability in her usual controlled life.
How did it make sense? It's not in the book, and it's not consistent with anything else in this movie.
@@stoverboo You're right, it isn't in the book, but I would argue it works dramatically by deferring the romantic tension til the later scenes, making the emphasis more clearly on resolving Harriet before they can share greater intimacy so that the last scenes don't collapse, there are still some surprises. And yes, the Harriet rescue isn't in the book so obviously either, although I would argue it is suggested that Emma and Mr Knightley do sort Harriet subtly near the end, it is just made more obvious for the shorter film running time. It also makes Mr Knightley's suggestion that he move to Hartfield the emotional turning point scene after which they feel ready to kiss, and even in the book this probably is his noblest gesture, a genuine plot twist once we know marriage is happening, (although I think the film undermined this by showing Mr Woodhouse as compos mentis and not elderly). The Paltrow film solves this by just slicing the two scenes together, but that actually minimises his sacrifice by making it a spur of the moment thing rather than a genuine plan.
The nose bleed plays with the dramatic convention of *the proposal scene*, making it messier, more of a negotiation. And the messiness is in the book; Mr Knightley doesn't intend to propose, Emma thinks he's in love with Harriet, they both confuse each other.
I kind of liked that Harriet knew right away that Emma was in love with Mr. Knightley, because it works so well as a foil for Emma in that moment. Emma thinks she's so much smarter and more perceptive than everyone else around her (which is why she's so into matchmaking at the beginning), but almost everything she perceives is wrong. She thinks Mr. Elton is in love with Harriet. She thinks she's in love with Frank Churchill. She thinks Mr. Knightley is maybe in love with Jane Fairfax. She then thinks Harriet is in love with Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax is in love with Mr. Dixon.
But Harriet, though wrong in thinking that Mr. Knightley is in love with her, is able to perceive Emma in a way that Emma herself was not able to, which breaks down Emma's assumption of her own superiority. Plus, this allows the tension to continue in a different way, because Harriet has just shown herself to be more perceptive than Emma, so Emma is more likely to believe Harriet is right about Mr. Knightley, too. (Plus it makes Harriet look less like a complete idiot than she did in the 2009 miniseries).
@Karen Bartlett I liked this too, and I love that Harriet gets a chance to not be utterly dense. I like it when adaptations give characters that were idiots in the books a chance to shine and be a little bit more aware than before, and I felt the 2020 Harriet was naive rather than stupid, which I think is how Harriet was intended to be anyway.
It also gives more power to Harriet's decision to accept Mr. Martin. It helps Harriet learn to trust her own intuition, which she so severely doubted at the beginning. When she marches in and announces her betrothal, instead of asking for advice, its kind of a fist bump moment.
In Harriet Emma succeeds in her own fantasy of vanity, she makes Harriet into herself.
@@emmajones5875 exactly, let's not forget Harriet is 17 years old, naive, a bit dizzy, not stupid but certainly not Emma's intellectual equal. Perfect Harriet for me.
Yeah it just felt like they emphasized the arc of both characters more effectively. Mia's Harriet didn't seem dumb to me even early on, just intimidated and out of her depth a bit. She's obviously clever, popular and well liked at her school and by the Martin's. She has some wits, and she really seems to come into her own entirely in this one, finds her place in the world, and has far more confidence and wisdom. And then you see her figure Emma out thoroughly before Emma fully understands herself. You can also imagine her and Mr. Martin being ridiculously happy together for 50 years.
Anya took Emma on a pretty substantial arc too. From arrogant and mistaken, though ultimately good hearted, to really seeing herself the fool and coming pretty unglued through one of the better displays of 4-5 crying scenes in a row ever from Anya, and ultimately being a much better person for it. Really thought it was pretty poignant compared to other versions , and for the time that she'd walk up to the Martin's with her patented goose basket. I found this one benefited a lot from a few re-watches.
How at no point in this did you mention the costuming!?! I couldn't stop staring at all those incredible collars!! And the way they styled Mrs Eltons hair was perfection.The format of this one and the humour style reminded me a lot of The Favourite, I loved it!
Oh yes the costumes were SO YUMMY. Alexandra Byrne is a legend 🙌
Costumes are eye candy for me! Always important, in my opinion, and yes, deserve high praise in the 2020 version. Not that 1996 didn't have exquisite costumes.
The costumes were beautiful. Mrs Elton's hair is actually arranged in a style that was fashionable in the 1820s-30s, but I suppose they wanted her to look slightly nouveau riche and pretentious.
Karolina Zebrowska has talked about it
The tone of the narrative made me remember the favorite too
So the red cloaks, where actually the closest to a "Nations Dress" that england had at that time, and red cloaks where HUGELY popular and both the less fortunate and the rich would have owned one. The handmaiden reference is just accidental.
I actually thought of that little French orphan girl and the girls all in a row behind the nun. Madeline!
I think Autumn talks about it in an interview that it was inspired by period accurate clothing but she was aware of the parallel and didn’t back away from it.
Both Lydia and Kitty in BBC's Pride and Prejudice had red cloaks!
lmao my favourite youtube trend is when we all watch the same viral videos then you see people spouting off facts, word for word, from those videos under the comment sections of other related videos, but presenting it like they're delivering rare expert knowledge
I didn't think it was an on-purpose thing when I saw it, but The Handmaid's Tale is what I thought of when I saw those bits.
Lest we not forget Clueless
M~mai 😂 yes!
Wooo
dare i say 2020 Emma. is the combination of 1996 Emma and Clueless 👀
❤
Love" Emma" and the many adaptations that are reasonably faithful to Jane Austin's wonderful sense of humor. Adored "Clueless" as a terrific film in its own right!
My favorite change in the 2020 version was how Emma herself went to convince Mr. Martin to ask Harriet to marry him again... it really showed her character development. In the moment that Emma got everything she wanted- Mr. Knightley proposing- she put aside her wishes and instead tried to fix the mess she had made for her friend. It was very sweet to me, I really loved it, especially compared to the 1996 version in which Emma is just like "oh, lol, oops, sorry I'm marrying your crush, hope we can still be friends
It is nice to see both Emma. and Little Women adapted in a meaningful manner by directors who just seem to... get it.
🙄
RobKnapp1 Yes, so true
I added just an emoji before but I just have to further comment. You, and all the people who liked your comment are ARROGANTLY ignorant and it shows. Do you not know the history of adaptions for either film? Do you know what was excluded and highlighted in these adaptions vs others? Have you actually read the source material? Clearly you do not know at ALL what you're talking about - and in many ways neither did Greta Gerwig.. which I guess makes her adaption perfect for you.
And furthermore.. just because something is written by a woman, does not mean she "gets it". Not all women relate to one another.
@@ArmednotTriggered You don't seem to be following the conversation at all. I am addressing the OP who said that the directors of those two films just seemed to "get it". I am saying Gerwig in particular did not "get it" anymore than the other several directors, writers and crew who worked on the other adaptions. I am literally saying that several of the adaptions of both works were savvy, competent and revenant to their source material - I bring up Gerwig because I'd say the legacy of Little Women films are even more so those things than her adaption.
