Period Piece

I went into Emma. (2020) with little information - I hadn't read any reviews (maybe noted that they were favorable) or Jane Austen's novel. I did not know anything about Autumn de Wilde, because it is her first feature. I haven't even seen Clueless, the modern remake.

It stars Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular Emma. She is a smart young woman with a rich and doting father (Bill Nighy) who delights in matchmaking (but swears she will stop). She takes an interest in a local girl, Mia Goth, whose parents are unknown. Emma undertakes to find her a husband, although she doesn't plan to meddle. But she does discourage her from marrying a nearby farmer, as she feels he is too low.

At first, she thinks the smarmy preacher, Josh O'Connor, is interested, and works to bring them together. But he is actually interested in Emma, so that won't work.

Emma spends a lot of her time with a jokey wastrel, Johnny Flynn. He's the type who lounges around with his leg up on the arm of the chair, making caustic comments. But she's really interested in Callum Turner, who she has barely met - it's always rumored that he will be coming to this or that event, but never does.

When he does, it is at a ball, where the pastor refuses to dance with Goth, so Flynn takes her for a turn out of the kindness of his heart. On her way home, Turner saves Goth from gypsies (offscreen). When Goth acts smitten, Emma thinks she is in love with Turner, not realizing that it is Flynn she's taken with. 

Is Emma really good at matchmaking?

Once that is cleared up, she hopes to take up with Turner, who she feels is her natural partner, attracted to his parentage (her family's good friends) and social standing. She is also annoyed at dark-haired, accomplished Amber Anderson, niece of  local bore and spinster Miranda Hart. Then, at a picnic, Turner is goofing around, and without thinking, Emma insults Hart cruelly. She regrets it immediately, but her friend Flynn takes her very firmly to task. Can she recover? Can she earn back the respect of her friends? And will she find love herself?

Of course! It all ends happily for everyone. 

This is a beautifully made film, full of gorgeous costumes and locations. It is also full of beautiful people, but everyone looks a little dumpy or foolish next to Taylor-Joy as the radiant Emma. Maybe Anderson as her dark rival. So this is quite dreamy and made me want to read the novel.

They did seem to have a bit of trouble making Austen's formal, epigrammatic dialog sound natural, but that's a pretty common problem. I've seen it solved in Shakespeare by just eliminating a lot of the dialog. That's what makes Bill Nighy my favorite part of this. He is constantly commenting on the scenes with nothing but a glance or a sigh.