Production Year: 1996 - Drama - Director: Diarmuid Lawrence, Douglas McGrath - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Bernard Hepton, Samantha Bond, Dominic Rowan, Prunella Scales, James Hazeldine, Raymond Coulthard, Polly Walker, Juliet Stevenson, Greta Scacchi, Jeremy Northam, Ewan McGregor, Alan Cumming, Toni Collette, Gwyneth Paltrow more
A faithful, enchanting adaptation of Austen's nineteenth-century tale of Emma Woodhouse, a clever young woman whose mischievous matchmaking schemes nearly cost her her own shot at romance.
Emma (1996) DVD
An adaptation of Jane Austen's story of marriage and manners set in a picturesque 19th ... more
Century village which revolves around a spoilt young woman Emma Woodhouse who delights in influencing the love-lives of her friends with disastrous results.
Emma DVD
In the lush countryside of 19th century England there's a young woman so devoted to ... more
meddling in the affairs of others that she fails to recognise the longings of her own heart. Her name is Emma (Gwyneth Paltrow) and although she's "never one to inte...
Emma [DVD] [1996]
Most people didn't mind Gwyneth Paltrow's English accent in this charming, 1996 adaptation ... more
of Jane Austen's novel (which also inspiredClueless). But even if it doesn't sound quite right to you, there are plenty of authentic and wonderful Brit thespians in this film by screenwriter-turned-director Douglas McGrath (co-author of Woody Allen'sBullets Over Broadway), including Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply), Alan Cumming (Buddy), Phyllida Law (Much Ado About Nothing), Ewan McGregor (the Scots star ofTrainspotting), and Sophie Thompson, outstanding and finally heartbreaking as the chattering Miss Bates. Paltrow plays Austen's benign busybody, Emma Woodhouse--so busy trying to arrange the lives of others that she is sidestepping her own. McGrath brings a kind of pretty and light touch to the production, his best move the wise delegation of creative authority to the actors themselves.--Tom Keogh
Emma [DVD] [1996]
Most people didn't mind Gwyneth Paltrow's English accent in this charming, 1996 adaptation ... more
of Jane Austen's novel (which also inspiredClueless). But even if it doesn't sound quite right to you, there are plenty of authentic and wonderful Brit thespians in this film by screenwriter-turned-director Douglas McGrath (co-author of Woody Allen'sBullets Over Broadway), including Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply), Alan Cumming (Buddy), Phyllida Law (Much Ado About Nothing), Ewan McGregor (the Scots star ofTrainspotting), and Sophie Thompson, outstanding and finally heartbreaking as the chattering Miss Bates. Paltrow plays Austen's benign busybody, Emma Woodhouse--so busy trying to arrange the lives of others that she is sidestepping her own. McGrath brings a kind of pretty and light touch to the production, his best move the wise delegation of creative authority to the actors themselves.--Tom Keogh
Production Year: 1998 - Drama - Director: Martin Brest - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Marcia Gay Harden, Jake Weber, Claire Forlani, Jeffrey Tambor
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1981 - Drama - Director: Franco Zeffirelli - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, Shirley Knight, Don Murray, Richard Kiley, Penelope Milford, Beatrice Straight
A review by audreyh on Emma (DVD) January 29th, 2005
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Loved it
Story
Outstanding
Characters / Performances
Outstanding
Special Effects
Standard
How does it compare to similar films?
Outstanding
Advantages:
Light feel - good period rom - com . Fantastic cast .
Disadvantages:
Very few – but the lack of DVD special features is disappointing .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Emma (the 1996 film of Jane Austen’s novel of the same name) is a wonderfully witty adaptation of this story of 19th century matchmaking, bringing out the humour of the original novel in a similar way to Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility. It features fantastic supporting performances from some of Britain’s finest actors and an excellent leading performance from Gwyneth Paltrow (who I must admit I don’t generally enjoy) demonstrating the brilliant English accent that she went on to use in Sliding Doors and to Oscar-winning effect in Shakespeare in Love. This adaptation retains the period feel in terms of look and language, but makes us realise that the games played between men and women in relationships change very little over the ages!
Emma Woodhouse (Paltrow) is a wealthy young woman who lives in Highbury (somewhat more villagey than it is these days!) with her father. The film begins with the marriage of Emma’s governess to a wealthy neighbour, Mr Weston, a match for which Emma happily takes most of the credit. Bored at the loss of her governess Emma decides to take on a new “project” in the shape of Harriet Smith (Toni Collette with a fantastic naïve and bumbling portrayal), a young woman who has been brought up at the local school and is of (shock, horror!) unknown parentage! Emma takes it upon herself to educate Harriet, introduce her to the elite of Highbury society and most importantly raise her ideas about whom she should marry. Harriet has recently stayed with some friends in the country where she formed an attachment to the girls brother, a warm and kind young farmer Robert Martin. There is a fantastic scene demonstrative of the entire relationship between Harriet and Emma, where Harriet receives a letter from Mr Martin proposing marriage and much as Harriet wants to say yes she is more desperate for Emma’s approval. Harriet asks outright what should be her reply and while Emma cleverly doesn’t explicitly tell her to refuse, in fact saying she wouldn’t dream of advising, she does all this in such a way Harriet “reaches” the conclusion that she should refuse. You can see that Emma knows she shouldn’t interfere, but her sincere feeling that through her superior knowledge of the world she is doing what is best for Harriet, outweighs any restraint.