Your comment is irrelevant.
@@ArmednotTriggered That isnt what they said at all
I personally loved 2020 Emma the best. It such a comical and whimsical aspect to it that 1996 Emma doesn’t really hold up to. Both movies are great though.
Yes! I feel like 2020 Emma better captured the comedy that was in the novel. I laughed so many times while watching it, and I really don’t remember laughing that much while watching the 1996 version
Ily M I love the way the movie used the servants to comic effect. They were always there, but never “seen,” and their reactions reflected the emotional temperature of the scenes. When the two male servants of Mr. Woodhouse turned around during the kissing scene at the end, it was priceless.
sierra4645 oh my God yes. I laughed when they kept moving the screen back and forth lol
@@sierra4645 YES! One of the things that I got the most kick out of, and I didn't think anyone would notice because it's such a small, subtle thing, were the looks on the manservant's faces throughout the film. They cracked me up!
It also really helps that Gwyneth Paltrow isn't in it.
Actually they had me at the trailer when Bill Nighy nailed the stair landing.
The discussion around Johnny Flynn's age is frankly perplexing to me.
Gwyneth was 24 and Jeremy 35 in 1996. Anya is 23 and Johnny 36 (37 as of two days ago, March 14th - making him the same age as George Knightley, and providing the same age disparity between both sets of actors).
I think people who viewed the 1996 Emma earlier had the privilege of being younger and seeing Jeremy as older in their view than he actually was. As someone who is a fresh-faced thirty-five-year-old and often mistaken for being ten years younger than I am... I must say it's a bit offensive that people assume if you're 35 or older you must look haggard lol. I never got the impression he was supposed to be shockingly aged - just that he was more mature, which Johnny accomplishes every bit as much as Jeremy.
I think the real age gap between the actors shows why such a large gap isn't necessarily strange or shocking (especially at the time). 16 and 30 would be weird, but 21 going on 22 is an adult and the difference really becomes less severe as the years go on. And 35 is still young!
I think people don't realize the real life age gap. Johnny looks great at 36 so people assume he's younger
@@adorabell4253 The real problem with Knightley is his role in Emma's childhood. It creates accusations of grooming. In scolding her he was making her the perfect wife. Its an interpretation I have sympathy for even if I don't particularly like it.
@@04nbod It's definitely an awkward thing to explain to someone who hasn't read the book. It's hard to level accusations of grooming at someone who didn't even see Emma as a romantic prospect until she was well within adult age.
@@adorabell4253 'I have no doubt. Nature gave you understanding:-- Miss Taylor gave you principles. You must have done well. My interference was quite as likely to do harm as good. It was very natural for you to say, what right has he to lecture me?-- and I am afraid very natural for you to feel that it was done in a disagreeable manner. I do not believe I did you any good. The good was all to myself, by making you an object of the tenderest affection to me. I could not think about you so much without doating on you, faults and all; and by dint of fancying so many errors, have been in love with you ever since you were thirteen at least."'
I adored the 2020 version. I recently finished the book and then watched it twice in less than a week. I feel like Jane Austen would have been happy with this adaptation because Emma is so extremely unlikable at times. And sometimes when I was reading the book, I was shocked by nasty she could be. Yeah the 2020 version does make her a tad meaner, I think it served the plot better. I think the 2020 version did a great job at letting us the viewers realize that Mr Knightly loved Emma from the start. You can see it in the little moments between Johnny and Anya. It made the intimacy of the ball room scene even more spicy
The nosebleed was actually real! Anna Taylor-Joy said in an interview her nose just randomly started bleeding and everyone else was freaking out and she was like “Keep rolling!” 😆
Jamie Dianne omg
Actually it was scripted by the director Autumn de Wilde and inspired by her own experiences with nosebleeds
@@phoebe3403, I was at a Q&A with Autumn last week. It WAS scripted, but Anya's nose actually DID start to bleed right then. It was real blood and not the fake stuff they were planning to use.
Paige Harding oh my goddd
Jamie Dianne omg gtfoh😱. That’s like the scene in pretty woman when she sees the necklace not intended as well but brilliant
Johnny Flynn is not at all how I imagine Knightley, but I did like his sexy version. I thought Anya Taylor-Joy was a wonderfully spiky Emma. I was moved by Miranda Hart's version of Ms Bates. When Emma said that nasty thing to her, I could see her heart break.
Yeah, that moment was just so painful to watch. I've seen the film three times now, and that scene never fails to make me cringe. Poor Ms Bates.
Yes, I gasped first then cried at that scene 2020
I just finished listening to Nagio Marsh's "Singing in the Shrouds" which also includes an unlovely woman who is doing the best she can with the pain of being unloved. I have always been irritated by Miss Bates, even as I was terribly hurt for her and her and her hopeless situation.
It was so hurtful I cried.
Yes, I agree that Miranda Hart was an excellent choice for this part. I do agree with the video that splitting Miss Bates from Mrs Bates ruined a lot of the comedy springing from their relationship. The Miss Bates in the 1996 version gave a fine performance.
I was like " did I just saw a naked man on a Jane Austen adaptation movie? " I was not ready lol
this shocked me as well 😂😂
I was ready 😏
Watch Mansfield Park....quite hot...for a Jane Austen movie...😆
The 1995 bbc adaptation of Pride and Prejudice has a lot of scenes of Collin Firth in the bath
I was slightly disappointed the video didn't cover another pivotal scene: "Badly done, indeed!" But I think 2020 wins that scene as well so it wouldn't change the outcome. Johnny Flynn is just so emotional in that scene, and you can see that he's acting out of love: the minute the words are out of Emma's mouth you can see that she feels stricken for how much her frustrated words have genuinely hurt Miss Bates, and she's looking for someone to at least tell her she's done something wrong so she can argue with them. Mr. Weston just tells her she's perfect (she doesn't look thrilled) and Frank Churchill just calmly eats an apple and ignores the whole thing. Mr. Knightley on the other hand checks his natural desire to just exit the situation and be heartbroken and disappointed, and instead calls her on it, because he loves her--both he and she expect better things from themselves than what she just did, and having that argument (and losing) is exactly what she needed, not Frank Churchill's blithe unconcern. It's a _very_ romantic scene and both Anna Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn nail the delivery.
Yes!!!! I thought that scene was beautifully done.
Wow 👏🏽 you explained really well
Maximilian Wilson Both movies illustrate this. Badly done, Emma.
I also recommend the Kate Beckinsale and Mark strong version of this scene!
When Mr. Knightly starts running to Emma's after the dance, and you know then and there he wants to propose, but it goes wrong, and he just rips his clothes off and lays by himself. Just a brilliant sequence.
I agree. Knightly ripping his jacket off and throwing himself on the floor in frustration was so good. I also loved the scene where Harriett lies on the couch after being carried there. Pure comedy. And when Knightly is jealous when Emma calls Churchill back and not him. “ We’ll both go!” When he alone was sent to fetch the doctor.
