Ah, the year of two Emmas! Sometimes things come in bundles, and both a feature film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and this ITV version starring Kate Beckinsale were made of this Jane Austen novel, first published in 1815. While Gwynnie isn’t terrible, we’re fans of Kate’s version of Emma (1996) around here, so it’s time for a deep-dive!
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I like the Paltrow version a bit more.
It is curious how sometimes creatives find themselves surfing the same brainwave even without industrial espionage: my favourite case of this is OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN/WHITE HOUSE DOWN (If only because it’s fun to imagine what elements would be kept and which jettisoned if these two pictures were rolled into one ‘Franken-movie’).
Of the two 1990s Emma films, I prefer this one (though I preferred the other when a teenager). This one has a more lived-in feel. Another nice touch is that Samantha Morton, who played Harriet, actually grew up in care (and has spoken about it in efforts to bring the welfare of young people in care to wider attention). Perhaps this may have given her some extra nuance when portraying a young lady who can sometimes be overlooked by society.
Does anyone know how old Mrs. Weston is supposed to be? In this, she is in her late thirties, but in the 2009 remake (because I won’t watch the most recent one) she is not much older than Emma.