Emma
**I wrote about composer Rachel Portman’s Oscar win for “Emma” over at In Their Own League here.
I think it’s not a stretch anymore to say that the novels of Jane Austen were ahead of their time- Amy Heckerling’s adaptation of this novel into her 1995 comedy “Clueless” proved that. But look at the “true” adaptation that have sprouted up in recent years- Ang Lee’s “Sense and Sensibility,” Joe Wright’s “Pride & Predjudice,” and Douglas McGrath’s lovely “Emma”- and it’s clear that Austen is as relevant as ever in terms of romantic comedy.
1996 was the year of Miramax’s “The English Patient,” but I’d argue this jewel was more of a delight, and more deserving of that film’s Oscars, starting with Gwyneth Paltrow’s wonderful performance as Emma Woodhouse, a single woman in Highbury in 19th Century England who lives with her ailing father, and has a mind for matchmaking. True, she’d win one two years later for “Shakespeare in Love,” but watching this breakthrough film again, Paltrow has never radiated so brightly as she does here.
The film radiates too, with light humor and wit. This was McGrath’s first film as writer-director (he’d previously co-written Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway”), and even if it’s the only one of his I’ve seen thus far (he’s also done “Nicholas Nickleby,” “Infamous”), it’s a delightful comedy that shows a smart touch with humor and humanity, both of which are in great supply in this romantic entanglement that says more about men and women and how they hook up and confuse themselves about love than “He’s Just Not That Into You.”
Case in point- Emma’s flighty engagements in gossip and matchmaking, especially when it comes to her discussions with Mrs. Weston (her former governess, played by an elegant Greta Scacchi) and her taking in of the young and flighty herself Harriet Smith (Toni Collette) as her protege. Emma is a wonderful and humane woman, though she- like all of us- is capable of great insincerity, as evidence by her unforgivable insult to the scatterbrained (but otherwise lovely) Miss Bates (Sophie Thompson, who’s “Sense and Sensibility” Oscar-winner Emma’s real-life sister), who looks over her old mother (Phyllida Law, who’s Thompson’s real-life mother). The insult drives the feelings and actions of Emma in the film’s final portion, when her dear friend Mr. Knightley (Jeremy Northam)- who is the only one who can keep up with her sass- puts her in her place for the transgression. He fears that one Frank Churchill (Ewan McGregor) has been a bad influence on her, knowing that she did have feelings for him once.
Romantic feelings fly between individuals almost as much as gossip does in “Emma.” Harriet’s feelings alone move between a trio of potential suitors- the farmer Robert Martin (whom Emma deems her inferior), the dashing- but fickle- vicar Mr. Elton (Alan Cumming, who reveals Mr. Elton’s true colors more than once), whom Emma hopes to match up with Harriet, and- after a dance that saved her from the embarrassment of a snub- Mr. Knightley, which puts Emma in a particular predicament as it is then when she realizes her own feelings for Northam’s pragmatic but honest Knightley. Rachel Portman’s Oscar-winning score is as lovely a listen now as it was when I first saw the film in 1996, keeping things light and romantic even when the truth stings its’ characters, knowing that Austen and McGrath have a more pleasant surprise in store not far down the road.
I could go on, but why spoil the fun when I fear I’ve done much to spoil it already? Not intentionally, of course, but there’s much I haven’t brought up- the vulgar presence of the future Mrs. Elton (Juliet Stevenson); the detached insincerity of Jane Fairfax (Polly Walker), a ward of the Bates’ whom has a secret admirer; and, of course, the simple but delightful pleasure that comes from the story itself and the dialogue as said by each and every actor, starting with Paltrow. It’s not hard to see how she became a crush of mine after watching the film again…you fall in love with her as instantly as you do her character in this wonderful romantic farce.