Yes I feel like i finally 'got' Emma as a character with this 2020 version, i felt she was perfectly mean and super unaware of her privilege. It also made me realise why she was soo pissed at Jane Fairfax. Loved how Emma was slightly less of a trash human at the end and how fucking sexy was that dance 😍!! All round loved this version and so glad i saw it
yes! I think the other versions don't really warm you up to Emma. This one just made Emma so tangible and I feel like I finally understood the story.
That moment Jane started playing the piano and Emma just was in shock in the 2020 version made me giggle so much lol
Book Emma was very much aware of her privileged. Issues sort of stem from that, she starts to consider that her position means that she's more qualified to decided how people should act and who they should associate with.
I love that we get to explore Jane Fairfax's relationship with Emma in the 2020 version. In the 1996 version we mostly see Jane as someone to feel sorry for, and Emma is jealous of her. But in the 2020 version we hear that Emma is annoyed that everyone keeps trying to set them up as friends and that the jealousy of how highly everyone thinks of Jane really grates Emma because she gets hounded so often. It's this moment where the shiny veneer gets chipped away and you see that Emma has been a bit jaded by never meeting people's expectations. She's never kind enough, never genteel enough and I kind of like that. I have problems being nice to annoying people... It's a very empathetic moment.
@@adorabell4253 I feel like her character development is so good though because she starts out with being prejudiced and she ends up with acknowledging her privilege and being responsible with it (I think the turning point was the mean remark about never stopping at saying 3 dull things) like inviting Harriet’s father over even though he was a lower class (tradesmen were, even if they had money, newly rich and looked down upon by aristocracy)
I've really never liked Emma, but the 2020 adaptation won me over. There was more personality and wit on show than in any previous adaptations and I love the look of the film too. Everyone also feels more human and fallible in the new film, more like real people.
I actually really liked the Churchill casting. I felt it showed how naive Emma was. We could see how terrible, rakish and manipulative he was but Emma was completely charmed. Because ultimately this is a story where she thinks very highly of her intuition but is shown that she that maybe she sees things wrongly.
P.S. I read the book last year, say the 2020 version first and then watched the 1996 version to watch your video so I don't have nostalgia for the 1996 one.
P.P.S. Ewan McGregor's hair is ridiculous and I hate it.
Lol I watched the 1996 version first then book and now 2020, followed by the 96 w Kate & Mark, all during quranatine so 96 does have a special place for me (esp Knightley) but 2020 is my favorite.
I liked the scene where she is questioning him about the piano. He knows he's a question away from being rumbled by her and so cleverly distracts Emma with her own jealousies which were clearly apparent.
the dance scene in the 2020 version...... the yearning and the eye contact.. my favourite genre
God I actually couldn't believe how hot it was during the first watch - had to watch it again. Reminded me very much of the Pride and prejudice adaptation with Keira Knightley and the hand flex - aaaah, I actually cannot explain to anybody who doesn't read Jane Austen or watches adaptations of her books how sexy some of this stuff is
@@fridaherbst719 remember watching it in cinemas and hitting my friend the tension....
I’m not gonna pretend I didn’t instantly develop a crush on Johnny Flynn as Mr Knightly. Never seen or read Emma before so I had no idea what was going to happen but during the ball dance scene I was just kinda yelling “oh my god marry HIM he’s cute af!!!”
Red cloaks were a standard item of female provincial outdoor clothing in the late 18th and early 19th century. Historical accuracy rather than a Handmaid’s nod I would think.
Do you know if the marching in time would have been a school thing? That's what tipped me into thinking of handmaids tale - they never seemed to stroll but March in two straight lines.
@@Jasminis That reminded me of Madeline, the books and the movie.
It could be both, and Margaret Atwood definitely took from period clothing when she was writing. It could also just be an emphasis on how few options women had at the time, and how marrying well was one of the better ones because you'd be secure for longer than a governess position.
Francesca E agreed!! I’m glad I’m not the only one whose mind went to Madeline instead of Handmaids tale
@@Jasminis for school-girls - yes. The description of the girls going to church was of ducklings following their mother in a row.
LOVE this video 😍 Also, let’s talk about how in the new version it’s Emma who goes to Robert Martin and inspires his second proposal, rather than it just being happy coincidence that it all works out perfectly. YES proactive heroines who make their own happy ending possible 👌
Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale did great movies of Emma - each in her own style. But IMO the best one was Romola Garai - it was more complete and rounded, possibly helped some by being a miniseries.
TheEntilza Yes! Also my favourite! Honestly I watch the miniseries at least once a year!
Completely agree. It's amazing.
The best adaptation hands down! Romola and Johnny Lee were fantastic and so was all the supporting cast
absolutely this
I have seen all of the versions of Emma and I think that the best adaptation was the Romola Garai one. It was the most romantic and heart felt.
I love the 2009 BBC Emma but you're winning me over to watch this one. Also, I'm pretty sure Amy March and Emma are kindred spirits who are both misunderstood.
OMG THAT IS A PARALLEL I HAVE NEVER THOUGHT TO DRAW AND I LOVE IT
Misunderstood as in, by the other characters, or as in judged too harshly by readers?
seto749 both?
@@Melanie-jy2nw Then it probably depends on who gets to be Humpty Dumpty and define "too harshly". Too many adaptations over-rehabilitate characters to suit modern sensibilities. The revolutionary aspects of Emma and Persuasion, especially the former, get badly watered down that way.
Yes that is my favorite version as well
I never thought the age difference between Emma and Mr Knightly was that weird, especially for those times. Emma was 20/21 years old and Mr knightly May have been friends with her father but he was much younger than him too! Also, Mr knightly brother and Emma’s sister got married so they’re connected as brother and sister in law rather than a father figure!
I think the problem is not the age gap, but the fact that Goerge was an older brother to Emma all her life. He has known her since she was a baby, and he constantly gave her discipline (since Miss Taylor and her father didn't) and in the book he says he loves her since she was 13 yo. For that time it was ok, but it didn't age well
@Catleya Sherbow It's irony! That line is irony, my God. Read in context. Just before we are told that he did not know that he loved her until the events of the book.
@@evelinmenezes9313 I think he may have fallen in love with her at 13 for similar reasons to why he loves her by the end of the story, but he just doesn't realize how much he loves her until he notices how much he dislikes Frank Churchill, which happens near the beginning of the story. The age gap is icky to me but those were different times, they're both adults and know each other well
I thought that the opening of the 2020 version was an interesting riff on setting the terms and boundaries of the world. Emma is controlling and calculating and curating from the very start, and we don't just see that happen in Highbury or even Hartfield, but in the greenhouse of Hartfield. It sort of shrinks the scale of Emma's 'world' and the attempts at authorship she engages in in the story, and signals the questions of scale here to the viewer. It's interesting, because the things in this video I disagree with you most on are your opinions about Harriet and Emma, but I agree with almost everything else you say!
