Very 21st centurish.

jbs197906

I've been reading the reviews and one thing have struck me: how could nobody see that this is not Jane Austen whatsoever? I started watching this series a few days ago but became completely irritated by the middle of the third episode.

The greatest drawback of the series, I think, is the choice of Romola Garai as Emma. She is pretty and perhaps even a decent actress, to be sure, but let us agree, there should be some difference between a 21st century prom queen and Jane Austen's Emma. Simply put, Garai's Emma lacks the manners of the age. Emma could have been quite a "feminist" for her time, but she would still have to remain a lady, and not some shameless instance of contemporary woman which wouldn't know the difference between a gentleman and a lady. I admit that some minor deviations in the interpretations of the etiquette of the time are inevitable, but I could scarcely believe that real Emma wouldn't mind her manners at all. I couldn't help noticing that Garai's face expressions, the way she speaks and laughs, her gestures - everything in her manners was utterly 21st-centurish.

Now to the Knightly. In short, there is nothing knightly whatsoever in Jonny Lee Miller's Mr.Knightly. Compared to Mark Strong's Knightly of 1996's Emma, that of Miller lacks... well virtually everything that makes a decent Knightly - most of all masculinity. He behaves as an average contemporary "nice guy", an unfortunate by-product of the feminisation of the western society. This particular "Knightly", I believe, would be the last man in the world that Jane Austen's Emma would ever prefer. Although, I must admit, Miller's Knightly goes perfectly well with Garai's Emma. As a result we have an ideal contemporary couple - she is strong and decisive, while he is agreeable and calm. (Makes me sick...)

All in all, I couldn't stop thinking that I was watching something fabricated, something insincere. Too often I had an impression that the actors were simply reading their scripts. (With some exceptions of course. Michael Gambon, for instance, is brilliant in the role of Emma's father.) But most importantly, the whole thing didn't smell the early 19th century and that is unforgivable.

score 3/10

jbs197906 3 March 2010

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2215819/