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It is very well and beautifully filmed but deviation from the book's characters undo the whole thing. It is not Emma. Almost every part is miscast and distorted. Emma shouldn't be a wild teenager, she's an elegant young lady and the mistress of a respectable house, the top banana in the Hughbury society. One must not feel the urgency of slapping her between her blade-bones and instruct "mind your deportment, Emma!.. close your mouth!.. don't show your gums! sit upright! don't swing your arms while walking!" Well, I did feel that non-stop.
Mr Knightley should be an authority, the man everyone including Emma, looks up to, and not just a nice guy next door. In the most important Badly Done scene he was so unconvincing that it ruined the whole series to me. And I was not surprised that this Emma could openly get up to and yell at this Mr Knightley. It could never ever happened in the book. Nor was there any chemistry between the leads except in the dancing scene (that scene I did enjoy very much). I just couldn't help laughing while watching the final declaration: JLm's Knightley was obviously trying to avoid the kiss, leaning back from Garai's Emma reaching for him, with his arms hanging along his form flaccidly... well, why filming what is not in the book, if you can not make it appealing? And when that Emma stormed into Mr Knightley's study, goggling even more than a viewer could get used to during the previous episodes, and yelling hysterically, my friend and I both shouted: "'Tis a close escape, man! Just don't reason with her and let her go!" I can't imagine why he didn't.
Of other characters I really liked Mr Wodehouse whom I loved dearly and found very well acted and elaborated, very decent Mrs Weston, believable sweet Harriet and absolutely perfect Frank Churchill. They were decidedly much better than those in the earlier adaptations, to me. Miss Bates, Miss Fairfax and Mr Weston were absolutely reverse. Miss Bates timid and pathetically insecure instead of cheerful, chatty, cozy and annoying at the same time. Guys, she was content with everything and everyone in the book! Miss Fairfax mousy, nervous and girlish instead of extremely elegant, strikingly-beautiful and calmly reserved. Mr Weston melancholic to the point of almost tearful instead of sanguine and ever-optimistic. Mr and Mrs Elton were quite OK, though. The donkey scene was superb. I also liked Mr John Knightley. I think he would make a better Mr Knightley than his "elder brother", ehm.
In whole it could be a very good Emma but for the leads. They did not develop the key story.
score 5/10
milagro1975 1 May 2010
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2243341/ |
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9-10-2020 22:42:05