I think that in my mind, Emma is a book about reading and misreading--it's about learning to be literate in people and in relationships. Emma is a bad reader--Mr. Knightley tells Mrs. Weston that Emma never reads and how when she reads with Harriet she's just pretending to read or putting on airs of being well read. That's a really literal statement of the themes of reading and misreading in the novel. Moreover, they play a bunch of word games. That's one of the reasons I think Harriet and the relationship she has with Emma are spot on in the 2020 film--Harriet is, for lack of a better word, stupid in the book. She's naive and silly and she isn't a good reader. She gets stuck on big words and she can't play word games because she's too slow and always gets the answers wrong. And she is a pet for Emma--Emma is lonely, yes, and desperate for companionship, yes, but Emma does manipulate Harriet and treat her like a plaything. Mr. Knightley is constantly framed as a better reader than Emma in the book--he is always observing, listening, watching. He always catches on to some version of the truth sooner than Emma does, he sees the connection between Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill before anyone else. He puts it together that they have some kind of connection during a word game in the book! That's also during the only chapter where the free indirect discourse enters Knightley's perspective, and Knightley is the one who tells us that Emma doesn't read but wants people to think she does, and he's also the one who tells us that Emma is 'no friend to Harriet.' Knightley is framed as an effective reader and the cues he gives us are so often true, and I think he's right that her friendship is disingenuous.
I also think that Emma's behavior is socially coded for the book's audience at its time in the same way that Emma's behavior in the 2020 version is socially coded for us. By that I mean that while this is in some ways a pricklier or more flippant Emma, I actually just think it's because it's really difficult to have her act the exact same way as she does in the book and also understand how cutting and rude and snooty she is. Because she is! Unbelievably so! Like she really truly does look down on people and she really truly does think she is a better, more perceptive person than everyone else--it just comes across more subtly to modern audiences because the way she communicates that is within a certain social language that we aren't necessarily literate in. So I think having Emma behave the way she does in the 2020 version is a really interesting choice that really, really works to communicate what's happening.
Also, I think in line with what you said about the female gaze--it's so refreshing to see a female character who is able to be so truly vile and make so many severe mistakes in the way she treats the people around her, and then see her genuine emotional response to that and see her be able to try and make it right. Women are so often not given the opportunity for redemption, and are so often branded as difficult and then disregarded. I loved that they took her flaws to an extreme and still walked her back from them and showed her being loved, even by a man who detested her actions, and having agency in that love.
I also think that might be part of the reason that the end is reordered in the way it is. One of the problems of Emma, the novel, is that Emma basically doesn't talk or have agency of her own as soon as she and Knightley confess their feelings. Knightley does all of the talking in a didactic, prescriptive way from there. But with the way the film is reordered, there is a lot of active action left for Emma by the time she realizes how she feels and that Knightley feels the same. She has things she has to take care of, she has time and space left to be an agent. And it defers the resolution of the relationship until the end, so you don't run into the issue of having to show that Knightley and Emma are together while also tying up loose ends, which is sort of what the book does and why Knightley essentially narrates the end.
Also, re the Handmaid's tale imagery, it was so weird! And with Emma in the cloak which is the color of the wives' clothing! The only thing I could really think of is that Emma is using Harriet as a kind of proxy for her own loneliness, deferred desire for marriage, and the sexual and romantic relationships she can't seem to work out her feelings about. That's not to say that she tries to pair Harriet with people she wants to be paired with, obviously. However, Harriet does become a proxy through which Mr. Elton and Emma enact the misguided versions of the relationship they both believe themselves to be having--Emma a friendship with a man who fancies her friend, and Mr. Elton a courtship with Emma. And later, when Emma believes that Harriet is in love with Frank Churchill, she does sort of use Harriet as a proxy through which to try to enact the pairing which everyone seems to expect of her. Because Harriet is in love with him, or so Emma thinks, she is able to straddle the line between her flirtation with Frank and her purported desire to be single by attempting to ingratiate Harriet and Frank with one another, however briefly.
There's also a class element to it where Emma consistently uses people of a lower class to try and establish narratives about herself, which is in part what she's doing with Harriet. So I wonder if the handmaids imagery is supposed to point to us that Harriet is being used as a kind of romantic and social surrogate in the way the handmaids becomes sexual and literal surrogates? It certainly illustrates, I think, that there are class tensions and power dynamics which complicate their friendship. I also think it serves as something of a reminder that even though this story is told by women about a woman, these women are still entangled in a world defined by men's rules and privilege, as are we. Emma sees herself as outside of that, and in some ways she is, given that she has money and no real pressure or obligation to marry, so it makes sense that she would be in the teal. But then, of course, despite her individual circumstances, she's still affected by and oppressed by the systems which shape her life. Just like the wives are in HT? I'm just spitballing now.
Anyway, I've accidentally written an essay. I loved this video, and now I want to watch everything on your channel.
To build upon your last point of the HT dresses, while both Emma and the orphan girl are wearing red dresses (or jackets?? idk the name) similar to HT, Emma is the only one in that scene who isn't wearing a bonnet. In HT the bonnets were important because it hindered the views of handmaidens, making it so they can't see their surounding properly. I think it's there to show that because of her class and privilege, Emma is able to look around and be aware of not only her position, but other positions in society while the orphan girls can't. They have to marry well otherwise they will be left with nothing (and they therefore have eyes only to that) while Emma has the option of not marrying, which can make her more aware of the diferent class struggles around her. She's still in red because she is still a woman but she doesn't wear a bonnet because she is rich and is able to see it.
Maybe jshdsjhs I'm also spitballing
@@dotkiarika1026 ooooh that's such an interesting idea!! As another commenter pointed out, the red capes were obviously an incredibly popular look at the time period and even beyond it, and some particularly famous depictions of the style come from Diana Sperling's artist's sketchbooks from the period. But! It feels totally impossible to me that everyone in this film was totally unaware of the imagery they were evoking for modern audiences, especially given the bonnets (again, certainly appropriate for the period but still part of a cinematic dialect for 21st century audiences), the point you've made about them, and the color of Emma's dress in the scenes at Mrs. Goddard's. But I don't know--it's all so interesting! Hopefully someone asks the costume designer or the director about it in an interview.
Paragraph breaks would help readability.
I enjoyed your essay very much. The thing I miss about teaching is the conversation with other educated people about books. You have inspired me to reinvent a part of my life to include those relationships. Thank you.
Lots of great thoughts thanks!
I'm so glad you said the words "female gaze" at the end because that's what I was thinking throughout the movie and it's such a nice change.
I’m obsessed with the new Emma, so well done. Johnny as George for me was perfect & I appreciate that he cried & went further with the emotional side of Mr. Knightley. Jane Austen movie dance scenes steal my heart, they are always my favourite. “Women win the war” yes, yes we do.
You didn't bring up all the little details in the 2020. I loved the clothing, the HAIR, the CAKES..., the bobbles at the shop. Oh my gosh...those in itself made this a better movie. But, I do agree with a lot of your points.
I just saw the film and I loved the starkness of it. The awkwardness of the characters made it even more funny. The problem I have with most period movies and dramas is that they forget to let them have flaws. That is my favorite part of Jane Austen's legacy. Her storytelling was real and honest.
