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Jane Austen's Emma Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 49 Reviews)

An excellent peak into Jane Austen's world
I've just watched both movie versions of Emma, and this film is far and away the better of the two. If you truly want to see Jane Austen's characters as she intended them, then get this film. The setting and costuming is gorgeous, and the actors play the characters as they read in the original novel. If you'd prefer a Hollywood version with weak men and dinghy women, get the Gweneth Paltrow version.

breath of fresh air after the gwyneth paltrow hollywood version
excellent casting, true to Austen's genius, no cheese, entertaining, beckingsale nearly perfect--much better than both the low-budget bbc one and the high-budget hollywood one

but that's my opinion...

Not quite Miss Jane's Emma
With Kate Beckinsale in the lead, this should have been a whale of a movie, especially if Ms. Beckinsale was allowed to bring some of her persona from Cold Comfort Farm in which she played a more Emma-like character there than she was allowed to do here. Beckinsale's Emma was overly moody and had none of the light cheerfulness of Austen's Emma (or Ms. Paltrow's for that matter). Mark Stong is not Jeremey Northrup but he is VERY good. Unfortunately, this movie never establishes that Mr. Knightly is a daily presence in the Woodhouse household (i.e., compare with the Northrup-Paltrow version), which is critical to understanding the relationship between Mr. Knightly and Emma. Indeed, their love for each other is nearly a shocker in this version coming in its last 10 minutes. If you are an Emma fan, you may find this film a disappointment. In general, I prefer Ms. Beckinsale over Ms. Paltrow but Ms. Paltrow's film is a better Reader's Digest adaptation of this lengthly and rich novel. I wonder if modern movie/DVD audiences have the patience for a longer 4 and 6 hour versions of this novel akin to what has been done for Pride & Prejudice by the BBC and A&E, respectively. Indeed, the latest 2-hour version of P&P by Hollywood is a bare skeleton of that incredible story.

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