Pushing all thoughts of Mr Martin out of Harriet’s head, Emma’s next disastrous move is to try and engineer a romance between Harriet and Mr Elton the parish vicar. Mr Elton is a fantastic comic character, a simpering idiot (although a slightly less snivelling vicar than the awful Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice!) and is played to brilliant effect by Alan Cumming. It is patently clear to all but Emma (and Harriet through Emma’s brainwashing) that the only reason Mr Elton spends his time with the two ladies is that he is madly in love with Emma. When a Harriet-free moment arises and Mr Elton pounces on Emma, she is absolutely stunned but quickly puts him in his place. Mr Elton leaves Highbury to visit Bath and find his own wife, leaving Emma to break the news to Harriet that the man she has encouraged her to consider “in the bag” was not at all interested.
While Emma is held up as an angel by her father, Harriet and the others in the village, her brother-in-law Mr Knightley (the delectable Jeremy Northam) is the only one who is keen to point out her flaws to her. He reprimands her for interfering and matchmaking and there are some lovely scenes between them (the archery scene being particularly funny) where they are bickering with some fantastically witty banter flying back and forth.
As Harriet is recovering from her broken heart, the focus of the matchmaking turns to Emma herself with the arrival of Frank Churchill, the son of the Mr Weston (husband of Emma’s governess). Though unsaid the Westons, Highbury society in general and even Emma herself seem to think Emma and Frank (Ewan Magregor plus comedy hair) are destined for each other. Frank and Emma do get on like a house on fire, both always the centre of attention and keen to gossip about those around them. However, the relationship is really no more than friends – Frank turns out to have a secret fiancée and Emma despite best efforts to convince herself (“I felt listless after he left and had some sort of headache so I must be in love as well!”) realises he is not the one.
But then who is the one? Why of course it’s the person who she niggles at the most, Mr Knightley. However this realisation on Emma’s part is only brought about by yet another hurdle along the path to true love – Harriet declares to have forgotten the horrid Mr Elton (who has since returned with a fantastically annoying wife played by Juliet Stevenson) and turned her affections to the wonderful Mr K. There are brilliant scenes where Emma is trying to discover why it irritates her so much that Harriet has set her sights on Mr Knightley, and she finally stops listening to the matchmaking nonsense in her head and listens to her heart - “I love him!” The culmination scene where Emma and Mr Knightley reveal their true feelings is a really feel-good climax to a brilliant film.
Although I do enjoy the romantic comedy genre as a whole I know many don’t, but I would still recommend this film as a non-soppy witty romance. In my opinion Emma translates even better than Austen’s other novels to modern day attitudes and sensibilities, as the key protagonist is a highly independent woman of means and therefore not troubled by class issues to the same extent as other Austen heroines. We can relate to the problems of matchmaking gone wrong and that sometimes your ideal relationship lies under your nose with the person you love to hate. The film sticks very closely to the original text (again a testament to the enduring nature of Austen), but the very fact that Emma was brought into the present day so successfully in Clueless shows the timelessness of the plot.
The characters are well-portrayed by a first-class cast. I have touched upon the hilarious Mr and Mrs Elton (Cumming and Stevenson) the most annoying couple ever and thoroughly deserving of each other. In the sub plot there are also fantastic comic performances from mother and daughter combo Sophie Thompson and Phyllidia Law, as the ridiculously dithering Miss Bates and her mother. Another performance of note is Greta Scaatchi as Mrs Weston, Emma’s former governess, often tasked with keeping Emma’s flights of fancy within the realms of reality. Toni Collette (Harriet) and Jeremy Northam (Mr Knightley) support excellently, but Gwyneth Paltrow is just brilliant at the helm. Her portrayal of Emma is much more likable than the spoilt Emma in the book. She strikes just the right balance of petulance, ignorance and belief that she is doing the right thing, so that we can laugh at her, not dislike her and hope it all works out well in the end. Which of course it does!
The music by Rachel Portman provides a perfect ambience, often light and frivolous reflecting the comic banter. The ball scene where Harriet’s attachment to Mr Knightley begins (and Emma and Mr K’s feelings become more obvious to the viewer) features the emotive Mr Beveridge’s Maggot (also used in BBC’s Pride and Prejudice). The scenery is lush and costumes are beautiful, setting off Paltrow’s swan-like neck off to best effect!
Emma has a U certificate and is available on DVD (unfortunately with no special features whatsoever) at a bargainous £5.99 from hmv.co.uk, £5.97 from amazon.co.uk and £5.49 from play.com.
All in all Emma is wonderful cinematic adaptation of a witty and enduring novel. I would heartily recommend it.