Emma was my first and has always been my absolute favorite Jane Austen book!! I’ve never understood why everyone is so obsessed with Elizabeth & Darcy when Emma & Mr. Knightley are the clear otp! That being said, I’ve always been a little unsatisfied with previous representations of Knightley onscreen. But as soon as the trailer for this new Emma was released and I found out Johnny Flynn was taking up the role, I knew that I was going to love it!! And he’s a good bit older than Anya, even though he looks so young, so it actually matches the books really well in that sense too. Anyway, I absolutely can’t wait to see this film!! ❤️
the clear otp is Wentworth & Elliot in my opinion :D
I LOVED the 2020 version of Emma. It was so well made! And yes...I`m also under a spell of Jonny Flynn as Mr Knightley.
2020. It's not even a competition. Little women and emma this time really captured the essence of those books
Yes.
@@kishiakaik6513 Shame there weren't any bonnets in Little Women- mIcArAh TeWerS
I liked the older version much more.
Nahh Little Women definitely not. Haven’t you seen the 90s version?
I have a confession to make, I am not really into romantic movies, but this movie (Emma 2020) was so adorable. I loved the way it was cut and I ADORED Mr. Knightly, he was so kind and he definitely makes Emma a better person. While the book might make Harriet be the reason she becomes a better person, I feel like the movie shows how to accept criticism from someone that loves you and grow from it.
Also, another confession, I have not seen the older version.
I really liked this video, I love how excited you got from talking about this.
I cant stop going to the cinema and seeing Emma - it’s a problem, I’ve been three times now. 🥰 I think I was most excited to go for Johnny Flynn as Mr Knightley - and because Emma is my absolute favorite, but I keep going for the fascinating directorial decisions and for Emma herself. the first time, I was so on the fence. I think I really wanted to sympathize with Emma the entire way through and it was only towards the ending (post dance!) that first time that I came to sympathize with her. But then I went again, and actually realized that, as you said, that is exactly how Jane Austen would have wanted it. That is why I love Emma! I realized as I watched Anya Taylor-Joy play Emma that second time that she was incredibly deep, and Emma is this layered person that is a product of her time and situation, a young woman with a little too much free time, and also an intelligent and loving human being. WOW. This movie has so many layers - it’s not just a love story, it’s not just a comedy of manners, it’s not just a clever witty tale. It seems like escapism when you enter the world, doll-house-like and picture-perfect. What you actually get when you watch this Emma is a big dose of reality. That’s what reading Austen’s novels is like - we expect escapism, and what we get are these insights into human nature that are at times inescapably close to our own selves. I loved it! I feel like seeing this Emma has made me live my own life a little more vividly. I went for Mr Knightley, I stayed for Autumn de Wilde and Anya Taylor-Joy. Ok, and Johnny Flynn and that dance scene 😉😅
You ard so well spoken. Thank you !!!
In my opinion, the 1996 version is more sentimental, which is a common trend in those days, the trend that time is to sympathize with the character early on, which is coincidentally similar to "pre-austen era" and Jane grew tired of those trends in her time so.. Although the movie is true to the book, the sensibilities back in the 90s, is more similar to "1790s" era which leans towards sentinmental stories.
Meanwhile in 2020 version, sentimental movies, and stories seem to fall out of favor and we now have characters who are created not to be particularly liked but to have a wider character development. I think that is the trend nowadays and such sensibilities perfectly fit for Emma's somewhat unlikeable yet irresistable personality. The 2020 movie is simply made at the right era, which has similar sensibilities with the 1810s-1820s.
good point. I think the version with Paltrow was influenced by 'it girl' status of the actress at the time too and the image of her they wanted to sell. They were scared the audience wouldn't like an Emma who is more like the book while in 2020, people aren't scared to have female characters that might challenge old expectations of what a good female heroine should be like (that is what Austen herself did). It also is a movie completely made by women so they really didn't care about telling you to like Emma. It's up to you to understand she's flawed but she's good and her character growth in the end is all the more evident because she's kept unlikable at the beginning.
Johnny Flynn is so good in this. A real breathing feeling human being. Also, he's 13 years older irl than Anya Taylor-Joy. So I think it's a pretty close to the original age gap.
Your take on Harriet is interesting, and I wonder how much of it is influenced from the movies rather than the book itself? From the book, I always got the impression that Harriet was supposed to be exceptionally pretty but with nothing else really going on there - no intellect, no talents, no social standing. And this is why Mr. Knightley, and to some extent Mrs. Weston, didn't think Harriet had much to bring to the friendship, other than stoking Emma's ego. Thus, they tried to push Emma towards befriending Jane, who, with her "accomplishments" and ties to local friends, they believed to be more worthy of having Emma as her champion to elevate her towards an advantageous marriage. However, as the story progresses, Mr. Knightley grows to see that there is more to Harriet than he originally thought. (And, in the book, I felt it was even implied that by the end they believed Harriet to be the moral superior to Jane because she didn't mislead them all as Jane and Frank Churchill did.)
I think a lot of people don't realize how, at the end of the day, Jane Austen wasn't quite as radical as we want her to be. Like, Harriet and Emma's relationship arc is as much about Emma learning to recognize that Harriet's place in society is to marry a farmer as it is about her recognizing that Robert Martin isn't a terrible dirty person unworthy of her friend. Even with something like Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice, where there are financial gaps between the couples, they are all gentlemen and the daughters of gentlemen, as Elizabeth puts it so indignantly. Everyone has their place in Austen's world -- it's just not always where other characters insist it must be.
I'm saying this, to be clear, as someone who loves Austen but also as a critique of her.
I watched the 2020 version yesterday, and this morning I watched the 1996 version. I have not read the book, so the 2020 version was my first introduction to the story. I thought it was fantastic. I appreciate period pieces that can look and feel so alive - the colors were magnificent, and the blocking of each scene felt like a dance. The 1996 version felt more stiff to me after all the brightness and drama of the 2020 version (especially in terms of the camera movement). I also appreciate the pacing of the 2020 version. Sometimes period pieces can just feel like endless talking and not much else (I sort of felt that way with the 1996 version), but the new Emma took time to establish characters and setting more through visuals. And can we talk about those transitions!!!? The use of the score/soundtrack was, in my opinion, GENIUS. Each transition to someone other than Emma had the lovely folk(?) songs, but Emma's score was this crazy Italian opera music??? I thought that was such a clever way to set her apart and really show how she views the world.
I'm probably an outlier, having watched the new version first, and I tend to get more attached to whichever version I see first, so this is definitely a biased opinion.
Loved your blog but I have to disagree with you about the relationship between Emma and Mr. Knightley. The relationship here is not IMO between him and her father. He is the brother of her sister's husband, so as her brother-in-law, they are of a generation, despite the age difference. Yes, he is the older brother of her sister's husband and her sister is older than her, but the two families have known each other for ever and the Knightley's lived nearby.
^^^
Agreed. Mr. Knightly is friendly with Emma's father, but it's obvious his frequent visits are to see her. ..... Emma's father must be about 30 years older than Mr. Knightly and seems to spend most of his time sitting in front of a fireplace.
Maybe it did start out between Mr Knightley and her father though. In the book Mr Woodhouse seems to have some form of dementia, but years ago when Mr Knightley started visiting he might have been more alert; it makes sense that their friendship is quite established, and Mr Knightley wouldn't give up on an old friend. Even with dementia, Mr Woodhouse is super concerned about others, perhaps he took an interest in young Mr Knightley after his parents died? Emma always sees Mr Knightley as this confident figure because he's confident around her, but there are hints in the book that Mr Knightley is actually quite shy, he doesn't dance etc. He is comfortable with the Woodhouses because they are family, and living on his own because his parents have died and his only brother moved away is possibly more difficult than Emma immediately understands - the book is mostly set in her head, remember.
I think you got that sense of underlying anxiety in Mr Knightley from the film, just a slight suggestion that he, like Emma, is more comfortable in a little village circle than a big city crowd. Also, both he and his brother have this strong emotional response to things, which is less canon but again makes sense.
@@kahkah1986 Mr. Woodhouse is a hypochondriac with a bit of a weak constitution giving him just enough colds and headaches as to confirm to him that everything is constantly going to make him sick. He's constantly preoccupied with it.
The funny thing is Callum Turner played Anatole Kuragin, another certified rake, in the BBC War and Peace miniseries
YES! I was sad this wasn't mentioned, he's the ultimate rake in War & Peace. Callum Turner is certifiably typecast as a homewrecker.
Oh yes! Kuragin was a complete bastard in "War and Peace".
they've got a few andrew davies alumni in there: josh o'connor, callum turner, johnny flynn! who'd have thought that a jane austen film would somehow simulatenously source from both the king of austen and from sex education
I love that series! I want to see James Norton in an Austen adaptation as well :)
Definitely NOT the Gwyneth Paltrow one. Clueless, Emma Approved, the Mini Series from 2009. All fantastic.
I never cared for Paltrow’s Emma. Give me Romola Garai any day!
I loved Johnny Flynn as Mr Knightly.
Have you seen the film yet? If you haven't, do you want to now? Is anyone else shaken by the Ruth Jones revelation?!
I've seen the film. Twice. It's wonderful. Beautifully shot, wonderfully scripted and the acting is just superb. And yes, Johnny Flynn is the one true Knightly.
My favorite adaptation is “Clueless”. How could you forget?
@@benisturning30 Echo this
I honestly adored this version. The photography was increcible and the acting was fantabulous. Also, it is far more brutal about Emma's failings early on compared to other versions. Yes, including Clueless.
I loved your final rundown at the end. I think it is a more accurate Emma, and an Emma from the female gaze...this really hit me while watching, I *felt* it as a man that this felt like an intimate and genuine insight coming from "another place". A place that saw these characters in a way I hadn't but still from understanding.
When I initially saw the film I really didn't know how I felt. There was so much I liked but a lot I didn't so I left the cinema quite confused. I then went home and mulled it over and soon became obsessed with Johnny Flynn because I couldn't stop thinking about that bloody dance scene. So I watched all of lovesick (preciously scrotal recall) became further obsessed with him and went and saw the film again. I enjoyed it so much more second time around and enjoyed this slapstick, offbeat, beautifully shot version. Mia Goth still irritated me tremendously as Harriet though, just very over the top and not at all the charmingly naive character that she should be.
A friend took me to see the 2020 version for my birthday (just before lockdown started), we were the only people in the theater under 40, and I giggled like a teenager throughout the movie because I was so delighted by how well it captured Austen's satirical tone and sense of humor. I felt like it was really effective in translating Austen's style for a modern audience. It doesn't hurt that I've been crushing on Johnny Flynn since Lovesick as well. I interpreted Emma's coldness and even meanness to be tied to a need for control that I've always read in the character, she seeks to control how people see her and have influence on their lives because she is so afraid of being alone or not well-regarded. I felt like this version really captured the underlying loneliness and distance Emma feels due to her station. I remembering reading the book for a book club when I was 14 and all of my friends hated Emma, and I was a bit indignant that they didn't try harder to understand her, because to me she was a character who was misguided and a bit arrogant about her own intelligence on the surface, but deep down was just trying to figure out her role in society and in relationships. I also felt that Harriet's portrayal was really effective in reminding the audience how young she really is, to me seeing so clearly that she's a teenage girl, and the Emma isn't much older really makes sense of their relationship. Always love these videos, Leena!
The 2009 mini series was my Emma growing up so I feel like I won’t even compare the new one to it because of the different format.
Yeah I think series format is so different in what it can achieve and encompass!
I absolutely love that version!
Yup I love they had the opportunity to take their time with that one
The mini series is head and shoulders above the rest.
@@Zimuahaha Its the time that they have. Emma eats a strawberry in this but its not stated that they are strawberry picking at Donwell because they just don't have time. Its a few lines and then they are on Box Hill.
The treasures bag actually was in the book! It’s used to show that Harriett has moved on, but she’s really bad at it. She’s just very dramatic.
Mr. Knightley throwing his jacket to the ground was hilarious and probably my favourite scene
Also the red cloaks reminded me of Madeleine
You literally voiced my opinion on the film. I love it so much. I saw it yeasterday (which was the premiere in my country) and can't stop thinking about it ever since. I'm so tempted to see it again for the dance scene alone. It was SO good. My Knightley in this version is really close to my heart. He looks so tormented but he is also very human in his emotions and behaviour. I love the scene when he lays on the floor from the frustration.
I'm kind of surprised that you didn't mention the kiss scene. I'm really curious of your opinion.
I've been rewatching the dance scene on UA-cam until I buy the Blu-ray. I too want to know her opinion on the kiss scene. It was so perfectly done here
I am just so excited that Johnny Flynn is getting more recognition! I listened to A Larum on repeat in college. He is such a great artist 🖤
2020 Emma . I loved the film . It managed to create atmosphere and sentiment. A miniature jewel with such an emphasis on details.
MORE OF THIS KIND OF CONTENT PLEASE
The 2020 version is 💯 times better simply because of Mr Knightly. Holy smokes Johnny Flynn plays a HOT Mr Knightly!
In my books he's the only HOT Knightly. I honestly didn't think it could be done !
@@catherinecrow5662 What?! You don't find Jeremy Northam hot?
@@HuntingViolets I guess not !
Yaass!
I definitely disagree on the Harriet one; I read the novel right before watching the movie, and I got the impression that Harriet is almost a caricature of the young, naive girl trope in order for Emma to appear “better” to the others in Highbury and the reader. I think the 2020 Harriet was superb and added an important layer of humor
Scarlet wool cloaks worn while visiting or to church became so popular among English women in the 18th and 19th centuries that they are the closest England ever came to having a traditional folk costume.
I love your take! I went into this film with low-to-moderate expectations and enjoyed it immensely. Emma's redemptive arc was probably the one thing that stood out the most to me. I also loved how we as an audience go on that journey with her because the performances appear so over the top for the first half of the movie and become more nuanced and complex by the end.
This was the first Emma adaptation I have ever seen and I loved it! I think that the aesthetics really elevated this one for me as nearly every frame was perfection, the whole movie had a slightly glossy, picture-perfect look to it which was really interesting for me. The sound design and score were also really good. I think the casting was great too and a good fit for this more intentionally comical take on the story.