Advantages: good for all generations Disadvantages: none
This is a great adaptation of the Jane Austen novel about a well bred girl who plays matchmaker for all her friends.However she never seems to be very good at matching them and when one of her friends takes a shine to her friend Mr Knightly she soon realises that she has been in love with him all along.There is good comedy moments in the film and the romantic aspects are not over the top.The screenplay doesn't sway from the book and makes this an ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Gwyneth Paltrow gets the character across perfectely Disadvantages: Sometimes the language can be a bit confusing
...with such style and with Emma being such a decieving,and sonetimes cruel, person then she has to be played with a certain subtelty which Gwyneth Paltrow pin points perfectely. The other actors/actresses are also fit in with their characters extrodinarily well. Emma sees herself as a match maker, but what she doesn't see is that whether you are upper or lower class, you can't help who you fall in love with, this is made a bigger problem when Emma ... ...farmer, which Emma disagrees with and so she tries to destroy anything between them, this is just one of the many complications with love that this film comes across. I recommend it to anyone, I didnt think it was my kind of film either but it may just surprise you! ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Great costumes and storyline. Disadvantages: Is Emma meant to be annoying?
...read all the more! Emma is set in the countryside and it is the 1800s, Emma is a busybody who tries to pair up her friends with men, but it always ends in disaster. As she continues to make a mess of her friends love lives she slowly begins to fall for her widowed brother-in-law.
Emma is played by Gwyneth Paltrow and it is wonderfully done, although I felt that Emma was a bit annoying.
I also loved the costumes, they looked very authentic and beautiful.
...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Emma Woodhouse enjoys matchmaking for her friends. Unfortunately, in her attempts to forge what she sees as suitable couplings for her friends, Emma totally disregards their true feelings as well as her own. This leads to a variety of misunderstandings, the greatest of which centres around Harriet Smith whom Emma has befriended and whom she wishes to see well married. When Harriet finally does reveal her true love to Emma, Emma is suddenly forced ...
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Story
Characters / Performances
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How does it compare to ...
helpful
06.08.2000
Quick review of Emma (Wide Screen) Review ofEmma (DVD)by
Steph_ager
This movie is breath taking as the novel is. I dont know about you but while i was studying this novel during my A Level. Emma really frustrated me however i thought that the storyline was fantastic. I really recommend this movie to anyone that wants a night in on thier own or with the partner. I think it was also very funny in parts. So romance and comedy in one film exciting. I really loved this movie and believe that you will to.
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Cute and cuddly film for cold nights when theres nothing better to do Disadvantages: Tries painfully hard to be the success that 'Harry met Sally' was
...The basic story...
Alex Sheldon (Luke Wilson) has a massive gambling problem that has left him with a debt to the maffia of $100,000. His only possible way out is to write a book within 30 days and sell it to his publisher for $125,000. This however is greatly afflicted by two things, firstly the maffia tossed his laptop into the fire and secondly, he has writters block.
It seems to Alex that the only solution to this new problem is to hire a stenographer under the guise of a law firm. This results in the second half of the film...Emma Dinsmore (Kate hudson) who is furious to find Alex is not a law firm. But after learning of his situation and reading the end of his last novel she agrees to help him.
Alex then begins to reel off his novel to her which parts of are also acted out for us to see. As the real life story...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Emma Roberts Disadvantages: the film it's selgf.
...Wild Child *
Another typical teenage film .
*The story *
About a LA girl called Poppy Moore who is a bat of a brat so her dad send's her to bording School in England , not the best place in The world for some one who is from LA and she learns to fit in there.
I think this movie is for the younger audiance as it's very cheesey and obvious. I don't like how they stereotype people in this movie like the Scottish woman is seen to be a bit mad!! and they way they make the English school looks isn't a great advert for Enlgand but then I guess they make the Americans' look vain aswel.
The star of this show is Emma Roberts ( Julia Roberts neice ) and she does do a good performance but some of the others are not so good.
Bonus features on the dvd include the making of the film and feautures
I think it's the sort of film you can...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: Great story, Can be rewatched Disadvantages: None
...1 his parents were killed. Harry finds out that sirius black is his godfather and that he betrayed his parents and he is the reason they are dead. In my opionion harry potter 3 is one of the best films ever and will be a great addition to anyones dvd collection.
The main Cast
Daniel Radcliffe
Rupert Grint
Emma Watson
Michael Gambon
Tom Felton...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Plot: In 19th century England a young woman spends so much time meddling in the affairs of others that she fails to recognise her own longings. Based on the novel by Jane Austen.
A faithful, enchanting adaptation of Austen's nineteenth-century tale of Emma Woodhouse, a clever young woman whose mischievous matchmaking schemes nearly cost her her own shot at romance.
Release details
DVD Region: DVD
Studio(s): ITV DVD; CINRAM LOGISTICS, WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINM; TECHNICOLOR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES
Review: "...[Paltrow's] signature style of youthful country freshness and city-chick sophistication are used to good advantage....A sunny tea party..." -- Rating:B (Entertainment Weekly, p.43, 09/08/1996)
"...McGrath's script is faithful: fierce when it needs to be and devilishly funny....[EMMA] showcases Paltrow's talent, wit and daring..." (Rolling Stone, p.103-4, 22/08/1996)
"Gwyneth Paltrow shines brightly as Jane Austen's most endearing character... (Variety, 17/06/1996)
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13.10.2009