I've never actually seen a movie of Emma - my experiences with Emma have been the UA-cam series Emma Approved and the BBC miniseries version. But you've just convinced me I need to see both movie adaptations.
Aw amazing! Emma Approved was so lovely, what a throw back! If you do get to see either of the films I hope you enjoy xxx
The red capes are probably based on a famous painting from that time period. In interviews with the costume designer from the BBC P&P adaptation, they mentioned the same painting as inspiration for the younger Bennett sisters
Yes, I read somewhere that red capes for girls were so iconic in the Regency period that it was almost considered a form of national dress. I think that perhaps Margaret Atwood may have adopted it because of the imagery.
even though technically Johnny Flynn is the right age to play Mr. Knightly, is his youthful appearance detracting from the story, or does it make the romance between Emma and Knightly more plausible?
I know it's just a TV version, but I really liked Romola Garai as Emma
Emilie Coats I like an older looking mr k. Older men- yum!!
Austen describes Mr. Knightley's appearance as youthful, so ...
Up until now my favourite Emma adaptation was the 1996 made for TV movie with Kate Beckinsale, but the 2020 version has definitely topped it. It took me a little while to warm to it as well, but that dance scene won me over, I literally swooned in the cinema. I loved all the casting except Mr Elton, in the book you really feel that friendzone danger about him where I was almost worried for Emma's safety when she refuses him which I did not get from Josh O'Connor, and Frank Churchill was so bland. But Anya Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn were perfect for me. I particularly loved the inclusion of the servants, the way they're treated like part of the furniture by everyone, it was a great way to show the character's privilege without sidetracking from the story. I think someone could make an Emma that I'll love better than this one, but this has definitely become my new favourite.
I thought the servants were excellent too! Both as a privilege highlighter, and sometimes a comedic foil (with the footman when Mr Knightley is lying on the floor). I'm glad someone else enjoyed it!
I reallyyyyyyyyyyyy love the 2020 version for all the extra scenes, the dance (THE DANCE!), the nosebleed, and yes bc Emma is mean and very selfish and I love her for it!
Love both versions but I agree 2020 wins! I loved Emma’s transformation and I thought they added a lot to Knightly’s character. The dynamic between them in the beginning and then to the end was so well done. It was clear when they each began to feel more even when they didn’t realize it.
I'm almost certain Harriet's most precious treasures are in the book because in clueless I remember Brittney Murphy tries to burn a cassette tape in the same scene.
I thought I remembered that too. Now must go look, though Emma was not a book I liked.
Sick of Reading yes it's in the book
I think the notebook of sermons might have been supposed to be this?
I hear you. But I felt the knock at the door and saying how much she will miss her was done in a very heartfelt way. There was not much time spent on it though, that's true.
I just want to say the 2020 version is SOOOO visually beautiful!! The landscape, setting and costumes... I love all the colors so much.
The answer is: The TV-series from 2009. Especially when it comes to describing Miss Bates, the social conditions that make children be sent away and the difference between the two who have been brought up away from home; Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax.
But apart from that, the new film MUST be better than the Gwyneth thing.
I love the mini series
cnj67 Kate Beckinsale did a lovely job as Emma, but that version was overshadowed by the decidedly inferior Gwyneth Paltrow movie.
but it's unfair to compare a movie to a multi-episode TV show. There's just more time to explore elements of the story in TV series format. In good conscience, I can only compare this movie with the two 1996 movies and this one wins without breaking a sweat. (And yes! Anything is better than Gwenyth Paltrow!)
Kate Beckinsale version was imo truest to the book, just because it wasn't afraid to go to some of the dark places the book does actually go to; Mark Strong was horribly overbearing as Mr Knightley at certain points, but then in the book Mr Knightley does say and do some objectively horribly overbearing things. He admits it in the book at the end; most other adaptations do try and soften this aspect, they make it about him being modest about his flaws rather than that the flaws are there. Then at the end in the Kate Beckinsale one, you suddenly see his vulnerabilities and the shouting makes sense. He is, rightly, being punished for his complacency by being in love and unsure of its being returned, and he has no idea whether Emma will accept him. You know they will have a long and fractious marriage.
The 2020 version is its own animal though, it isn't frightened to go off piste and comment on the underlying story by changing it a little. They do soften Mr Knightley imo, but the undertow of mansplainy disapproval is still there and the slightly different delivery and pacing made me reimagine some scenes in a pleasingly meta textual way; the book comes primarily from Emma's viewpoint, but in a play you can more easily suggest her reading of everything is wrong and add extra layers to the narrative, I think that's the best part of the 2020 version. Mr Knightley is made much more fallible than Emma has the capacity to acknowledge or explore. Emma thinks he's always right, we can see he's jealous, not just of her or Frank, but even Robert Martin. He's lonely too. The only downside is the way they simplify some of the story arcs, so there are fewer plot twists and we know Mr Knightley loves Emma much more quickly, although that was there in the Jeremy Northam one as well a bit. It was made very obvious as well in the 2009 adaptation, but I always found that part a little clunky, while in the 2020 film it is more polished, and more integral to the plot.
Jeremy Northam version is too nice, lovely to watch but too much of a fudge; Emma the story is a mean, weird beast. The ITV version showed that sense of narrow social circle and isolation as well as the extraordinary deep friendships of the book. Emma and Mr Knightley love each other because they have no one else.
Neither! The BBC Emma is the best!
Aisling Connors cannot agree more !!! And clueless !;)
Agree!
Totally!! I can watch the BBC version over and over again... it's so great!
I agree so much
Yesssss
i want to thank you for this video!! had i not seen it, maybe i wouldn't have watched Emma 2020 so soon. it was the best timing for this film to come out (and i hope financially it did well, too!). one day while biking from work i was thinking of the film and smiling to myself like an idiot and i was sspotted by a friend of mine who said "i saw you from afar and i was wondering who that extremely happy person was". this film just gave me something precious, something that i want to treasure in my heart for years to come. everything in it was perfect to me. i love Bill Nighy's entrance when he just jumps off the stairs, and it's all the funnier when you later see how hypochondriac he is. or his not so subtle roasting of his son in law! and the way he reacts to the way Ms. Bates starts flailing her fan when Jane plays the piano! and Johnny Flynn was just w o n d e r f u l.
I saw the 2020 version a few days ago and I felt much the same! I didn't grow up with the 1996 one so the BBC 2009 version was what I was primarily comparing it to in my head, but not far in I just stopped comparing. The 2020 is by far my favourite adaption of Emma now, excluding only Clueless, and I thought it was delightful :)
Romola Garai is my Emma :) but I am really looking forward to seeing Anya Taylor-Joy's interpretation :)
I ADORED this!! Made me want to go and watch both versions of the film instantly. Pleasssssse make this a series of remakes of your favorite classics!!!!
You are fantastic! And can I just say having someone talk about their love for Johnny Flynn makes me so happy. Unfortunately there are not many people here in the states that I know who love him such as I.
I believe that Jane wanted us to like Emma despite her faults, and at first in the 2020 version, I found Emma hard to like. I warmed up slowly. Just adored Bill Nighy.
I’m with you on this. Just couldn’t warm to the 2020 Emma-she came across too harsh/rude to me. Bill Nighy is AMAZING, couldn’t love him more.
The red cloak was a totally ubiquitous part of English dress, so much so it was as close to a national traditional "costume" as England ever really got - all well before Handmaid's Tale appropriated the image. This film has the most outstandingly accurate costume design I've ever seen, and this is just one example of it! Perhaps lost on people who aren't hardcore historical dress nerds, but it made me smile!
i've read the book and watched the 1996 version so many times, it'll be very hard to accept the 2020 version. That said, I love the story so much that I watched this review to help me go into the 2020 version with a fair expectation. Thank you for this comparison and review.
I am super late to seeing this video, but upon 2023, I decided to read all of Jane Austen's work for the first time and I started with Emma. I just finished it today and I love both adaptations for different reasons. The one scene that stuck out to me ever since I was young was when Emma is rude to Miss Bates. My heart literally broke when I watched the 2020 version for sure, but I harbor a soft spot for 1996 Miss Bates. She's exactly like the book. Also I am reading a companion novel to Emma about Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill because I always believed that there was some fishy business going on in the death of his aunt...I have to say that the casting of Jane Fairfax was pretty darn close to Book Jane. I could go on forever about this book and these characters. Love the video!!!
Anya Taylor-Joy was incredible as Emma. And I don't agree with the "I don't get my supermodel Emma", Anya's portrayal is more distanced, but that does not detract from her beauty and elegance. Also, the build-up to the nosebleed is a lot nicer, than in the 1996 version, which has its momentum arrested with Emma having to chase Mr. Knightly.
Alternative title: Leena gushes about books and boys for 25 minutes and 5 seconds
I appreciate the 1996 script more now - LOVE your nuanced examination of both.
There's something to be said for subtlety.
indeed!
actually ... i prefer the 2009 version with Romola Garai. Really beautiful, tthoughtful and slow paced, not as hectic as the 2020 version or shallow as the 1996 one.
"And you see how uncomforperiod clothes were for men, too." Wowowow!!! I feel like Zack Pinsent will have a few thing to say to this. (He only wear recency clothes. Voluntarily. Because he likes them and thinks they're more comfortable)
Those starched collars! Ouch!!
I love the 2020 emma adaptation.and i must say THE CLOTHES!!!!!
Can't wait to see the new Emma movie!
My favourite Emma adaptation has to be the 2009 mini-series. Romola Garai is the perfect Emma imo.
I loved it. I do think it would be interesting to throw the 2009 BBC Emma into the mix of comparison, as it's still probably my favorite, but what struck me about this one and it's choices was how they made Emma truly feel her age (at times like a teenager, really). I felt her loneliness and desperate need to be admired and the cracks in her weird-ass family. While I agree with your assessment of Mia Goth's Harriet, I still got a much better sense of WHY Emma was so essentially ruthless in keeping her by her side. I also liked the reversal on Jane Fairfax, actually having her be more talented/a little bit intentionally competitive with Emma, so we could see the chasm between Emma's outward display of confidence vs. her actual vulnerabilities (that she's WAY less talented musically, oof). Saint Jane in the 1996 version has always annoyed me (especially with how awful Frank ends up being--why would Jane even be with him? As poorly cast as this Frank was, the Jane was spot-on, IMO). But I too had trouble warming to this Emma in the first third, but then her arc was just stunning. Also the movie was just so funny. Bill Nighy KILLED me with the running draft joke. I also loved everything with him and Isabel and their very obvious INSANE anxiety, which also helped to better round out Emma and her weirdly co-dependent relationship with her dad + her arrested development, emotionally. Anyway, I hope this inspires Focus Features to rattle off a bunch of other period adaptations, because I think we are ripe for another run of those. It's so refreshing to see something so different, yet familiar.
I just want to say that, amazingly, Johnny is 37 and Anya is 24, but the age gap just isn't that noticeable on screen because Johnny is so freaking adorable!!
I have Always loved both book and the original 1996 version very much so I was very nervous to watch it but wow they did it. This might actually be the best Jane Austen adaptation I've seen so far, I loved it so much!! I specially like the odd câmera angles, the color pallete and just how mean Emma is at the start of the movie. Also, finally Jane Austen's best love interest got the portrayal that he deserved. I'm glad you liked it too!
I've never been a big fan of Emma - either the book or the previous adaptations - but the 2020 version is EVERYTHING. And I loved how you can tell how much the filmmakers loved their own film - down to the smallest details, everything was chosen and put together in such a particular and quirky way. And dang, if it doesn't make my heart flutter to know it was adapted and directed by WOMEN writers and filmmakers. Finally, a female narrative told and given to us by our fellow SISTERS. 🙌🙌🙌
Johnny Flynn as Mr. Knightly... Hola!!! 🔥
I had never read or seen any of the Emma film adaptations. Emma 2020 was my first and I ADORE it. It's my comfort film. I've watched it many times already. I watched the 1996 and it just didnt stand out to me. I love how Emma is portrayed in this new adaptation. She was feisty, fake polite, kind on the inside but you could feel it was a front she put up to guard herself. That was all thanks to Anyas talent. There were so many funny moments that made me lol that dont feel over the top or silly. They all felt like regular beings. But Johnny Flyns Mr. Mr. Knightley was A BREATH OF FRESH air. Not your conventional handsome but his sweetness and kindness makes you fall in love with him. The way he gets extremely flustered when he cant hide his love for Emma is just 💛💛 cant speak highly enough about it.
I had to pause your review just before the spoilers to go and watch both versions (first 2020, then 1996 the next day). And after finishing your breakdown, I can say you explained everything I noticed and more, in what was better or lacking in both of these adaptations. Well done! I agree so kuch with what you said.
But if you're biased towards the nostalgic 1996 version, I'm biased towards 2020 for watching it just before 1996. The contrast really made the 1996 fall flat for me. I think the comparison of the dance between Knightly and Emma can sum up my general feelings on the two films respectively: one sizzles, while the other follows the rehearsed steps and little more. Aside from 1996 Harriet's adorable keepsake bag and a bit more Miss+Mrs. Bates, the 2020 version was infinitely more charming.
Now, I haven't read the novel, so I'll have to take your word for the book-accuracy of Emma's characterization. Regardless, I did find 2020 Emma's character arc so much more interesting, because she starts ao selfish and vain, and then we watch her struggle, break down, come to terms with herself and grow. Plus that nosebleed haha. It's very satisfying.
the nosebleed IS iconic. Hats off to you for pausing and coming back, that's dedication. I think you'd love the book if you love Emma a lot. Glad the 2020 version sparks joy !
I recently re-read Emma in anticipation of this film, and am so excited about it now! As a result, I can confirm that Harriet burning a piece of cloth and a pencil is 100% in the book as well - and very nicely adapted in Clueless too, where she tries to burn a cassette tape and Cher has to discourage her because of the plastic xD